This article is more than 6 months old

Optimism and hope was at the forefront of the UK CF Conference

Blog - 02/10/2025

Our podcast host Lucy Baxter attended day one of the UK CF conference to see what advancements and developments are happening within the world of CF research.

Yesterday I attended the UK CF Conference (virtually from home) and my key takeaway was a message of hope. ‘Living longer’ and ‘healthier lives’ were terms regularly used and seen as important pathways in the future of CF research.

For myself, a 27-year-old who has CF, I was filled with encouragement and reassurance that so much is being looked into, in many different avenues of CF – from CF and cancer to CF and pregnancy. I could feel the motivation and excitement through my laptop screen from the speakers as they talked about their field of expertise.

One topic that I found very interesting was CF and inflammation. Momentum seems to be gathering surrounding this topic and I am encouraged that many studies across the world are happening.

Another area that I enjoyed finding out more about was the research to enable people with CF to live normal and healthy lives. There are so many people looking into this topic and I was happy to hear about the appetite amongst the CF community to get involved in many research trials.

The message was clear – people with CF are really helping by enrolling on trials. Retention rate of people with CF in the Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform (CTAP) is 98% which shows how important research is for people with CF. There are a lot of multi-centre trials, which makes it easier for us to get involved in research as it's more accessible for us to take part.

As the host of the CForYourself podcast, I was pleased to see many of the expert guests that I have spoken to on the podcast speak more about their research, such as Dr Laurie Smith, who spoke about MRI techniques to improve lung health, and Dr Imogen Felton, who talked about CF and pregnancy.

I came away feeling very encouraged that so much research is taking place within CF and it made me realise just how much WE matter. Even with the huge advancements in recent decades with Kaftrio, it is reassuring to know that researchers are not stopping; if anything, they're pushing on faster and with more determination.

I am excited to get involved with more trials on offer and to see what's next!