We welcomed the BTRU research groups, our patient partners, NIHR representatives, the Scientific Advisory Group, and our colleagues from NHSBT, the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and the Department of Health and Social Care.
The annual meeting brought together the key stakeholders across the BTRU community to grow the relationship among the research units, collaborators, patient partners and funders. Our aim was to share knowledge and bring together diverse perspectives across a broad range of projects and stakeholder groups. We are keen to find better ways of working with our partners and explore new avenues for collaborative work, funding and research opportunities.
The meetings featured multiple presentations from early career researchers providing updates from each of the three BTRU research themes, a dedicated talk on the patient perspective delivered by our patient partner, Mark Chatterley, and an update on the Advanced Therapy Academy initiative from Dr. Francesca Kinsella.
Early career researchers from Theme 1 (Dr. Andrew McIntyre, Wei-Che Chang, Dr. Alicia Galdon and Asja Puncuh) introduced the latest research on the T cell platforms for immunotherapy, followed by a talk explaining how to target T cells to combat acute myeloid leukaemia without detrimental graft-versus-host disease.
Associate Professor and the co-lead for Theme 2, Dr James Davies, provided further insights into the methods for correction of genetic defects in haemopoietic stem cells and assessment of ‘off target’ effects. Dr Elizabeth Brown, a postdoctoral scientist from Theme 2, then presented the latest achievements in the team's efforts to develop novel protocols for expanding neutrophils.
Our Birmingham colleagues from Theme 3, Samuel Cusworth and Dr. Sarah Hughes, informed the audience about the development of methodologies to assess intersectional inequities in blood cancer care and the feasibility testing of a digital system to capture patient-reported data in patients receiving CAR T-cell therapies.
We also thank our patient partner, Mark Chatterley, and PPIE manager, Dr Karen Shaw for presenting on behalf of our Patient Group to further educate our researchers and collaborators about the importance of patient perspective in the research that we do.
One thing that was highlighted throughout the day was the extent to which our role in this project is valued. We have already had the opportunity to take part in several aspects of the research and look forward to many more – BTRU patient partner.
