St John's College News

  1. Discovery of shape of the SARS-CoV-2 genome after infection could inform new Covid-19 treatments

    “Our team of scientists helped solve a fundamental puzzle about how SARS-CoV2 works"
    Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 - uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells. This could inform the development of effective drugs that target specific parts of the virus genome, in the fight against Covid-19. This…read more

  2. Raising the bar

    "The catering staff have made a huge contribution to people’s wellbeing; we are always here, come rain or shine, that’s what we do"
    Jason Barker, the Bar Manager at St John’s, could often be found pulling pints before the pandemic, but the Covid-19 crisis saw him step out from behind the pumps to turn courier, shopkeeper and even counsellor. In our latest pandemic tale, he reveals how the Catering team is working hard to provide a safe port in the storm. Before I joined the College in January 2017, I worked in the pub…read more

  3. Keeping house in a pandemic

    “We look after the bedmakers, and they look after the students”
    Belinda Peat is Forecourt Senior Supervisor in the Housekeeping Department at St John’s and worked in College throughout the lockdown, supporting students and Fellows still in residence as Covid-19 fastened its grip on the outside world. In our latest pandemic story, she tells us why our housekeeping staff are at the heart of life at St John’s. I’ve been here 32 years and I love this job. I…read more

  4. Silver medal awarded to St John’s physicist for ground-breaking work in quantum technologies

    The Thomas Young Medal and Prize is presented for distinguished contributions to optics
    A world-leading scientist from St John’s has been awarded a medal and prize from the Institute of Physics for his contribution to advancing the understanding of light. Professor Mete Atatüre has won the 2020 Thomas Young Medal and Prize for his pioneering contributions to quantum optical phenomena in semiconductors and diamond, creating ‘exciting applications’ in quantum technologies. The…read more

  5. New scheme to encourage more BAME students to apply to university

    "By collaborating, we’re able to put our energy into some really great progressive programmes that can be well-targeted to individual groups"
    St John’s has joined forces with other Cambridge Colleges to help equip young people from underrepresented ethnic groups in the UK with the information and skills to apply to selective universities. The Colleges are working together on the year-long ClickCambridge programme to provide two different streams of webinars: one for Year 10 black and mixed heritage black students, and the other for…read more

  6. Tributes paid to Professor Chris Abell who has died aged 62

    “We are devastated by the shocking news of the death of Chris Abell, our warm, wise friend. He has long been held in the greatest esteem”
    Professor Chris Abell, the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and an alumnus of St John’s College, has died suddenly at the age of 62. Professor of Biological Chemistry and Todd-Hamied Fellow of Christ’s College, Professor Abell FRS, FMedSci, was a pioneer in the field of fragment-based drug discovery, a successful entrepreneur, a founding director of Cambridge Enterprise, and the…read more

  7. Books, babies and breastfeeding

    "I submitted the manuscript to the publishers just after 11pm on 30 April and I had my new baby daughter a few hours later"
    Dr Jodi Gardner, Director of Studies for Law at St John’s, had a remarkably busy time in lockdown. She finished two new books with three young daughters at home, taught classes online, and gave birth to her fourth child. As part of our series of pandemic stories from St John’s, she tells us how she did it. One of the best things about teaching at St John’s is the connection you have with your…read more

  8. Writer-in-residence nominated for £25,000 prize

    “We were unsettled, captivated and compelled. Poetry is the most resilient, potent, capacious and universal art we have”
    A book by Sasha Dugdale, St John’s College writer-in-residence, has been shortlisted for the most valuable prize in British poetry. Sasha is one of 10 poets in the running for this year’s £25,000 TS Eliot Prize for collections of poems that the judges said ‘unsettled, captivated and compelled’. Her book, Deformations, was published in July and features poems themed around the creation and…read more

  9. Molecular biologist honoured for PhD findings

    “His fundamental discovery is of broad importance and impact”
    An ‘exceptional’ young scientist has been given an international award for new discoveries he made in mammal cell biology while a postgraduate student at St John’s. Dr Patrick Chitwood is one of just six biologists worldwide to receive this year’s International Birnstiel Award for Doctoral Studies in the Molecular Life Sciences from the Research Institute of Molecular Biology (IMP) in Vienna, in…read more

  10. Dining room to Old Divinity School

    "When students turn up to start their courses, there is a sense of completion and fulfilment, because that's the real aim of the whole admissions process"
    In the second article in our series of pandemic stories from St John’s, Ross Agnew, Undergraduate Admissions Administrator, talks about starting a new job during lockdown, navigating the A-Level results crisis, and the unexpected silver linings for Cambridge Admissions. April was a strange time to begin a new job. I had just done my final weeks in the Cambridge Admissions Office, where I was…read more

  11. Library tiling inspired by work of Nobel Prize-winner Sir Roger Penrose

    All calculations must be done by hand, which would put off most people, but the tiles were invented purely for fun by Sir Roger
    'Ingenious' Professor Sir Roger Penrose, alumnus and Honorary Fellow of St John's, has just won a Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on the formation of black holes, but did you know that he also designed a mathematical tiling system? Known as Penrose tiling, it shows what is known as fivefold symmetry and an example of the tiling decorates the floor at the entrance to the Library at…read more

  12. Room where D-Day landings were planned has lockdown refurbishment

    “The Normandy Invasion may seem a million miles from the sedate atmosphere of the Combination Room of St John's but for three days at the end of March 1944 the room played a very significant role in the preparations for the Landings”
    Army officials planned the D-Day landings in the Senior Combination Room at St John’s College – now 76 years later the oak floor of the historic room has been returned to its 17th century roots. The 93ft Senior Combination Room on the first floor of Second Court was a key location for planning the D-Day landings because its lengthy floor space was ideal for poring over maps. The D-Day combat…read more

  13. Members of St John’s recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours

    The Queen’s Birthday Honours List recognises the outstanding achievements of people across the United Kingdom
    A Fellow of St John’s has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to scholarship. Professor Stefan Reif, who has been a Fellow of St John’s since 1988, has been named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list alongside four other members of St John’s including Honorary Fellow Professor Sheena Radford who was made an Officer of the Order of the British…read more

  14. Sky’s the limit for postgraduate tackling mountain hike to boost mental health support for young people

    “It will not only help an incredible charity to potentially save lives but will also show people with low self-esteem or self-doubt that they’re capable of much more than they give themselves credit for”
    A postgraduate student from St John’s plans to trek up Africa’s tallest mountain to raise £10,500 for a suicide prevention charity to inspire young people to take care of their mental health and wellbeing. Gav Topley is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of PAPYRUS, the national charity for the Prevention of Young Suicide, with Charlie Kerry-Pickering, his best friend from home in…read more

  15. Above and beyond

    “Our department is like a big wheel and each of us is a different spoke. If we were all the same that wheel won’t go round”
    In the first of a series of stories from St John’s, Porter Mark Nelligan tells us he has seen many changes over the years but nothing as challenging as the pandemic, which he had rather more experience of than most. At the forefront of College life, the Porters have been working round-the-clock to keep our community safe this unusual Michaelmas Term and, as Mark reveals, their welcome is as warm…read more

  16. Academic features in WWF film highlighting crucial role the finance sector can play in helping to save the planet

    “If we don’t improve our relationship with nature, it’s not just the financial system that’s in jeopardy but every other system to which we belong, including life itself”
    A leading economist and St John’s Fellow has joined forces with Sir David Attenborough to call for ‘urgent change’ to the finance sector to help tackle the climate emergency. Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, Professor Emeritus of Economics and head of the UK Treasury’s Economics of Biodiversity review, features in Our Planet: Too Big To Fail, along with Sir David, Greta Thunberg, environmental…read more

  17. Nobel prize in physics awarded to St John’s scientist for black hole formation work

    “For the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”
    Three scientists have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on blackhole formation and the discovery of a supermassive blackhole at the centre of our galaxy. Professor Sir Roger Penrose, alumnus and Honorary Fellow of St John’s, Professor Reinhard Genzel and Professor Andrea Ghez together scooped the 114th Nobel Prize in Physics today. The Nobel Prizes recognise and reward the…read more

  18. ‘Cambridge is for you’ – student message to applicants from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds

    “We want to share our knowledge and experiences to open up this world to as many people as possible”
    An undergraduate at St John’s has helped launch an initiative that aims to ‘change the face of Cambridge University’. Josh Adeyemi is a founding member of aim – a new student-led access project set-up to inspire students from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds to apply to Cambridge. It covers topics from misconceptions of Cambridge, to imposter syndrome and whether students get judged for…read more

  19. Heather Hancock, Master of St John's, gives her first video address to the College community

    "Crises come and crises go - and for more than 500 years, St John's College has shown that it always comes through. Coronavirus does not lessen my excitement or enthusiasm about our future"
    Heather Hancock was formally admitted as Master of St John's College on 1 October 2020. A group of 30 Fellows attended a small Admission ceremony in the College Chapel. Due to Covid-19 regulations, Heather is not be able to meet as many members of the College in person as she would have been able to do in normal times, so a video address to the community was recorded. In it, she says how…read more

  20. Ex-slave Mary Prince was a ‘savvy narrator’ who used religion to convince the British public that black people were human beings

    “Mary Prince brought a distinctly female voice to the abolition debate at a time when women’s voices were completely obscured”
    When The History of Mary Prince, the first account of a black woman’s life in Britain, was published in 1831 it scandalised the British public, galvanised the anti-slavery movement and contributed to the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. But who was Mary Prince, slavery’s everywoman whose revelations about the reality of life as a female slave spoke for millions of silent women? And…read more

  21. ‘Truly exceptional’ evolutionary biologist receives prestigious grant

    The applications were narrowed down to the candidates with ‘truly exceptional project ideas and personalities’
    A scientist at St John’s has been awarded a Fellowship for outstanding postdoctoral researchers. Dr Joana Meier has been selected by The Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science as one of nine ‘truly exceptional’ new Fellows after an extended global recruitment campaign. The Branco Weiss Fellowship Society in Science is a postdoc programme for scientists with a proven track record who are…read more

  22. A quartet of St John’s students take part in University Challenge

    "I felt pretty confident that we weren’t going to embarrass ourselves too much because we had done so much practice"
    A team of students from St John’s will go head-to-head with a team from the Royal Academy of Music in the new series of University Challenge. The 11th first-round match of the series will be screened on Monday, September 21 at 8.30pm on BBC Two. The episode sees the contestants battle it out in a bid to reach the second stage of the toughest quiz show on television. The St John’s team is made-…read more

  23. World’s largest ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian

    “This study changes the perception of who a Viking actually was”
    Invaders, pirates, warriors – the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond. Now cutting-edge DNA sequencing of more than 400 Viking skeletons from archaeological sites scattered across Europe and Greenland will rewrite the history books as it has shown: Skeletons from famous Viking…read more

  24. Pandemic spurs undergraduate brothers into launching price-busting PPE company

    “We hope to build transparency in this market and ensure that no-one is overpaying for PPE”
    Student brothers from St John’s College have founded a non-profit organisation offering high quality PPE at cost-price in the ongoing fight against Covid-19. Fifth-year medic Aman Mehan, 23, and his 20-year-old geography student brother Kavi, who finished his second year at St John’s last term, launched the Cost Price PPE website from their home in Manchester during lockdown in May.  The…read more

  25. Andrew Chamblin Memorial Concert 2020

    The concert will be livestreamed this year
    The fourteenth annual Andrew Chamblin Memorial Concert will take place on Tuesday 29 September 2020. The concert will be given by Margaret Phillips FRCO ARCM at 8pm in Christ Church Cathedral, and this year it will be streamed live online due to the pandemic; physical attendance is not possible. Ms Phillips will play an hour-long programme of organ works by Bach, Böhm, Frescobaldi, Marchand and…read more