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Cecily Morrison – Inclusive Design is About Taking a Disability-first Approach

Cecily Morrison – Inclusive Design is About Taking a Disability-first Approach

by | Nov 11, 2020 | Community, Events, Raising awareness, RAREfest, Research, Technology

Cecily Morrison – Inclusive design

Cecily Morrison is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge. She leads a multi-disciplinary team that innovates new technologies to enable people. Last month Cecily was awarded an MBE for services to inclusive design. She and her team are exhibiting at RAREfest20. More on that later, but first …

Congratulations on your MBE! How did that feel?

I was extremely pleased that inclusive design has been so clearly recognized. Inclusion is not a ‘nice-to-have’, it is essential for a diverse set of people to take part in society. I am grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to make technology, working with amazing teams, that supports people with their inclusion.

What does Microsoft in Cambridge do in terms of inclusive design?

Inclusive Design is a really good way to innovate. By working with those with unique perspectives, it can help a team think about a problem in a different way that can benefit all. Our team is currently focused on building AI tech to help people who are blind or low vision better understand who is in their immediate vicinity.

What kind of products do you work on and what difference do they make?

One of the products specifically mentioned in the MBE award was Code Jumper – a physical programming language for teaching the basics of coding and computational thinking to children ages 7 – 11, regardless of their level of vision. This came about after engaging with a community of young blind and low vision people in Cambridge, a community that my son is now part of.  Coding is a key part of our curriculum, but it isn’t accessible to those who are blind or low vision. We wanted to build something that would allow children who are blind or low vision to code alongside their sighted peers.

Read more about how Code Jumper started.

 

 How does Microsoft work with people with accessibility challenges?

Microsoft believes in accessibility from the top down and the bottom up. Whether in research (like me) or in product, we work with people to understand their experiences now and in the future.

Why is inclusive design important and why is it often difficult to get products adapted?

I believe that we need to take a disability-first approach, not disability-last. If it works for those with disabilities, it is much easier to make it work for the mainstream. We are moving into the next phase of AI tech and I would highly encourage those with disabilities to get involved in disability-first datasets, such as https://orbit.city.ac.uk/phase-2-data-collection/

For technologies to reflect a diverse set of people, they must be trained on data of all of those people. Find out more here: https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/shrinking-the-data-desert/

Microsoft logo
Melita Irving DNA Doc

What can people expect from the Microsoft booth at RAREfest20?

We will be showing some of our tech and giving you the chance to try out inclusive design. Whether it’s a tool you can bring as a patient to groups you work with, or as a student who wants to approach the world in a more inclusive way, there will be something for you to learn.

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Dr Melita Irving- The DNA Doc at RAREfest20

Dr Melita Irving- The DNA Doc at RAREfest20

by | Oct 1, 2020 | Community, Events, Genomics, Healthcare, Raising awareness, RAREfest, Research

Known as the DNA doctor, Melita Irving is passionate about … well, DNA! She works as a consultant in clinical genetics at Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital, specialising in conditions that affect the skeleton. Last year Melita’s book ‘The Human DNA Manual’ was published by Haynes, covering everything from how DNA catches killers to identifying long-dead kings! Who’s the book for? Anyone with DNA!

DNA Doctors Melita Irving RAREfest20

At RAREfest20 Melita will be doing a live DNA extraction, not on a human (phew!) but on a strawberry. She’ll be interviewed by Dr Lucy Mackay from Medics4RareDiseases, a charity that drives an attitude change towards rare diseases amongst medical students and doctors
in training.

We caught up with Melita ahead of  RAREfest20 to talk all things DNA…

What does a genetic scientist actually do?
Genetics impacts upon every system in the body and affects everybody! The most common type of referral into the clinical genetics service is a child who is not meeting their developmental milestones. Maybe they’re not growing as expected. Maybe they look different. Maybe they have an abnormality, like a hole in the heart. The question needs to be asked: Is this child just unlucky or could there be one single explanation that accounts for everything – and could it be genetic? Being a genetic scientist is exactly like being a detective, looking for that key clue that leads you down the right path and not being confused by any red herrings that are thrown in the way.

How has technology changed the way rare diseases are diagnosed?
There are 20,000 genes, all of which can go wrong, and there are 8000 listed genetic disorders that are classed as rare diseases. Up until very recently we’ve been absolutely hamstrung by our ability to do genetic testing for diagnostic purposes. We used to put all the clues together, do our ‘best guess’ diagnosis, see if there’s a test available and then get that test done. After all that, you find you’ve been on the wrong path the whole time. So, you’d have to come back up that path and go down another one. Rinse and repeat. It could be a very long drawn out process that never led to any answers.

However, we are now in an era where we can do high throughput genetic testing. We are able to look at all the genes in one go and focus all our attention on those we think are relevant to the story. You can go down ten different paths at the same time! We are anticipating that in the next year or so the speed at which we get to diagnosis through genetic testing will be much quicker. That’s all down to technology and whole genome sequencing.

Why are rare diseases so hard to diagnose?
Not many people know about rare diseases and there are so many of them, plus there’s no one type. You might have the same diagnosis as someone else, but the format of your rare disease is completely different.

Another problem is at medical school we are frequently told not to worry about rare diseases and concentrate on more common conditions. This means rare diseases are never fully appreciated and that bit of the ‘doctor brain’ never gets to develop. Medics4RareDiseases are pushing for more learning at medical school and in early stage careers, so rare diseases become something you must think about.

Melita Irving DNA Doc

Technology has opened up the door for a much more rapid diagnostic system for rare disease, which will mean they will be pushed up the agenda and that will encourage greater awareness.

Who is your hero and why?

Rosalind Franklin. An unsung hero who doggedly worked away at discovering the structure of DNA, didn’t get recognition for her amazing work, but didn’t make a fuss about it. I’ve seen the photograph she took that led to the understanding of DNA as a double helix. It’s a wonderful thing to behold.

Where’s your favourite place in the world and why?
This year I didn’t get to go to any the events I usually do, but I did manage to get a holiday! I went to Rhodes in Greece and it reminded me how much I love all things Greek! The sky, the sea, the food, the language. Just lying on the Mediterranean in the sunshine with the prospect of a delicious lunch on the beach is probably one of my favourite places to be.

What is your greatest achievement?
The book! I’m delighted with how it’s turned out. It looks so pretty and is accessible to people who might not know anything about DNA. If I can impart my love of DNA to other people, that would be a very fine achievement.

What are your hopes for the future of rare disease?
With all the improvements in how rare diseases are diagnosed, it would be really great if the next step was finding treatments that will make things better for patients with rare diseases. That’s where I’d like to see the future going.

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Dr. Giles Yeo “RAREfest20 is a unique event that drives better science”

Dr. Giles Yeo “RAREfest20 is a unique event that drives better science”

by | Sep 21, 2020 | Events, Genomics, Healthcare, RAREfest, Research, Uncategorized

Dr Giles Yeo works at the University of Cambridge, studying the genetics of obesity and the mechanisms of how our brain controls food intake. While interested in the general population, Giles says information garnered from studying rare disease patients with severe obesity helps understand the biology which has a broader impact on society and everyone else. We spoke to him ahead of his talk at RAREfest20

< Giles chats about CRDN’s RAREfest20
RAREfest20 logo

Why is RAREfest so important?
The vast majority of conferences I attend are within the academic bubble. You’re talking to other scientists and speaking in jargon. Presenting at an event like RAREfest, you have to think harder about what you’re going to say. Not only are you talking to scientists, but also patients and their families. For me as an academic and a scientist, this is always a gut check. Scientists can be myopic when they’re sitting in the lab moving small volumes of colourless liquids around. This a reminder that at the end of the test tube there is a human being and we’re trying to stop their suffering.

RAREfest brings together the people doing the research with the people suffering from the problem. This provides more perspective and I think drives better science.

Patients affected by rare diseases say they’ve been all but forgotten during the pandemic. Why do you think this is?
The problem with rare diseases is like the name says, they’re rare. These conditions have a huge impact on the individual affected, but on a societal level, very little. When you’re going out and about talking about a condition, your words will influence the patients and the families affected, but for the average person, when you say the condition only affects 1 out of 15,000 people, they don’t feel concerned.

Human beings are inherently selfish because we’re interested in self-preservation. With a limited number of neurons in our brains, we want to worry about what impacts the majority of society rather than what impacts a small proportion of society. This is the problem. This is the value of having Cambridge Rare Disease Network and events surrounding rare disease because while each disease is, by its definition, rare, these events allow you to build critical mass. You can begin to group the conditions together.

For instance, each of the individual genetic conditions that result in severe obesity is going to be vanishingly rare. But once you group them all together, they explain a significant proportion, around 1-2%, of obesity.

What are the greatest challenges facing RD patients?
It’s all about money. How do you convince someone to fund your study of a rare disease? If you’re a charity, how to you get the man on the street to part with his hard-earned bucks? And, how do you persuade a government funder or big charity that this is an important disease to study, compared to the big four – cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. I’m not trying to compare the severity or the relevance here, but it is a challenge to frame your argument that the study of rare diseases is important.

 

 

 

What would be the biggest step forward for the rare disease community?
That would be to convince society that they should care. I know it sounds callous, but large proportions of society say, ‘I’ve got other problems, I don’t have to worry about you.’

Why should they care? They have to care because while the disease in itself is rare, it is influencing a universal pathway. For example, understanding what influences your body weight opens up greater possibilities and new biology for understanding this problem for the broader community. Studying this as a rare condition may result in the development of a drug that not only helps a rare person but broader society. Understanding rare genetic variations help develop universal pathways that impact everyone in the species.

Tell us what people can expect from your talk at RAREfest20.
I will chart the story about how studying rare diseases of obesity has given us new insight into normal variations of body weight. Why are some people small, medium or large? Our knowledge stems from, largely, the study of rare diseases. I want to convince people that by us understanding a rare condition there is a benefit to broader society. Again, it’s about showing people and policymakers why it’s worth supporting research into rare disease.

Who is your hero?
My PhD supervisor, the Nobel prize winner, Sydney Brenner. I was his last PhD student. He took a chance on me and gave me my love for genetics. He died last year, but his impact on me remains.

Where is your favourite place in the world?
San Francisco. That’s where I did my undergraduate degree. My dad is still there. I love going there for holidays and to see my family.

What is your greatest achievement?
I haven’t achieved it yet! I’d like society to understand that your body weight is not actually a choice but biologically driven. That’s my goal. The world would be a much kinder place.

What is your wish for rare diseases?
For society and funding bodies to understand why it’s worth investing resources to study rare diseases.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Dr. Giles Yeo "RAREfest20 is a unique event that drives better science" 1

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RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners

RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners

by | Oct 7, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, Community, Drugs and pharmaceuticals, Events, Healthcare, Patient Groups, Raising awareness, Research, Summit, Technology, Treatments

Wellcome Genome Campus hosts CRDN RARESummit 19

PASSION LED US HERE 
A crisp, bright September morning in the calming woodland setting of the Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge welcomed a chattering, excited collection of rare disease stakeholders from across the UK and Europe for the long anticipated CRDN RAREsummit19. 

For the team at CRDN, September 23rd was the culmination of a busy year of planning and creating,  a process  driven by a passion to move towards a world  where rare disease is at the top of the mainstream agenda and patient are involved as partners in the many design and development processes which impact on their lives. RARESummit19 brought together patients, patient advocacy groups, researchers, health care professionals, tech and pharmaceutical industries,  all leading the way in pioneering partnerships to accelerate change. This year’s venue, the prestigious Wellcome Genome Campus, was a move from our central Cambridge location and a fitting new venue for RARESummit19. We needed more space to cater for a growing number of  attendees – a 58% increase on our inaugural summit of 2015, a brighter and more welcoming exhibition space to showcase more organisations and companies and better accessibility features which sometimes only a modern setting can bring. Home to some of the world’s foremost institutes and organisations in genomics and computational biology, WGC is committed to delivering life-changing science and we felt was the perfect location to make progress in rare diseases.  

Delegate feedback on this change in location was encouragingly positive “Absolutely superb venue and facilities, plenty of room for exhibitors, delegate interaction in breakout sessions and of course, first class auditorium and AV – so important to clearly hear and see every speaker”. But of course, that doesn’t mean we’ll rest on our laurels and we appreciate the feedback about tweaks we could make within the venue to improve things.

We welcomed a number of returning exhibitors and some who were exhibiting for the very first time. The quality and wealth of information, education and support was outstanding – a real testament to the work being done day in and day out by  passionate stakeholders within the rare disease field.

It’s always a pleasure to see representatives from all stakeholder groups in attendance. Diversity in attendance is vital to the success of collaborative and open discussions. The buzz over lunch was testament to the great networking taking place and audience participation was at its highest ever via our event technology Glisser. 199 people logged in to download slides on their devices, ask questions and respond to polls. An astonishing 155 questions came flooding in and 1227 votes were placed during polls.  Thank you to all who attended and contributed so meaningfully in so many different ways. 

MORNING SESSION: Patients as partners in searching for treatments and cures 

Patient engagement and partnership is crucial in the development of drugs and products for the bio- pharmaceutical industry. There has been a move towards a more patient-centric approach by industry over the last few years to varying degrees of success. During the morning session we wanted to shine a light on those relationships that were leading the way and discuss what the future might hold for rare disease patient collaborations.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 2
Dr. Jonathan Milner
© CRDN 2019

Opening remarks

 Dr. Jonathan Milner, CRDN Trustee, Abcam founder and biotech entrepreneur opened the summit and set the scene for an “exciting day ahead”. Dr Milner praised the wealth of expertise that had come together in one room and stated, “it is the motivation of making a difference to patients which unites us.” With the enormous rate of scientific progress and patients taking their health care into their own hands it is an exciting time for genomics and Dr Milner impressed on the audience that for CRDN, an important part of their work was to incubate networks to allow for meaningful collaborations.  

Keynote Speaker

Alastair Kent, OBE presented  ‘From the margins to the centre: A personal reflection on progress for rare disease patients and families’, walking us through the history of scientific progress to demonstrate the speed at which science has advanced rapidly over the last 25 years. He highlighted the 100,00-genome project as a “research milestone” and provided this poignant quote by William Harvey to demonstrate how “rare diseases provide key insights into how our bodies work.”

“Nature is nowhere accustomed more openly to display her secret mysteries than in cases where she shows traces of her workings apart from the beaten path; nor is there any way to advance the proper practice of medicine than to give our minds to the discovery of the usual law of nature, by the careful investigation of cases of rarer forms of disease.”  William Harvey.

Rare diseases provide key insights into the way our bodies work.

William Harvey

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 3
Alastair Kent
© CRDN 2019

Panel Discussion
No patient left behind, patient group partnering

Panellists representing a wide range of rare disease patient advocacy groups provided valuable insight into disruptive innovations and the importance of including patient voices at every step of the drug development journey.

Dr Ana Mingorance (CDO Lou Lou Foundation) gave a brilliant visual, accessible whistle-stop tour of the drug development process emphasising the importance of patient groups in this. Charity leaders then shared their successes in working within this process, and the barriers they faced. Carina Thurgood (Co-Founder of Maddi Foundation) battled against the isolation experienced when her daughter was diagnosed with SPG15 and was the only known case in the UK. She has since partnered with a research team at Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience and raised thousands through public appeals and TV appearances to fund their research into a gene therapy. Next steps are to develop a natural history study.

 Allison Watson (Co-Founder of Ring 20 Research) described the challenges she faced finding a large enough cohort when working with an ultra-rare disease. She emphasised the importance of becoming a team player and how the voice of Ring20 has been raised by being involved in the ERN for rare epilepsies and being an EPAG rep. Tanya Collin-Histed (CEO at International Gaucher Disease) inspired the audience with their work ensuring that no Gaucher patient is left behind through their international efforts to support patients across the globe, their international registry development and willingness to embrace wearable health tech to gather much needed data.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 4
Dr. Paul Wicks
© CRDN 2019
Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 5
Dr. Nick Sireau
© CRDN 2019

Moderated Discussion
Disruptive technologies  

Dr Tim Gulliams (Founder of CRDN, and CEO & Co-Founder of Healx), Dr Andy Richards (Digital Health Entrepreneur), Dr David Brown (Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Healx), Elin Haf Davies (CEO at Aparito) and Dr Pete Chan (Head of Research at Raremark).

Here the importance of technology was discussed including how the internet allows patients and science to connect more readily than before and how Google has been an agent for empowerment. Their discussion covered wearable technologies and their role in collecting “real time” real world data and how it is essential to listen to patients and families in order to document real world evidence beyond the consultation room. The panel discussed the pros of using technology to do the “heavy lifting” in data sorting to relieve the current burden from Doctors and nurses and improve outcomes for the rare community.

The Rare Summit was once again a great opportunity for patients, industry, academia and clinicians to come together to hammer out new ways of developing treatments for rare diseases.

Dr. Nick Sireau

CEO and Chair, AKU Society

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 6
Elin Haf Davies
© CRDN 2019

The Google and Genomics are two technologies that have changed the understanding and opportunities available to people living with rare diseases. Moving forward with rapidly changing innovation we need to make sure that just because “we can” doesn’t mean “we should”. Ethics and patients, and not technology should drive what and how we do next.

Elin Haf Davies

Founder and CEO, Aparito

Moderated Discussion
Disruptive Innovation and Transformation – Patients at the heart of the drug development process

Dr Joanna Segieth (Takeda), Professor Chas Bountra (Uni of Oxford), Steve Rees AstraZeneca), Dr Daniel O’Connor (MHRA), Neil Dugdale (SOBI), Thomas Ogorka ( Orphan Reach) and Dr Nick Sireau (AKU Society).

This was a lively debate on the importance of working with patient groups and of open and transparent collaboration and working practises within the pharma industry.

Questions flooded in from delegates for this talk with the most upvoted question being “How do we get regulators, researchers and industry to work together to agree standardised endpoints that can be measured remotely?” followed closely by “Having worked bridging pharma with patients for 25 years, I’ve never seen Pharma behave poorly towards patients but I’ve seen ‘big’ patient orgs reject working with Pharma. Can we eradicate Pharma as the ‘panto villain’ and rewrite the collaboration story?” and “Is it only about the drugs? What about life science companies ‘developing’ health services for people in parallel to drug development?” If you were at the summit, the film of this discussion will be available to you soon to re-listen to the debate and we’ll be circulating some of the many unanswered questions for people to continue the discussion and share ideas.

Through partnerships, we hope that together we can build a better future with medicines that make a real difference to patients.

Dr. Joanna Segieth

Biosynetix Ltd, Rare Drug Development Solutions

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 7
Dr. Joanna Segieth
© CRDN 2019

AFTERNOON SESSION: Patients as co-designers of technology and care 

Shining a light on some of the successful patient partnerships and collaborations that are making improvements in technology design, personalised care and clinical settings which improve accessibility, symptoms and lived experiences.

Short Talk
Co-creating genetic reports that are understood by
non-specialists

Dr Gabriel Recchia (Research Associate, Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge), Dr Gemma Chandratillake (E & T Lead at the East Midlands & East of England Genomic Laboratory Hub) and Menna Hawkins (Polyposis Nurse Specialist).

This team have been working on a collaborative project with patients to redesign genetic reports and the way they are presented to patients to ensure they are patient friendly, thus allowing greater understanding from patients and families of their own genetic circumstances. 

Gemma asked the audience how useful a genetic report would be to them as a patient – 94% answered reasonably to very important showing a clear need for a more accessible design.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 8
Menna Hawkins
© CRDN 2019
Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 9

RARESummit demonstrated the power of patient-centred approaches [in technology, service-design, research, and drug development] to move things forward for those affected by rare disease

Dr Gemma Chandratillake

Education and Training Lead, East Midlands & East of England Genomic Laboratory Hub

CRDN Trustees, Dr. Sarah Leiter & Dr. Gemma Chandratillake
© CRDN 2019

Short Talk 
Patients as partners in assistive technology design – Collaboration and customisation is the key to success

Dr. Cecily Morrison and Dr. Sarah Leiter presented the result of their collaboration to our audience. Using assistive technology, they have created a new educational computer programming system for tactile learners. It was fascinating to see how Sarah’s lived experience of visual impairment gave the researchers a unique insight into the true needs of end users with low vision. 100% of the audience responded to the live poll asking if they felt end users should be included in the design yet only 34% had actually had that opportunity. Of those who had, 85% had a good experience. Cecily shared the inclusive design principles they use at Microsoft Research – recognise exclusion, solve for one,  extend to many, learn from diversity. 

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 10
Laurence Wollard
© CRDN 2019

Short Talk
“Peer-Led to get ahead!” – Developing an education and self-management programme for and with young people affected by haemophilia

Laurence Woollard delivered a passionate presentation of his journey with haemophilia highlighting the lack of support when transitioning between paediatric and adult services and the challenge of becoming responsible for your own health care at a time of significant physical change. Laurence shared his belief that early intervention with peer led programmes could be the key to tackling this growing problem.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 11
Baroness Nicola Blackwood at RAREsummit19
© CRDN 2019

What matters to you?
What matters most?
We need a national debate on rare diseases

We were delighted to welcome the UK’s Minister for Innovation in Health, Baroness Nicola Blackwood, a passionate are disease advocate and the minister leading on the ‘National Conversation’ which will gather the views of all stakeholders to set the priorities for the UK Rare Disease Strategy 2020 framework. The Minister delivered a powerful and heartfelt talk drawing on her on experience of the diagnostic odyssey before being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Baroness Blackwood introduced the Hackathon Challenge, a cross sector team activity brainstorming their priorities for the new Strategy, inviting people to share their views. 

 

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - RARESummit 2019 – Patients as partners 12
Hackathon teams at RAREsummit19
© CRDN 2019

the RAREsummit hackathon

The final session of the day saw cross-sector teams thrash out ideas on problem areas in rare disease such as diagnosis, care coordination, research acceleration, early access and reimbursement and patient empowerment. Discussions were vibrant ad filled with knowledge and passion  culminating in five winning ideas being pitched to the whole audience. We were impressed with the far-reaching ideas the teams came up with and have gathered all of these, alongside all other suggestions made,  and will be presenting these as a report to the Minster in early December. Watch this space. … . 

 

Networking and Takeaways

As with all our events we see huge value in networking and we hope attendees found plenty of opportunities to  build on  established relationships and that doors were opened to new connections through this event. The rare disease community is a powerful one  and CRDN really felt this during this event.
While it by no means dominated the event the inevitable topic of Brexit rose its head and it was clear to see that this is already impacting our health service with shortages in health care professionals and a reduction in overseas talent both in health care and research applying to work here in the UK. Open collaboration was the call from the day and something patient groups want to see improve across industries.

A huge thank you to all who attended and to our sponsors, speaker and exhibitors! 

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CRDN teams up with Findacure to bring a sip of RARE to Pint of Science Festival

CRDN teams up with Findacure to bring a sip of RARE to Pint of Science Festival

by | Apr 3, 2019 | Community, Events, Genomics, Research

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CRDN teams up with Findacure to bring a sip of RARE to Pint of Science Festival 13

For the second consecutive year, CRDN is hosting 2 rare disease themed evenings for the Pint of Science Festival. We’ll be based at the Panton Arms in Cambridge on 21 and 22 May inspiring the general public to be curious about the science and research taking place locally into rare diseases.

We’re excited to have teamed up with local rare disease charity Findacure to bring you a great selection of speakers undertaking research, delivering education programmes and raising awareness about rare disease.

“Effectively communicating science and linking it to the ‘real world’ has important benefits for both scientists and society” POS

Our speakers will explore the potential for rare disease research to help us better understand and treat more common diseases and learn about the plans for rolling out the technology and lessons learned from the 100,000 Genomes Project into the NHS.

Join in our pub quiz to win a POS pint glass and test out your own pain threshold…!

The scientists have paired with local artists who’ve created an artistic interpretation of the science. Artworks will be presented by the artist following each talk and be on display at the Creative Reactions event on 24 & 25 May at St.Barnabas Church, Cambridge 

21 May, Panton Arms, Cambridge – The Genomic Revolution: Finding a Cure for the 1 in 17

Click for tickets

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CRDN teams up with Findacure to bring a sip of RARE to Pint of Science Festival 14

Your DNA Your Say!

Dr Anna Middleton (Head of Society and Ethics Research, Wellcome Genome Campus)  ‎@Genomethics 
Big Data and DNA now go hand in hand. This is pivotal for exploring the link between genes and disease. The bigger the datasets the better. Most DNA data is ‘de-identified’, i.e. names and addresses have been removed but it will soon be possible to identify a person from their DNA alone. Would this stop you donating your DNA data for research? What harms can come from this? We explore what public across the world have said and how their views are shaping policy.

Solving the Unsolved

Dr Gemma Chandratillake (Course Director, ICE Genomic Medicine programme; Education and Training Lead, East of England Genomic Medicine Centre; Clinical Genomics Specialist, Cambridge Rare Disease Network Trustee)    @GemmaChand 
On 5 Dec 2018 Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the 100,000 Genomes Project had reached its goal of sequencing 100,000 whole genomes uncovering new diagnoses and improved treatments for patients with rare inherited diseases and cancer.
This marks the end of a chapter rather than the end of the story and earlier this year a new target was announced for the NHS to sequence one million genomes over the next 5 years. Will delivering genomic medicine in the NHS enable better outcomes for patients and contribute to a wealth of information to drive the treatments of the future?

22 May, Panton Arms, Cambridge – Researching the Rare to Understand and Treat the Common

Sold Out

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CRDN teams up with Findacure to bring a sip of RARE to Pint of Science Festival 15

Can we turn back the clock on rare premature ageing diseases?

Dr Delphine Larrieu (Group Leader at Cambridge Institute of Medical Research) 
Rare genetic premature ageing syndromes called progeria trigger the appearance of ageing signs in early childhood causing many changes to the body over time, including heart disease, bone changes, hair loss, joint and skin changes, and early death around 14 years old. Unfortunately, there is no current cure and therapies just improve the symptoms. Hear how Delphine’s team is tackling this and suggesting new treatments and how the lab’s work could also open up new perspectives into improving normal age-related pathologies.

Everybody hurts sometimes … or do they?

Dr Mike Nahorski (Cambridge Institute for Medical Research) 
Chronic pain is a debilitating condition that affects 14 million people in England alone. But scientists think the have come a step closer to understanding it – by studying a rare group of people with congenital insensitivity to pain, who feel no pain at all. Cambridge University researchers have identified a faulty gene that seems to switch pain off in some people and it is hoped the discovery could lead to new treatments for those who live with pain every day.

Creative Reactions

Elizabeth Fraser  (Printmaking/graphic design) 
Eri Ikuno (Illustrator) 
Eithne Fisher (Painting/drawing) 
Kate Grant  
(Medicine/resin/acrylic/printmaking) 
As part of the Creative Reactions project, these artists will be presenting their artwork inspired by the research of speakers in this talk series. The artwork will also be on display at our Creative Reactions Exhibition at St Barnabas Church, 24 – 25 May.

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2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture

2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture

by | Mar 1, 2019 | Community, Events, Healthcare, Raising awareness, Rare Disease Day, Research

Put over 150 passionate and motivated people together to talk about rare disease research and you can expect a fascinating evening. 

That’s just what happened at the recent public evening, hosted by Cambridge Rare Disease Network in collaboration with the NIHR BioResource for Translational Research at Addenbrooke’s Hospital to mark International Rare Disease Day 2019.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 16
Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 17

Short research talks were followed by a Q+A panel facilitated by Dr. Gemma Chandratillake, CRDN Trustee (pictured left)

Full agenda and biographies from the day. Click on the links below to view the audio and presentation slides for each talk.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 18

Welcome Address
Prof. Patrick Chinnery
NIHR BioResource Co-Chair, Head of Department for Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 19

Improving Patient Health in CNO and SAPHO
Dr. Jagtar Singh Nijar
NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Rheumatology, University of Cambridge

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 20

Whole Genome Sequencing for susceptibility to infectious disease
Dr. James Thaventhiran
Consultant Clinical Immunologist, University of Cambridge (slides and audio not available)

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 21

Next Generation Children Project – Rapid Genome Sequencing for critically ill children
Dr. Isabelle Delon  Clinical Scientist, EMEE Genomic Laboratory

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 22

Imaging in the diagnosis of Rare Diseases
Dr. Tomasz Matys
University Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Radiology, University of Cambridge

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - 2019 Rare Disease Day Cambridge Lecture 23

Closing Address
Dr. Nathalie Kingston
NIHR BioResource Director

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RAREfest18 “heartwarming, uplifting, informative”

RAREfest18 “heartwarming, uplifting, informative”

by | Jan 11, 2019 | Activities, Community, Events, Med tech, Patient Groups, Raising awareness, RAREfest, Research, Technology

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Heartwarming, uplifting and informative, RAREfest18, the world’s first-ever festival on rare diseases drew huge crowds to the Guildhall over the weekend of November 30 & December 1.

 RAREfest18 was the first of its kind; a rare disease inspired festival, created and delivered by Cambridge Rare Disease Network, bringing passionate and inspirational people together to change the rare disease landscape for the better.

The event set out to raise awareness, share information and dispel some of the myths about rare diseases and the plight of those living with them. Rare diseases affect around 3.5 million people in the UK. Despite this, rare diseases are not consistently diagnosed, treated or supported, effectively and knowledge amongst health care professionals, educators, social care and the public is limited. The need for a powerful emotive programme was identified; speakers, exhibitors and performers at RAREfest had one goal in mind: change the rare disease landscape. Annual summits and events by CRDN have consistently been milestone events in the rare disease community but bringing a rare disease event to an already invested community has a certain security. This time we wanted to tackle the more challenging issue of public perception of rare disease.

RAREfest was to be our most ambitious event to date!

This year’s unique RAREfest event was created for the public, in part due to the disparity between actual facts and public awareness of rare diseases. For example, while research has shown that only 38% of people think rare diseases have no treatment, in reality this figure is 95%. The aim of the festival was to bring about meaningful and positive change in as many ways as possible for the rare disease community – from raising broader awareness and promoting understanding, to providing practical support. Over two free days, RAREfest provided a stimulating mix of science, technology and the arts, with motivational speakers from academia, industry, the media and all importantly, patient advocates.

The educational programme was enriched with interactive exhibits, demos and film, all public-facing, promoting inclusivity to widely raise the profile of rare disease. CRDN created a platform from which the rare disease community itself was in charge of their own narrative with which to educate and engage a public audience.  Read the glittering review from Cambridge independent newspaper here https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/rarefest-brings-life-sciences-to-guildhall-9056317/

Friday night launch event

On the evening of 30th November 2018 over 200 attendees listened attentively as Alastair Kent, OBE, former Chairman of CRDN, opened the world’s first rare disease festival with a poignant observation:

“A few years ago, it would not have been possible to have filled a hall like this (Cambridge Guildhall)”

Attendees were subtly educated whilst being entertained during AbbiBrown’s presentation, Growing up with a Galapagos Tortoise: and other funny stories. Abbi, a founding member of CRDN who, by her own admission left Cambridge University with two degrees and wheelchair, explained what life had been like for her growing up with osteogenesis imperfecta (Brittle Bones) relaying stories of her time as cox for her college rowing team.

Adam Pearson, award winning campaigner, actor and presenter and sculptress Dagmar Bennett talked about the process of creating Adam’s life size bust to raise awareness about Neurofibromatosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumours to form on nerve tissue, and to champion face equality.

We are bombarded every day by media images of how we should look, for people with disfigurement it can be absolutely paralysing

Adam Pearson

The audience were captivated by an enchanting dance performance from Unique Feet, CRDN’s local community group of 10 children, each with a different rare disease, and the talented classical musician James Risdon who gave a mesmerising recorder performance. James lives with a rare eye disease, Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, and learns all his repertoire through braille.

The evening ended with an awe-inspiring talk by Michael McGrath who led polar expeditions to both North and South poles to raise awareness of Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative disease which has led to Michael himself being the proud owner of a technical masterpiece of a power chair to enable him to take on such challenges and be as independent as possible. Michael’s work through The Muscle Help Foundation ensures children affected by muscular dystrophy can experience life changing adventures of their own.

The evening was a resounding success, bringing together a diverse public audience mixed with rare disease advocates to walk in the shoes of those living with rare conditions through humour, dance, music and inspiring presentations. Read the Cambridge Independent news coverage of the event here.

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Saturday’s Roundup

Saturday saw around 800 curious people weaving their way through the Guildhall to engage with all that RAREfest had to offer. Families with small children, teenagers who’d taken part in the CRDN RAREsolutions design competition, local students, health professionals and business representatives alongside a tribe of rare disease patients and advocates from across the UK.

Nine incredible speakers enthralled audiences. Dan Jeffries told the colourful story of life with not one, but two rare diseases, Acromegaly and Wyburn-Mason Syndrome. Rebecca Pender shared a heart-breaking account of her struggle to persuade medical professionals believe her accounts of her daughter’s illness, a rare chromosome deletion and duplication syndrome called 8p. The Cambridge Independent captured the power of Rebecca’s story here. Dr Crystal Ruff, a scientist from Illumina delivered a fascinating talk on changing the future with stem cells, a TED talk she has had thousands of hits on, Prof Anna Middleton from the Wellcome Genome Campus tackled the ethical considerations of ownership of DNA data playing on the topical story of the announcement only 2 days before of the Chinese scientist who had gene-edited twins. Read more about her talk in this newspaper article here.

Film Festival
Over 25 charities and research organisations entered our very first film festival gathering over 3500 upvotes between them and the highest scoring fourteen being shown on a big screen over the Saturday.

Exhibitors
Twenty-two interactive exhibits took over the Guildhall bringing rare disease inspired cool technology, arts and science to the public. With demos of robots and technology, fun science experiments, sculpture exhibits and rare disease charities showcasing some of the amazing work they do, the diverse audience was treated to a packed day of hands on activities to help educate and inspire.

Networking
There were many opportunities throughout both events to network with peers. The post RAREfest VIP reception drew together eighty leaders from science, healthcare, technology, business, charity and philanthropy to network with exhibitors, speakers and the CRDN team. Dame Mary Archer, a fierce advocate for a Cambridge Children’s Hospital, Julian Rayner, Director of the Wellcome Genome Campus and Daniel Zeichner our Cambridge MP attended, to name a few.

So how did we do?
After the dust has settled and we are now and truly well into the count down for RAREsummit we wanted to look back and digest the impact of our very first public facing event. 

 

Here are some stats from RAREfest 2018

RAREfest in Numbers

  • Four new industry partners joined our Companies Forum for biotech, pharmaceutical and related industry partners
  • 25% increase in Twitter followers
  • 8000 people reached via Facebook event
  • 11 newspaper and magazine feature articles
  • 1 TV feature
  • 1 Radio Feature

The event was absolutely fantastic. It was obvious how much hard work had gone into it and gaining the balance between industry and public interest must have been a tough navigation, which was pulled off unbelievably well.

Steve Smith

Head of Rare Diseases & Gene Therapy

Lots of people we’ve spoken to today are passers-by. They’re out doing their Christmas shopping. That’s wonderful because it means the topic is broadening out to the wider community.

Harriet Gridley

Head of business development UK at No Isolation

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Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey

Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey

by | Jul 23, 2018 | Community, Guest posts, Research

Medics4RareDiseases are excited to announce the launch of their new research project: The M4RD Red Flags Survey.

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The purpose of the survey is to find out what different rare diseases have in common during the time before diagnosis, a period often called ‘the diagnostic odyssey’.

This is a piece of research that M4RD have wanted to do for many years as they have attended conferences listening to similar stories from patients and families irrespective of their specific rare disease. The final survey is the culmination of many hours of discussion and design.

The survey opens on Monday 23rd July and closes at the end of August 2018.

Please get involved and share your views so we can all support Medics4RD in driving change within the medical profession in terms of rare disease diagnosis. It is an online survey that takes 10 minutes to complete and can be accessed via this link: http://bit.ly/M4RDredflags.

If you need to access the survey in any other format or have any issues don’t hesitate to contact info@m4rd.org.

 

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey 37

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Pint of Science Festival welcomes rare disease!

Pint of Science Festival welcomes rare disease!

by | May 20, 2018 | Activities, Community, Events, Healthcare, Raising awareness, Research

CRDN hosts a rare disease themed pub for the annual international pint of science festival…

Pint of Science is a non-profit organisation that brings some of the most brilliant scientists to your local pub to discuss their latest research and findings with you.

In 2012 Dr Michael Motskin and Dr Praveen Paul were two research scientists at Imperial College London. They began by organising an event called ‘Meet the Researchers’. It brought people affected by Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis into their labs to show them the kind of research they do. It was inspirational for all involved.

They thought “if people want to come into labs to meet scientists, why not bring the scientists out to the people?” And so Pint of Science was born.

In May 2013 they held the first 3-day festival in Cambridge, London and Oxford.

Our events manager, Jo Balfour, co-hosted the Cambridge Neuroscience pub that first year in collaboration with Dr Hannah Critchlow, author of Ladybird Expert Series book, Consciousness.

Pint of Science quickly took off around the world and now happens in nearly 300 cities covering all manner of scientific topics.

We were delighted to be given the opportunity to host a rare disease themed pub in Cambridge during the festival!

“Why not bring the scientists to the people?” 

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Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Pint of Science Festival welcomes rare disease! 39
Taking a break from the science, speakers Dr Lucy Raymond, Dr Jagtar Singh Nijjar and PhD student Patrick Short help the winning team show off their gummy bear DNA bases model 

The chance to host a pub, at an international festival with 19,500 twitter & 21,000 facebook followers, helped us put rare firmly on the menu

We hosted two evenings at Cambridge’s trendy drinking hole, Thirsty.  Both nights were sold out and we packed into their back room to hear about exciting research into rare disease taking place on our doorstep and personal stories of living with rare disease. Our speakers ranged from well know Cambridge rare disease expert Dr Lucy Raymond to emerging shining light, PhD student Patrick Short.  A huge thank you to all of their speakers for their fascinating talks, their personal stories and for getting involved in the fun.

For the full line up, speaker bios and talk synopses click on the links below.

Treasure Your Exceptions

Rare Disease: The Genomic Revolution, Searching for Cure for the 1 in 17

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Rare Disease Day 2018 – CRDN/NIHR lecture event

Rare Disease Day 2018 – CRDN/NIHR lecture event

by | Mar 3, 2018 | Events, Healthcare, Rare Disease Day, Research, Treatments

CRDN and NIHR Cambridge Bioresource team collaborate to host a Cambridge rare disease day lecture event #ShowYourRare

Rare Disease Day takes place on the last day of February each year. The purpose is to raise awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about rare diseases and their impact on the lives of those affected.

Since its launch by EURORDIS and its Council of National Alliances in 2008, thousands of events have taken place throughout the world reaching hundreds of thousands of people and resulting in a substantial of media coverage. 

Following on from 2017, the theme for RDD is once again research. There has been great progress in rare disease research, often driven by effective collaborations between companies, researchers and patient advocacy groups.  Click here to find out more about the vital role patients play in the research process.

Together, CRDN and the Cambridge NIHR Bioresource team created a programme of short talks to showcase some of the ground-breaking research  being undertaken in Cambridge into a range of rare conditions.

 

The theme of rare disease day 2018 is research.
The best research translates findings into meaningful health outcomes and  involves patients  at all stages.

#showyourrare                   #whywedoresearch

 
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Snow didn’t stop play…

Despite the snow and chilly temperatures calling for a cosy evening in on the sofa, the rare disease community came out in force to celebrate Rare Disease Day 2018 at the Uni of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, William Harvey Lecture theatre.  Dr. Mike More, Chair of Cambridge University Hospitals, opened the evening for an exciting mix of attendees: those living with rare disease and their family members; young health professionals and students; clinicians; company and charity representatives working in related fields and the curious. Those gathered were treated to excellent presentations about current research from a wide range of speakers based on the Cambridge Biomedical campus and in the city. See the agenda opposite for info on speakers and their talks.

We used Glisser technology at the event to encourage the audience to get involved and engage with speakers by posing questions, responding to polls and sharing slides via social media. For the speaker responses to delegate questions please see here 

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