Researcher and GBBO finalist team up to explain Bristol BRC project in cake form

Bristol Biomedical Research Centre researcher Lavinia Paternoster has teamed up with Great British Bake Off 2023 finalist Josh Smalley to bring a research project to life through the medium of cake. 

The pair baked vanilla cupcakes with passionfruit curd to explain Lavinia’s Medical Research Foundation funded project to understand the link between eczema and acne and mental health. Lavinia is using a statistical technique called Mendelian Randomization that looks at natural variation in our genes to understand the causes of conditions. 

While they whisked up the ingredients, Lavinia explained: 

“My project with the Medical Research Foundation is all about why there seems to be a link between skin conditions and mental health. So there does seem to be a link between those 2 things, but we don’t know what the reason for it is. And that’s what my research is hopefully going to explain.” 

The cupcakes represented the conditions (eczema, acne and mental health), the genes linked to these conditions and other factors that could influence their relationship, such as sleep. 

Watch the video 

Watch Lavinia and Josh baking up a storm and using the cakes to explain how the study works. 

Enter the Medical Research Foundation’s Science Bake Off

The bake was created to inspire entries to the Medical Research Foundation’s Science Bake Off. The competition is open to everyone, whether you’re curious about science, passionate about baking or just want a fun challenge.  

When not in the kitchen, Josh is a Researcher and Science Communicator at the University of Leicester, so he’s the perfect judge for the competition. The winning baker will get 4 tickets to New Scientist Live on 19 October, where they’ll also meet Josh. The deadline for photo entries is 21 September 2025. 

Lavinia said: 

“Bringing my science to life through cake was a great experience and definitely a career first. I had lots of fun with Josh in the Medical Research Foundation’s Science Kitchen, and the results were delicious!” 

Josh said: 

“When I was invited to judge the Science Bake Off, I jumped at the chance to bring together my two passions – baking and science communication. I thoroughly enjoyed baking with Lavinia and learning more about her research, including finding out how Mendelian Randomization works. 

“Every breakthrough starts with research, and we want to celebrate that with this photo competition.”