Showcase Exhibition

Abi Hession

Physics

Developing a Multi-Spectroscopic Approach to Probe the Structural Biology of Ehlers鈥揇anlos Syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) comprises a group of inherited connective tissue disorders characterised by tissue fragility, joint hypermobility, and chronic musculoskeletal complications. While many genetic causes of EDS have been identified, the molecular mechanisms linking these genetic alterations to disease pathology remain poorly understood. Because the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a critical role in maintaining tissue integrity, characterising ECM changes may provide important insights into disease progression. To investigate these changes, we employed a complementary multi-modal analytical approach combining Raman spectroscopy, proteomics, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. These techniques provide distinct yet overlapping information on molecular structure, protein composition, and tissue organisation, enabling ECM alterations to be examined from multiple perspectives. Initial analyses revealed structural differences in the ECM of EDS samples compared with controls, indicating measurable changes in tissue architecture and composition. Future work looks to increase the sample number and further integrate data across methodologies to identify molecular signatures associated with ECM remodelling in EDS by including genomics data. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the disease pathology and support the development of improved diagnostic strategies and future therapeutic interventions.

Aishah Ibrahim

91福利 Medical School

Beyond Words: Understanding the Experiences of Women Informal Workers in Malaysia During COVID鈥�19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and intensified long standing health inequities, particularly among informal workers whose labour often unfolds beyond the reach of formal protections. For women informal workers, these pressures were compounded by gendered expectations around work, care, and access to resources. Malaysia offers an illustrative lens through which to explore these dynamics: its diverse informal economy, gendered labour patterns, and stringent pandemic response reveal how public health measures can collide with everyday survival in deeply felt ways.

This exhibition brings these experiences into view through a series of co-produced artworks developed from qualitative interviews with 27 women informal workers. Created in collaboration with a public contributor, the pieces translate spoken narratives into visual interpretations that foreground emotional, relational, and contradictory dimensions often flattened in conventional research outputs.

Grounded in findings from a reflexive thematic analysis, the visual pieces are organised around four interconnected themes: the intersecting logics that shaped pandemic decision-making; the quiet strain on mental wellbeing; the stabilising role of inner resolve and social networks; and the challenges of navigating institutional support. Together, they illuminate blind spots in current approaches and point toward the need for more inclusive and contextually grounded policies and practices for future pandemic preparedness.

By offering an alternative way of encountering their stories, these artworks make the experiences of women informal workers, who are routinely overlooked in public narratives and decision-making spaces, visible, felt, and open to engagement.

Alisa Nira

Life Sciences

Mechanisms of trans-network transmission of gene expression noise

Genetically identical cells of a population often manifest notable diversity generated by stochasticity in gene expression, although they live in the same environment1-2. A comprehensive quantitative and mechanistic understanding of cellular noise is essential for elucidating mechanisms related to biological control processes linked to phenotypic variability and gene regulation, as well as for the design of synthetic biocircuits that can be robustly controlled under diverse conditions. Previous work in this area has focussed primarily on transcriptional sources of gene expression noise and on individual genes. However, living systems are encoded by complex networks of genes and their downstream expression products, and we need to understand how noise is transmitted across such networks. We have engineered mutually compatible components and modules that can be assembled within Saccharomyces cerevisiae to mimic trans-network information transferring via transcriptional and translational mechanisms. The novel architecture of these synthetic systems allows us to monitor simultaneously, and in real time, the status of the protein and mRNA components, thus generating a rich data platform for modelling. This approach provides detailed insight into the communication of gene expression noise via transcriptional and translational mechanisms. For example, inter-module translational and transcriptional regulatory processes impose markedly different noise profiles on target expression, thus allowing a given regulatory impact to be transmitted coincidentally with different levels of stochasticity. 1. Raser, J.M. & O鈥橲hea, E.K. 2005. Science, 309, 2010-2013; 2. Raj, A. & Van Oudenaarden, A. 2008. Cell, 135, 216-26.

Faye Claridge

Sociology

Anonymous Prison Artists: exploring impacts of enforced anonymity in exhibiting artworks made in prison

Haytham Abusenjar

91福利 Medical School

Exploring the Perceptions of Oncology Healthcare Professionals on Introducing Home-based Palliative Care (HBPC) for Patients with Advanced Cancer in Gaza - A Qualitative Study

Kexin Huang

Global Sustainable Development

Play, Power, and Subjectivity: Rethinking Urban Childhoods in Contemporary China

Children today live through what is widely described as a crisis 鈥� mental health difficulties, loneliness, the shrinking of unstructured time. Dominant responses, from policy to research, treat these as discrete problems to be solved. This study reads them differently: as symptoms of a structural condition I call the twin depoliticisation of children and of play. Children are reduced to developing subjects to be optimised; play is reduced to a function 鈥� cognitive, therapeutic, expressive 鈥� to be managed. What is erased in both moves is the same: their standing as political and social presences in the present.This depoliticisation, I argue, is sustained by three unmarked assumptions running through childhood studies and play theory alike: the universal child, abstracted from class, gender, place, and political condition; the apolitical player, in which both play and the child are framed as anything but political; and the Western canon as ground, generalised from a narrow slice of human experience. The three are mutually constitutive.Against this, the study makes a theoretical intervention enacted through empirical research with children aged 8鈥�12 in Chongqing, China. Using arts-based and child-led methods 鈥� photovoice, drawing, and focus groups 鈥� it examines how children narrate and visually represent their play, how they engage with parental and institutional authority, and how they negotiate the expectations placed upon them. Urban China is mobilised here not as context but as critical theoretical resource, a site from which the universalising claims of the Western canon can be interrogated and play can be re-read as situated political practice.

Md Saimul Islam

91福利 Medical School

Prevalence and burden of depression, anxiety and stress among older adults in South and Southeast Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background

The rate of ageing population is faster in South and Southeast Asia than others region, concerns about mental health problems in older age are growing. Many older adults experience depression, anxiety, or stress, but the true scale of the problem across the region has not been fully understood. This study aimed to estimate burden of mental health problems are among adults aged 60 years and older.

Methods

We reviewed article from PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, and IMSEAR published up to March 2026. Studies were included if they involved older adults from South or Southeast Asian countries and used recognised tools or medical diagnoses to measure depression, anxiety, or stress. Two reviewers independently checked the studies and assessed their quality. Results from all studies were combined to estimate prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress are across the region.

Findings

A total of 183 studies from eight countries were included, covering more than 470,000 older adults. The average age of participants was 71.5 years, and just over half were women.The study found that about one in three older adults showed symptoms of depression, anxiety, or high stress. When only medically diagnosed conditions were considered, around 12.5% had depression and 6% had anxiety disorders. No studies reported diagnosed stress disorders. Across the region, an estimated 63.9 million older adults were affected by depression, 57.6 million by anxiety, and 63.7 million by high stress levels. India had the largest number of older adults experiencing depression, while Bangladesh had the highest rates of both depression and anxiety. Mental health problems were more common in female than participants and in more recent studies.

Interpretation

Mental health problems affect a very large number of older adults in South and Southeast Asia. Many people who show symptoms may never receive a formal diagnosis or treatment. The findings highlight the need for better mental health screening in primary healthcare, more accessible psychological support services, and stronger social support systems to improve wellbeing in older age.

Ohud Alhaqbani

Education

Teaching Numeracy at Home: Adapting TEN-DD for Autistic Children in Saudi Arabia

Early numeracy skills are important for children鈥檚 learning, independence, and everyday participation. However, autistic children may experience difficulties acquiring foundational numeracy skills, and few evidence-based interventions have been culturally and linguistically adapted for Arabic-speaking families in Saudi Arabia. This study examined the feasibility of translating, culturally adapting, and delivering the Teaching Early Numeracy to Children with Developmental Disabilities (TEN-DD) programme through a parent-mediated home-based model.

The study was conducted in two phases. First, TEN-DD materials and parent training resources were translated into Arabic and culturally adapted through consultation with Saudi parents and teachers. Second, six mothers delivered the adapted programme to their autistic children at home over eight weeks, supported through online training and weekly mentoring. Mixed-methods data included recruitment and retention records, parent implementation checklists, pre- and post-programme numeracy assessments, satisfaction ratings, and informal parent feedback.

Findings suggested that the adapted programme was acceptable and practical for home delivery. Parents completed the programme, reported increased confidence in supporting numeracy learning, and described the materials as culturally relevant and compatible with daily family routines.

Although this early-stage study was not designed to evaluate effectiveness, it provides important preliminary evidence supporting the feasibility and acceptability of Arabic parent-mediated numeracy interventions for autistic children and highlights directions for future larger-scale research.

Nazeen Naveed Sait

WMG

TBC

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