University College Dublin will host group discussions and workshops on several cancer-related topics in the Charles Institute tomorrow Wednesday October 19th.
Attendees can enjoy refreshments in the Charles Foyer at 8.30am before the event kicks off at 9am with a welcome address by Senior Lecturer Dr. Amanda McCann.
The first discussion will focus on Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) in Northern Ireland and will be led by Ruth Boyd and Margaret Grayson of Queen’s University Belfast and the Northern Ireland Cancer Research Consumer Forum. It will run from 9.10 – 9.40 in which they will talk about their involvement in PPI and answer questions from attendees.
The next discussion will begin at 9.45 and will highlight Macmillan Cancer Support, one of Britain’s biggest charities and health care providers. Carol Naylor and Michael Howard will be on hand to speak in detail about their work with the charity and to answer questions. This session will run until 10.15.
Once the discussions reach their end, the workshops will begin with “Voice your opinion on Cancer Research”. Participants will be required to get involved in cancer research by designing a questionnaire for cancer patients, putting forward questions and adding to a template designed to help patients take part in research before or after their treatment.
The second workshop, “What are researchers doing for me?”, will run from 11.40 -12.20 and will be a process of decision-making. The attendees will decide how to inform those interested in research of the the questionnaire they devised in the previous workshop. Topics to consider include the channels through which to spread the questionnaire (in person, online etc.) and at what stage of the treatment it should be given.
The remainder of the event will consist of a research symposium held by Breast-Predict, which will run from 2pm – 6pm. It will be introduced by Professor William Gallagher before Professor Robert Coleman of the University of Sheffield discusses his topic “Modifying the bone micro-environment – the good, the bad and the irrelevant!” from 2.10 – 2.50.
The remaining lectures will be “Multilevel molecular analyses in breast cancer: gauging inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity and elucidating its role in treatment response” by Professor Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale of Oslo University Hospital and “Epigenetic regulation and its contribution to a diseased state” by Dr. Pernette Verschure of the University of Amsterdam. There will also be an elevator pitch that will be judged by an SAB committee.
Lunch will be served at 1pm and there will be several coffee breaks throughout the day.
Entry is free, though registration is required. Anyone wishing to attend can register for the 8.30am – 2pm section here and the 2pm – 6pm section here.
By Kevin Carney
