People with a genetic brain tumour link could reduce their risk of developing the condition by taking aspirin every day.

This is according to the results of a 10-year scientific study, which show that regular doses of aspirin reduce the risk of people with a particular genetic predisposition to brain tumours developing the disease.

The study involved people with Lynch syndrome, a genetic abnormality that predisposes carriers to developing brain tumours and other types of cancer. The condition affects at least one in 1,000 people.

Genetic analysis and molecular biology are starting to play a much more important role in the study of brain tumours, researchers told patients and carers attending Brain Tumour UK’s annual conference.

Scientists have conducted the first whole-genome scan of the brain tumour meningioma and revealed a genetic region that increases the risk of developing the disease, according to research published in Nature Genetics.

Professor Richard Houlston from The Institute of Cancer Research led the major international study comparing the DNA of 1,633 meningioma patients and 2,464 healthy people.

A Phd student, who will research childhood tumours, will be recruited to join the team at Brain Tumour UK Neuro-Oncology Research Centre after funding for the post has been received from donors.

Two new PhD researchers have joined Brain Tumour UK’s Neuro-Oncology Research Centre at the University of Wolverhampton, to explore the behaviour of astrocytomas in children and low grade gliomas in adults.

Hoda Kardooni MSc joins our team from the genetics labs at Royal Hallam Hospital in Sheffield, while Anushree Singh MSc has a Distinction from her work at Leeds. The two competed against many other students for these important three-year research positions.

Nanoparticles are in the news this week, as potential treatments for gliomas and other brain tumours. But what are nanoparticles and why are they so special?

A nanoparticle is a tiny collection of atoms – a molecule – one millionth of a metre in size. That’s 400 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

A cup of coffee or tea a day can help protect you against brain tumours, according to recent media reports.The reports follow a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in October 2010, which found that a daily cup of coffee or tea can stop brain tumours growing by restricting blood flow to the brain.

Media reports linking brain tumours to the use of mobile phones have surfaced again, with claims of a “brain tumour pandemic” unless people change their patterns of mobile phone use. So what's the real risk?

Mumbai-born Farjana Rowther is the latest addition to Brain Tumour UK’s team of researchers at the Brain Tumour UK Neuro-Oncology Research Centre, at the University of Wolverhampton.