Dr Emma Yhnell from the Cardiff University will be swapping a lab coat for legislation when she visits Kevin Brennan MP at the House of Commons for a week in Westminster. The week (26 – 30 November) is part of a unique pairing scheme run by the Royal Society – the UK’s national academy of science, with support from the Government Science & Engineering (GSE) profession.
During her visit Emma will shadow Kevin and learn about his work. As well as attending seminars and panel discussions about how evidence is used in policy making, Emma will also attend a mock Select Committee as well as Prime Ministers Questions.The visit will provide Emma with a behind the scenes insight into how policy is formed and how her research can be used to make evidence based decisions. It will also give Kevin the opportunity to investigate the science behind his decisions and improve their access to scientific evidence.
Emma said ‘I am delighted to be taking part in the Royal Society Pairing Scheme. It will provide an important and valuable opportunity to highlight important scientific issues in the political arena. Key areas that I want to discuss include; how new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases are approved for treatment, lack of job stability within academic research and issues related to the funding of research, engagement, innovation and education.
The Royal Society’s pairing scheme, which started in 2001, aims to build bridges between parliamentarians, civil servants and some of the best scientists in the UK.
Kevin Brennan MP will get hands on experience of Emma’s scientific research and outreach and engagement activities when he dons a lab coat to visit Emma at The Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI) in Cardiff University next year.
The Royal Society pairing scheme is in its 18th year. By the end of this year’s scheme, 456 Scientists will have taken part, shadowing a mixture of MPs, Peers, Civil Servants and Select Committee Staff. That is enough Scientists to fill the Green benches in the House of Commons, and still leave 28 standing. Previous politicians who have participated include Michael Gove, Defra Secretary, Nick Clegg, former Deputy Prime Minister, Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, Caroline Lucas, Co-leader of the Green Party.
Cardiff University has formed a drug discovery collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) to identify new approaches for treating schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.
The collaboration will combine the University’s large scale genomic data, and world-class expertise in psychiatric genetics, genomics and neuroscience, with Takeda’s extensive drug discovery and clinical development capabilities.
“Recent developments in psychiatric genetics and genomics, combined with advances in neuroscience, mean there is now a real prospect of overcoming the obstacles that have held back progress in developing new drugs for psychiatric disorders,” said Professor Lawrence Wilkinson, Scientific Director of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI) who will co-lead the partnership at Cardiff.
“Takeda’s expertise in successful drug discovery will enable our ambition to use our research to find better treatments for common brain disorders with high levels of unmet need.”
Professor Jeremy Hall, Director of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute and co-lead, commented:
“We are committed to translating our basic and clinical research into safer and more effective treatments for patients.”
The collaboration will allow Takeda access to world-leading biological psychiatry research and the related infrastructure across the University, including the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetic and Genomics, NMHRI, National Centre for Mental Health, and the Brain Repair and Intracranial Neurotherapeutics Unit.
“By working in partnership with world-leading scientific and clinical neuropsychiatric experts at Cardiff University we have a unique opportunity to create a new wave of medicines, that are grounded in the genomic understanding of the disease, for patients suffering from schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders,” said Ceri Davies, Head of the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda.
Major psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder, collectively represent an enormous unmet health need, accounting for approximately 20% of all years lost to disability globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Professor Sir Michael Owen, Director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics said:
“Therapeutic progress for these conditions has been limited by a lack of understanding of their primary causes, however major genetic advances in the last decade, many of which have been led by Cardiff University, have provided new and reliable insights into their biological causation. With our partner Takeda we have an unprecedented opportunity to develop novel therapeutic approaches for neuropsychiatric disorders.”
The TRIDENT Cup engagement activity was debuted at the Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW) Conference, at Cardiff’s SWALEC Cricket Stadium, on 25 October and went on to win the Best Interactive Stand award.
The success marks the third consecutive year that the BRAIN Unit has won this prize for their engagement initiatives, following Operation Brain and the ‘Splodge on the Brain’ art project receiving the most votes from delegates at the previous two events.
The TRIDENT Cup
The TRIDENT Cup, was a game re purposed from PhD student Zoe Noakes’ Stem Cell Mini Golf, following a hugely successful run at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (MRC CNGG) Cardiff’s Summer Fair. Inspired by the TRIDENT trial, the game was meant to symbolise obstacles encountered in order to complete clinical trials and the practical challenges of reaching specific areas of the brain for treatment of neurological conditions.
With the golf ball symbolising fetal cells, the aim was to guide the ball, navigating through the obstacles on the course in order to reach the striatum. Each obstacle symbolised different challenges within the trial such as ethics approval, regulatory, and participant availability and eligibility. If the ball rolled off the course the trial would fail.
Participants were invited to play a game of golf and attempt to get a hole in one, overcoming obstacles to get the ball into the striatum at the end, recording how many shots it took to sink the ball into the hole.
The competition had a steady flow of inquisitive and competitive participants, attracting health professionals, academics and lay representatives from across Wales, with players practising their best swings in order to win the top prizes.
Debuting the TRIDENT Cup with a hole in one
Best interactive stand award
“We are incredibly happy to have been able to win this award for the BRAIN Unit a third time,” said Manager of the BRAIN Unit, Dr Cassy Ashman.
“The conference was a great opportunity to get delegates thinking about the importance of public involvement in research, whether at a clinical trials level or shaping research grants in the way Astrid Burrell, a BRAIN Involve member and TRIDENT trial co-applicant, also present on the day, has done. It is our aim to stress the importance of research in finding more effective therapies for Huntington’s disease and the other conditions that we cover.”
BRAIN Unit Clinical Research Fellow Dr Feras Sharouf, is working on the TRIDENT Trial and explains
“The TRIDENT trial is looking at the safety of transplanting brain cells into the striatum of people with Huntington’s Disease. It is thought that in a potential future therapy, ‘healthy’ cells could replace those that are lost in this region of the brain. It was great helping Cassy and the team develop this public engagement activity, as public support is key in clinical trials such as this.”
Dr Cassy Ashman adds,
“It was really rewarding to see our game engaging people at the conference to learn more about TRIDENT; I’d like to thank our communications officer Camila Araya-Larrain, and members of the TRIDENT team Dr Feras Sharouf and Dr Cheney Drew for all their help on developing the activity. Let’s hope we can deliver again at next year’s conference and showcase more of the exciting research we do at the BRAIN Unit!”
