Events

Venue: Pavilion Room Hughes Hall Centre for Biomedical Science in Society, Hughes Hall, Mortimer Road, Cambridge

Speaker: Mr David Howarth, Faculty of Law, Cambridge University

Venue: Marriott Hotel, Budapest, Hungary

Safe and efficient new treatment options for patients are constantly being developed. These require clinical trials that are both ethical and of high-quality so as to ensure that study participants are protected and that the generated data are reliable. Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is the world-wide accepted standard for clinical research to ensure this goal. Yet although the European Commission has established a comprehensive regulatory package to ensure that GCP principles apply to the conduct of clinical trials within Europe, it is very apparent that the practical implementation of this regulatory package differs between Member States. Nevertheless, the principles of GCP must be upheld and training in these principles is essential. Such training should be appropriate for the needs of all stakeholders taking part in clinical trials, be they sponsors in industry and academia, ethics committees, competent authorities or investigators. However, this training in, for example, one Member State and for one discipline, may be inadequate and inconsistent with that provided elsewhere. Indeed, it is often theoretical and not practical. This needs to be addressed, as does the recognised desirability of ensuring that patients and the public are made better aware of the benefits and risks of taking part in clinical trials conducted to GCP standards. There is a multitude of options to achieve more efficient GCP training that would suit all those needing it. These include establishing a common curriculum using various methods and techniques and providing certification and accreditation. The EFGCP Annual Conference 2011 will be devoted to bringing highly experienced representatives from all relevant clinical trial disciplines together to discuss the needs for GCP training, to exchange their national and organisational experiences and to devise constructive proposals for a quantum leap in training towards an improved GCP environment.
 

Venue: MedImmune, Granta Park, Cambridge

In this first Healthcare event of 2011 Sir Gregory Winter, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, will give a keynote presentation reviewing developments in antibody technology over the past couple of decades.  Hilary King, Mewburn Ellis, will cover the why and how of antibody patenting, an essential topic for any company developing therapeutic antibodies or using antibody platform technologies.  We will also hear from Cambridge companiesKymab and Crescendo Biologics about the technologies they have developed from local academic research, and a large corporate will discuss their applications.

The University of Miami, Nature Publishing Group and Scripps Florida are pleased to announce the Miami 2011 Winter Symposium.

February 6-9, 2011, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Miami, Miami, FL, USA

Recent years have witnessed rapid progress in elucidating the role of epigenetic modifications in nuclear organization and chromosome packaging, profoundly impacting our understanding of development, disease and natural variation. An increasingly diverse picture is emerging of the range of epigenetic mechanisms involved in regulating these processes, from DNA methylation and histone modification to non-coding RNAs, chromatin remodeling and interactions of higher order chromosome structures. Concurrently, rapid progress is being made in the development of technologies that facilitate the analysis of genome-wide epigenetic changes as well as the genetic and chemical means for experimentally manipulating cellular reprogramming and epigenetic modifications in stem and somatic cells. The 44th Miami Winter Symposium will bring together leaders in the field to address key aspects of the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation, cellular reprogramming, development and disease.

Venue: Marie Theresia College, Leuven, Belgium

Venue: Vienna, Austria

Venue: Durham

Venue: Royal Society of Medicine

Topics will include: the competencies required in general practice; the National Genetics Education & Development Centre's curriculum for genetics; understanding & communicating risk in genetics; the value of a good family history; ethnicity & genetics; ethical conundrums in genetics; common genetic conditions & pedigree drawing.

Venue: Novotel Bucharest City Centre, Bucharest, Romania

This workshop, the fifth in a series, is designed to explore  issues  that may exist with research ethics review involving committees on the one hand and investigators and sponsors of research projects on the other leading to an appreciation of the diversity of research ethical review across Europe thus facilitating a more common and consistent process. Such differences may be difficult to understand and this workshop – following the success of its predecessors – will give an opportunity for these to be freely discussed by representatives of all stakeholders concerned with clinical trial performance and governance. This will hopefully lead to a consensus on how best these difficulties should be addressed or even avoided. The workshop will begin with a keynote address on Quality Assurance for RECs in a diverse and changing environment and then followed by three case-based discussions, introduced by persons closely involved in the cases to be featured from the UK, Russia and Romania. There will therefore be plenty of opportunities for interactive dialogue and the workshop will conclude with a presentation around scientific examination of research protocols by ethics committees; an often contentious issue.

Venue: Imperial College London

6 1-day professional training days on Saturdays - on 19 Feb, 5 Mar, 2 Apr, 14 May, 11 Jun, 2 Jul

Venue: Singapore

Venue: La Jolla, CA, USA

Venue: London Join SMi at their 3rd annual Stem Cells conference that will explore the latest scientific advances and business opportunities offered by stem cell research. 

There will be a variety of presentations from leading academics working in regenerative medicine and cell biology as well as industry professionals specialising in the transferral of stem cell research from preclinical to clinical development. Don't miss your chance to network with the leaders in this field, and look towards the future of this rapidly expanding area of medicine.