Our amazing supporter Duane McCreadie from Northern Ireland cycled 200 miles from Wicklow to Donaghadee in July this year, raising over £10,000 for the Trust. Here he chats about his fundraising, his 2-year-old son Xander, who has a rare cystic fibrosis (CF) mutation, and his hopes for a future without limits for his little boy.
From developing CFTR modulators and antibiotics to new physio techniques, clinical trials play a vital role in helping ensure people with cystic fibrosis can access the newest treatments being developed. In 2017, we launched the Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform (CTAP) and the CF Trials Tracker database with the aim to create more opportunities for the CF community to take part in clinical trials. Five years (and over 1,000 trial recruits) later, we look at how these platforms have changed the CF research landscape, and speak to people from the CF community about their experience and motivations for taking part in CF research.
The Trust is supporting and enabling the delivery of a broad and dynamic portfolio of world-class research to help ensure every person with CF in the UK can live a long and full life.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have applied new techniques and methods of scientific analysis to understand more about the serious lung infections in people with CF caused by Mycobacterium abscessus bacteria, part of the NTM group of infections. Their exciting findings have moved us a step closer to being able to treat this infection much more effectively.
The Oriel Yr Aelwyd Hearth Gallery at University Hospital Llandough are hosting ‘You Scrub Up Well’ until 5 September 2022, by artists who have participated in their CF Voices project. The project aims to create a future CF 'service’, which would be able to meet the needs of people living with CF and hospital staff.
We’re delighted to announce the launch of a new Strategic Research Centre opening at the University of Nottingham, which aims to establish the causes of gut symptoms in people with CF. As the research gets underway, Katie Gathercole, who lives with CF and chairs the Patient Advisory Group within this SRC, quizzed principal investigator Professor Alan Smyth about why this area of research is so important, how people with CF can get involved, and the difference it could make to the CF community.
The Trust is funding a Strategic Research Centre that aims to link the specific gut symptoms people with CF experience to what changes are taking place within their intestines. By increasing understanding of the cause of gut symptoms, the researchers hope that this could lead to more tailored medicines to treat people with CF in the future. The research is led by Professor Alan Smyth at University of Nottingham.
Starting in the seaside town of Whitehaven, this cycle challenge encompasses some of the best scenery Britain has to offer as it tackles the tough 143-mile ride to Tynemouth.