Virtual Reality Could Transform Psychological Therapy in the NHS

28 June 2019

A new clinical trial is testing a virtual reality (VR) based psychological therapy for people with severe mental health difficulties. gameChange is the largest ever clinical trial of virtual reality for a mental health disorder. Automated delivery of therapy using VR has potential to transform NHS provision of psychological therapy.

There are currently 220,000 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in contact with mental healthcare services in the NHS in England and Wales. Two-thirds of these patients have levels of anxious avoidance equivalent to people with agoraphobia.

Attention and memory deficits persist for months after recovery from mild Covid

19 January 2022

Researchers from Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology and Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences have shown that people who have had Covid but don’t complain of long Covid symptoms in daily life nevertheless can show degraded attention and memory for up to 6-9 months.

New book expands the horizons of brain research

18 January 2022

A pioneering book from Professor Zoltán Molnár and Yale Professors Tamas Horvath and Joy Hirsch to be released on 1 February 2022 addresses the fundamental relationship between the body, brain and behaviour.

New research sheds light on how ultrasound could be used to treat psychiatric disorders

14 January 2022

A new study in macaque monkeys has shed light on which parts of the brain support credit assignment processes (how the brain links outcomes with its decisions) and, for the first time, how low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can modulate both brain activity and behaviours related to these decision-making and learning processes.

Dramatic fall in hospital admissions for child infections since start of Covid-19 pandemic

13 January 2022

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been dramatic reductions in hospital admissions for common and severe childhood infections in England, most likely due to social distancing measures, school and workplace closures, and travel restrictions, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

Rosalind Franklin Institute and Pharmacology announce strategic partnership in Next Generation Chemistry

11 January 2022

The Rosalind Franklin Institute and the University of Oxford’s Department of Pharmacology have entered into a strategic partnership for Next Generation Chemistry.

New blood-based test is the first ever to simultaneously identify if a patient has cancer and if it has spread

5 January 2022

A publication by University of Oxford researchers describes a new minimally invasive and inexpensive blood test that can identify cancer in patients with non-specific symptoms. The early success of this technology makes it the first blood-based test that not only detects cancer in this population but can simultaneously identify if a cancer has spread.