Access to Understanding is a prestigious, international science-writing competition aimed at PhD students and early career post-doctoral researchers, developed by Europe PubMed Central and The British Library. The winner will receive an iPad and have their entry published in eLife. Read on for more… For more information: http://EuropePMC.org/ScienceWritingCompetition Questions: Engagement@EuropePMC.org Access to Understanding is supported […]

by Emma Pewsey (University of Cambridge, UK) Winner of Access to Understanding 2013 X-rays can now be used not only to show where bones have fractured, but also to investigate why these bones break in the first place. Results suggest the possibility of preventing the trauma of thousands of broken hips using drugs already commonly […]

By Claire Sand (King’s College London, UK) Awarded joint 2nd prize for Access to Understanding 2013 For years scientists have attempted to harness the potential of stem cells for repairing damaged blood vessels. The tendency of stem cells to cause cancer, however, has meant that progress has been limited. Now, a team from King’s College London, […]

By Ian Le Guillou (University of Cambridge, UK) Awarded joint 2nd prize for Access to Understanding 2013 A mutation that allows cells to grow out of control could also provide a new way to target and destroy cancer cells. This potential Achilles’ heel comes from a mutation in a gene called PTEN, which is found in […]

by Nina Rzechorzek (University of Edinburgh, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 How do nerve cells die? Many human diseases involve degeneration of the nervous system – a system of interconnecting nerve cells, allowing us to sense and respond to our environment. All of these disorders are incurable and fatal. Most of them share […]

by Gráinne Long (MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) describes any disease that affects the heart or blood vessels, and is currently the leading cause of death in women world-wide. Now complications during pregnancy can be used as an early indicator to identify women at high risk […]

by Robert Hoskin (University of Sheffield, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 To what extent do biological and environmental factors influence how an organism develops? This question, often framed as the ‘nature-nurture debate’, is one of the most fundamental problems that science has to address. Within this debate it is of particular importance to […]

By Katarzyna Makowska (University of Leeds, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 Brian J. McHugh and colleagues from University of Edinburgh and King’s College London have discovered a one-protein switch that makes normal lung cells behave like metastatic cancer cells. This exciting finding, published in PLOS One in July 2012, brings us closer to […]

By David Daversa (Institute of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 Most people may not think very much about reasons explaining the shape of our feet. For evolutionary biologists and designers of prosthetic legs however, this topic is of major interest. A recent study, led by Dr James Usherwood from […]

By Luisa Robbez-Masson (Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University, London, UK) Short-listed for Access to Understanding 2013 Oestrogen is a female hormone, produced in the ovaries, that stimulates the formation of the female sexual characteristics at puberty. It also triggers the growth of the breast tissues during the reproductive cycle and during pregnancy. However, oestrogen […]

by Ian Le Guillou, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge Although contradictory to the hopes of the Access to Understanding competition, writing about the work described in ‘NLK is a Novel Therapeutic Target for PTEN Deficient Tumour Cells‘ made me realise the importance of scientific jargon. Yes, it makes research very difficult to understand for […]

By Claire Sand, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London The Access to Understanding competition had instant appeal for me because it seemed to combine my two greatest interests – science and writing. I have always been fascinated with the human body (particularly in disease), and am currently working on my PhD in cardiovascular research, […]

By Emma Pewsey, Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge. I’m a relative newcomer to biosciences – at school, physics and chemistry were more my thing. However, starting a PhD on the corrosion of metal implants in the human body meant I needed to brush up on my biology. It was time to hit the […]

We were delighted to announce the winners of the Access to Understanding science-writing competition at an awards ceremony held last night (11 March) at The British Library in London. Entrants to the competition were challenged to summarise a cutting-edge research article, communicating in a simple and accessible way what the research is, and why it matters, to […]

Access to Understanding is a new science-writing competition, developed by Europe PubMed Central and The British Library, aimed at early career researchers and PhD students. The winner will receive an iPad and have their entry published in eLife. Read on for more… For more information: http://EuropePMC.org/ScienceWritingCompetition Questions: Engagement@EuropePMC.org Follow us on Twitter: Europe PMC news and […]