https://www.facebook.com/103769959107229/

MRC Toxicology Unit

Home
United Kingdom
Cambridge
MRC Toxicology Unit

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from MRC Toxicology Unit, Medical Research Center, Cambridge.

15/04/2026

Did you know we have science comics based on some of our research?

Working with scientific illustrator Claudia Flandoli and our researchers we have co-produced comics about a range of our research topics. This was the first one we created back in 2024 entitled ‘What’s wrong with this DNA?’.

This story follows Pol the polymerase as they find some unexpected damage on the DNA they are replicating and the consequences of this damage. It is based on the research of the Aitken lab and introduces the topics of DNA duplication, DNA damage, lesion segregation and multiallelism. We also have it in Italian if you would prefer :)

Take a look and let us know what you think. You can also find our other comics on our website: https://buff.ly/Koh8h84

31/03/2026

We had a fantastic time taking part in the Cambridge Festival over the last few days

We had over 120 school students join us for our immunology workshop exploring more about antibodies and new immune therapies

AND we saw over 800 of you at Families Weekend at our temporary tattoo parlour and exploring more about our cells, organelles and how medicines and our environment can impact them

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and also to our volunteers too. We hope you had a wonderful time and we can’t wait for next year.

What would you like to see from us next year?

Science festival, science education, STEM, Cambridge

11/02/2026

‘Last leaves of autumn’

This beautiful microscopy image was taken by Dr Kadri Seppa and is the second of our Judges Prize winners from our 2025 science-art competition.

It shows mouse brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease. Like the last leaves clinging to a tree in autumn, these neurons are surviving in challenging conditions. By boosting them with a cellular stress modulator (green), we aim to help these vulnerable neurons survive longer and maintain brain function.

We will be revealing our other science-art winners and other entries over the coming weeks, but what are your thoughts on this winning piece? What more would you like to know about the research?

21/10/2024

Our next science comic book is here!

Meet Ray, Argus & Ellis who are on their way home from a mission when the air purifier on their spacecraft stops working. They need to find a way to fix it and quickly.

Follow along and learn how they do this using a pretty cool technique thats very similar to something we use in the labs too!

Download digital and print at home versions NOW via the link in our bio.

Huge thank you to Claudia Flandoli, Odara Medagadara, the rest of the Mennella lab and Dr Sophie Milbourne for their work on this project.

Stay tuned for our next comic story coming soon too!

16/10/2024

We had a fab day at the 11th annual at Hills Road Sixth Form College on the weekend.

We transformed some of our scientists into 'open books' for the day and had so many fascinating chats with our visitors about our research topics, what its like to be a scientist and more!

We also took our science comics on their first outing and had our first readers

🔖science festival, science, comics, cambridge, research, toxicology, scientist, scientists

18/06/2024

We had another fantastic day at our second ‘Toxicology in Print’ workshop

A fascinating day that began with one of our gut microbiome researchers Simran sharing more about her work and the work of the lab at the Unit

The rest of the day focused on printmaking. This time we were doing some lino cut and we had some true artists in the room.

Thank you to our tutors Charlotte and Patsy, Simran and all our attendees and we are looking forward to workshop number 3 next week

25/04/2024

Introducing our first science comic!!

Meet Pol the polymerase who was happily replicating a strand of DNA when something unexpected happened...

Follow their journey to see if they find out what is wrong with this DNA and learn about some of the research from our labs too!

Download digital and print at home versions via the link in our bio!

Huge thank you to Claudia Flandoli, Dr Claudia Arnedo Pac, Dr Sarah Aitken, the rest of the Aitken lab and Dr Sophie Milbourne for their work on this project.

Oh and we may have more comics coming soon 👀

20/03/2024

We had an absolutely fabulous time yesterday at our first ‘Toxicology in Print’ workshop.

A busy day which started with one of our researchers David introducing his work on tyre wear and air pollution with lots of fantastic questions asked by our workshop attendees.

The rest of the day focused on printmaking, in particular drypoint etching with some lovely prints produced.

Thank you to all our attendees, to David for sharing his work and to our expert tutors Charlotte and Patsy for all their guidance throughout the day!

Don’t worry if you feel you may have missed out. There are two more workshops available to book onto now - each with a different researcher and the opportunity to learn a new printmaking technique.
Link in bio for more details

12/03/2024

PRINTING POLLUTION 🚙💨

This time next week we would have completed our first printmaking workshop with

We are excited to be welcoming 12 members of the public to the Unit to learn more about our non-exhaust pollution research and seeing how they interpret that using dry point etching

Here are some examples made by one of our printmaking tutors for the series to share a taste of what is to come next week!

Bookings for a second workshop in June are available now! Get your space before they go! Link in bio!!

28/02/2024

Tattoo my Science at Norwich Science Festival 🧬🔬✨

We had so much fun at our first on the weekend. We chatted to over 400 of you about toxicology, pollution, DNA, why we use fruit flies… and so much more! 🤩

We love discussing our research with you and hearing your views and thoughts on what we do, and just learning what you find fascinating too.

If you have photos or videos from the event, please tag us or as we would love to see them!

You can see all of our tattoo designs in our story highlight, and we will be back with our tattoos and more in just a few weeks. This time at

26/02/2024

We love turning our science into art and now you can too!

One of our researchers Vita has created a tutorial on how to make beaded antibodies like those shown here! All you need is some thread/string/wire and multicoloured round beads!

Antibodies are our immune systems security guards who have a vital job identifying and neutralising invaders into our bodies like bacteria or viruses. We have trillions of different antibodies in our bodies and while they all might look quite similar in shape, their variable regions (shown in these models by the different coloured beads) mean that our antibodies can be customised to lock onto specific invaders.

More on antibodies in our Immunology story highlight, but why not get crafty and make some antibodies of the beaded variety of your own. You could even go the next step and make them into keyrings or jewellery.

Swipe for the tutorial and if you give it a go we would love to see yours so tag us in your photos!

06/09/2023

A jam packed day of filming at the Unit yesterday! 🎥🎬

We are looking forward to showing you the final result very soon!

Address

Cambridge

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when MRC Toxicology Unit posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Cambridge?