© Pint of Science, 2026. All rights reserved.
Discover the science of the human body through stories of health, disease, diagnosis, and medical innovation. From investigating the origins of new illnesses to understanding Alzheimer’s disease and the remarkable ways we read and communicate through touch, this event highlights how biology and medicine help us better understand ourselves. It is an evening about the body, the brain, and the future of healthcare.
Is this a new disease or a killer? How to investigate clusters
Jane Luise Hutton
(Professor of Statistics)
The virus HIV was identified in the 1980s, after reports of ""an exotic new disease"" in 1981. How was the virus found?
In two months in 1993, five boys had emergency admissions for surgery on their guts. The doctors had not seen any problem like this before. What should they do?
The number of deaths on a hospital ward doubled from one year to the next. Nurses, doctors, management were concerned. What should they do?
This talk is about the statistical and scientific methods which have been established in order to identify new conditions and explore what might cause the condition. Personal features such as sex, age or ethnicity, and lifestyle choices such as drinking pints of beer or sunbathing can be associated with diseases without being causes. Separating out a causal pathway from features which ""tag along"" with a disease requires clear and careful definitions. We all tend to be biased in what we observe, so well designed methods of data collection are necessary.
I will use these examples to explain the principles of epidemiology which reveal new diseases or causes.
In two months in 1993, five boys had emergency admissions for surgery on their guts. The doctors had not seen any problem like this before. What should they do?
The number of deaths on a hospital ward doubled from one year to the next. Nurses, doctors, management were concerned. What should they do?
This talk is about the statistical and scientific methods which have been established in order to identify new conditions and explore what might cause the condition. Personal features such as sex, age or ethnicity, and lifestyle choices such as drinking pints of beer or sunbathing can be associated with diseases without being causes. Separating out a causal pathway from features which ""tag along"" with a disease requires clear and careful definitions. We all tend to be biased in what we observe, so well designed methods of data collection are necessary.
I will use these examples to explain the principles of epidemiology which reveal new diseases or causes.
Detection and Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease using Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Rajintha Gunawardena
(Post-doctoral research fellow)
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 55 million people worldwide and around 982,000 in the UK. It is incurable and progressive, causing neuronal loss in specific brain regions and disrupting structural connectivity, which leads to cognitive decline. Because AD progresses over time, patterns of interaction between brain regions (brain connectivity) also change across disease stages.
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive and relatively inexpensive neuroimaging technique that records the brain’s electrical activity and can be used to assess interactions between brain regions. For this reason, interest in EEG-based AD detection and diagnosis has grown substantially. Given its practicality and low cost, EEG-based assessments may also become part of routine clinical screening.
This talk provides a brief overview of AD from a brain-connectivity perspective, how connectivity changes across disease progression, and current advances in EEG-based detection and diagnosis.
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive and relatively inexpensive neuroimaging technique that records the brain’s electrical activity and can be used to assess interactions between brain regions. For this reason, interest in EEG-based AD detection and diagnosis has grown substantially. Given its practicality and low cost, EEG-based assessments may also become part of routine clinical screening.
This talk provides a brief overview of AD from a brain-connectivity perspective, how connectivity changes across disease progression, and current advances in EEG-based detection and diagnosis.
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Other 1 Mill Street events
2026-05-20
Sustainable Futures
1 Mill Street
1 Mill St, Leamington Spa, Coventry & Warwickshire, CV31 1ES, United Kingdom