Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
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ims-mrl.bsky.social
Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
@ims-mrl.bsky.social
Research institute based at the University of Cambridge specialising in diabetes, obesity and related endocrine and metabolic disorders.
Want a behind-the-scenes look at life in the lab at the
@ims-mrl.bsky.social, meet researchers and hear about cutting-edge science?

👀 Check out
👉 Instagram - instagram.com/ims_mrl/ or
👉 TikTok - tiktok.com/@imsmrl

Here's a taste
⬇️⬇️⬇️
youtube.com/shorts/9uhrv...
December 9, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Interested in studying for a PhD or MPhil at the
@ims-mrl.bsky.social - don't leave it too late, the deadline if you want University funding is 2nd December

Have a look now at what we can offer
👇👇👇
PhD - mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/study-us/phd
MPhil - mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/study-us/tau...
November 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
In our final @ims-mrl.bsky.social external seminar for this term, Professor Ivan de Araujo from the @mpicybernetics.bsky.social in Germany is talking to us about the 'Gut-Brain Mechanisms of Hunger'
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Fantastic listen - well done Charlotte and thanks @mrcepid.bsky.social for putting it together for us.
#WorldDiabetesDay
Today is World Diabetes Day & our Brief Interval podcast series ends with Dr Charlotte Boughton discussing the use of automated insulin delivery systems, that aim to impreove outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes.

Charlotte is a Clinical Researcher @ims-mrl.bsky.social

Listen – buff.ly/zJrvFRo
November 14, 2025 at 3:17 PM
An excellent podcast from the @ozannelab.bsky.social at @ims-mrl.bsky.social in the lead up to #WorldDiabetesDay 2025
There are many reasons pregnant women can develop gestational diabetes &
researchers from @ims-mrl.bsky.social are investigating interventions that can be used to mitigate the condition.

Dr @dftwinn.bsky.social
Dr Adriana Paz Cordona Casanova
Dr Lais Vales Mennetti

Listen - buff.ly/7Kymdzy
November 12, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Congratulations to Professor Sadaf @farooqi-lab.bsky.social
(@ims-mrl.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk), Yong Xu (@usf.edu) and Tiago Branco (@sainsburywellcome.bsky.social), on their @erc.europa.eu Synergy Grant to study the biology of instinctive behaviour

Read more: www.mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/news/europea...
November 10, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
Congratulations to Sadaf Farooqi (@ims-mrl.bsky.social), Yong Xu (@usf.edu) and Tiago Branco (SWC), on receiving an @erc.europa.eu Synergy Grant to study the biology of instinctive behaviour 👏

Read more: www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/research...
November 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Today’s external seminar at the @ims-mrl.bsky.social will be given by Dr Carina Ämmälä from the Novo Nordisk Research Centre, Oxford on the subject of ‘Building a “Discovery Engine” powered by large-scale data generation for unbiased drug target discovery’
October 28, 2025 at 9:30 AM
We look forward to welcoming Professor @smandrup.bsky.social from @sdu.dk who is visiting the @ims-mrl.bsky.social to talk to us about ‘Adipose tissue plasticity at single cell resolution’
October 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Congratulations to Dr @cabannon.bsky.social on being awarded a £65,000 Kathleen Harper award from the BMA Foundation for Medical Research to further develop his research into the role of the gut hormone INSL5, in patients with chronic diarrhoea.
www.bmafoundationmr.org.uk/grant-winner...
October 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Today we celebrate #Diwali at the @ims-mrl.bsky.social
October 20, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
In a paper just published in Nature Medicine, we characterised the largest cohort of people with loss-of-function mutations in the Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) gene.
DOI: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
(1/6)
Obesity due to MC4R deficiency is associated with reduced cholesterol, triglycerides and cardiovascular disease risk - Nature Medicine
The authors explore the impact of MC4R deficiency on lipid metabolism in humans, based on two large cohorts. Findings indicate that individuals with obesity due to MC4R deficiency have lower cholester...
doi.org
October 16, 2025 at 11:18 AM
We look forward to welcoming Professor @adeshmukh.bsky.social from the @cbmr.science @novo-nordisk.bsky.social as he delivers our first external seminar of the Michaelmas term.
October 14, 2025 at 7:52 AM
We loved #BigBiologyDay with games and demos about sugar and fibre are in everyday foods, plus great chats about science careers.
Big thanks to @mrcepid.bsky.social and @ims-mrl.bsky.social - Paul, Agnes, Josh, Laura, Andreea and Thomas.
#PublicEngagement #ScienceForAll #STEM #Cambridge
October 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
We're seeking a motivated postdoc to help us and NovoNordisk generate cutting-edge human cellular models of metabolic disease. For details & to apply (by 6th Oct), see: cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc.... If you think someone in your network might be interested, please share. Thank you!
September 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
MELD-ATG trial results presented at the @easdnews.bsky.social meeting & published in @thelancet.com show a lower dose of anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG), is safe and effective in preventing progression of T1 #Diabetes in young people. @mevans-diabetes.bsky.social

mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/news/new-fin...
New findings support low-dose ATG to delay progression of type 1 diabetes in children and young people | Institute of Metabolic Science
New research presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15-19 September) and published simultaneously in The Lancet shows ...
mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk
September 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
👏Many congratulations👏 to Professor Sadaf Farooqi
@farooqi-lab.bsky.social for being honoured with the prestigious Gerald D Aurbach Award by the Endocrine Society
for Outstanding Translational Research
More👉 bit.ly/46gFx1d
@ims-mrl.bsky.social @cuh.nhs.uk @cam.ac.uk @endocrinesociety.bsky.social
Cambridge Professor honoured with prestigious Endocrine Society award, marking a second consecutive win for Metabolic Science at the Biomedical Research Centre - NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Cen...
Professor Farooqi has been awarded the esteemed Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research. This is the second year running that a Cambridge BRC researcher in the field of metaboli...
bit.ly
September 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
Professor Farooqi to receive 2026 Laureate Award from @endocrinesociety.bsky.social!
Details on Endocrine Society website and here:
www.goos.org.uk/resource-cen...
Professor Sadaf Farooqi receives Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research 2026 Laureate Award from the Endocrine Society - Genetics of Obesity Study
www.goos.org.uk
September 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
🙌Many congratulations to all winners, but in particular our very own Professor Sadaf Farooqi as recipient of the Gerald D. Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research.

ℹ️https://www.mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-sadaf-farooqi-honoured-endocrine-society-2026-laureate-award
September 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Come and join us at the @Cambridge Biomedical Campus
#Wellness Festival. Find out about food and blood sugar, insulin peaks what it means for everyday food choices.
September 9, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Congratulations on the paper
More details here
👇👇👇
www.mrl.ims.cam.ac.uk/news/human-g...
September 3, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Sharing for our colleagues at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social who are carrying out a survey on weight loss drugs and pregnancy.
Please help us learn more.
Take the survey
👇👇👇👇 app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/edinburgh/...
August 19, 2025 at 9:42 AM
New research from Constanza Alcaino @ims-mrl.bsky.social and colleagues!

Human gut organoids reveal how enterochromaffin cells sense & respond to stimuli to control how our gut moves and feels.

#GutBrainAxis #Serotonin #Neurogastroenterology

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Mechanisms of Activation and Serotonin release from Human Enterochromaffin Cells
Gastrointestinal (GI) enterochromaffin (EC) cells are specialised sensors of luminal stimuli. They secrete most of the body’s serotonin (5-HT), and ar…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 13, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
My project from my PhD has been published in Gut BMJ today!
The paper highlights an understudied gut hormone INSL5 has a role in chronic diarrhoea, in particular bile acid diarrhoea and a subset of patients with IBS.
@richard-kay.bsky.social
@ims-mrl.bsky.social
gut.bmj.com/content/earl...
Insulin-like peptide 5 is released in response to bile acid in the rectum and is associated with diarrhoea severity in patients with bile acid diarrhoea
Background Insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5) is an enteroendocrine hormone expressed in distal colonic ‘L cells’. Bile acid receptor agonists are known to stimulate INSL5 secretion in primary cell cultur...
gut.bmj.com
July 24, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
👉East Anglia Researchers! There is still time to book onto the FREE PPI Training Sessions!
👉 Next session is Avoiding Tokenism - Tue 19 Aug!
👉 Book via bit.ly/Trg4PPI
@cuh.nhs.uk @cam.ac.uk @ims-mrl.bsky.social @jameslindalliance.bsky.social @milnerinst.bsky.social @mrcepid.bsky.social
August 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM