Latest News & Press Releases: Last Updated Saturday, May 18, 2013 20:18
Saturday 18 May, 2013:
The recruitment cut-off date for our multi-dose clinical trial has been moved back to the middle of June this year. If you are interested then please contact us.
Monday 04 March, 2013:
The CF Trust has awarded the Consortium £ 308,000 towards our Wave II Lentiviral Research Programme.
"We are pleased the Cystic Fibrosis Trust has awarded this contribution to our exciting Wave 2 programme, which is largely funded by a £1.2 million grant from the Medical Research Council. We are, as always, extremely grateful to the many donors who continue to support our work."
Professor Eric Alton.
Tuesday 01 January, 2013:
Congratulations to Prof David Porteous who has been awarded an OBE for Services to Science. Read Prof Porteous's statement here.
Thursday 15 November, 2012:
Second 'Just Gene Therapy' Public Lecture - Friday 23 November 2012.
Prof Eric Alton will deliver another update on the Consortium's progress, but this time the event will be held in Edinburgh.
The event is again organised by our fundraising partner Just Gene Therapy.
Friday 23 November 2012 - Time: 19:00 for 19:30
Seminar Room, Centre for Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU
Tea, coffee and wine will be provided Attendance is free of charge, but please let us know if you'd like to come so we can make appropriate catering arrangements and ensure we have enough seats for everyone.
To secure your place, please contact Just Gene Therapy at rosinullebarnenulls@justgenetherapy.org
Unfortunately, due to cross-infection issues, people with CF may not attend this event.
Thursday 19 July, 2012:
Public Talk on CF Gene Therapy - 11 September 2012.
Professor Eric Alton will be giving an informative talk on gene therapy. He will cover the Consortium's progress to date, their work in progress and their plans for the future.
Tuesday 11 September 2012 - Time: 19:00 for 19:30
The Education Centre at the Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London.
Tea, coffee and wine will be provided Attendance is free of charge, but please let us know if you'd like to come so we can make appropriate catering arrangements and ensure we have enough seats for everyone.
To secure your place, please contact Just Gene Therapy at rosinullebarnenulls@justgenetherapy.org
Unfortunately, due to cross-infection issues, people with CF may not attend this event. However, we are making plans to film the presentation and will hopefully make it available online.
Thursday 19 July, 2012: New Consortium publication 'Rapid identification of novel functional promoters for gene therapy' is published in the Journal of Molecular Medicine. This paper results from a series of studies aiming to identify novel promoters for gene therapy. We created a huge database of promoters and then screened this to identify potential candidates for testing.
Monday 25 June, 2012: New Consortium publication 'CpG-free plasmid expression cassettes for cystic fibrosis gene therapy' is published in Biomaterials. This paper essentially describes the steps taken to optimise the design of the clinical trial plasmid.
Thursday 21st June, 2012: Eric Alton, Deborah Gill, Steve Hyde & Uta Griesenbach all took part in a BBC Radio 4 Documentary that was aired on 20/06/12. The documentary described at length the work of the Consortium and can be listened to again via BBC iPlayer.
Tuesday 13th June, 2012: New charity, Just Gene Therapy Launched to support the Consortium.
We are pleased to announce the launch of new charity Just Gene Therapy with the specific aim of raising funds for gene therapy research for CF. The charity has been established by Rosie Barnes in conjunction with Professor Eric Alton, and is the only way in which donations can directly support the work of the Consortium.
Monday 12th June, 2012: Final MHRA approval for Multi-Dose Clinical Trial.
Last week the MHRA granted the final approval necessary for the main body of work in our planned clinical trial to begin. With everything now in place, the first patient visits in London and Edinburgh will take place over the next week. Due to the number of patients enrolled and the 12 visits/patient over 12 months, the trial has a staggered start and finish and will run until sometime in the first half of 2014.
Monday 14th May, 2012: New Consortium Publication, The use of CpG-free plasmids to mediate persistent gene expression following repeated aerosol delivery of pDNA/PEI complexes, Davies et al, Biomaterials.
Monday 19th March, 2012: Cystic fibrosis gene therapy programme gets green light with public funding, Physorg.com
Monday 19th March, 2012:Groundbreaking cystic fibrosis clinical trial to proceed after renewed funding, News Medical.
Sunday 18th March, 2012: Cystic fibrosis treatment saved by last-minute £4m bailout, The Guardian. Professor hails rescue for pioneering work on disease.
Friday 16th March, 2012: Cystic fibrosis gene therapy trial rescued, Nature News blog.
Friday 16th March, 2012:'Exciting' new cystic fibrosis therapy, BBC News Professor Eric Alton, UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium Coordinator from Imperial College, talks to the Today programme's Justin Webb about the multi-dose gene therapy trial.
Friday 16th March, 2012:Multi-dose clinical trial funding press releases:
Friday 16th March, 2012:Largest gene therapy trial for cystic fibrosis begins, University of Oxford News.
Friday 16th March, 2012:Cystic fibrosis gene therapy programme gets green light with public funding , Imperial College London News.
James presenting the London research team with a rose of hope at 9.20am on 21 November, 2011.
21 November, 2011:James Peckham from Southampton cycled 500 miles from London to Edinburgh via Oxford in one week to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust Gene Therapy appeal. James visited each of the UK CF Gene Therapy Consortium's Research Centres on route to deliver a Rose of Hope.
James presenting a rose of hope to members of the Oxford Team (L to R: Deborah Gill, Steve Hyde, James Peckham & Jenny Westmoreland (CF Trust Regional Fundraising Manager).
James arrived at Imperial College London at 9.20am on Monday 21st November 2011 to deliver his first Rose of Hope to the London research team, which was accepted on the team's behalf by Cystic Fibrosis patient representative, Emma Lake.
James presenting the Edinburgh research team with a rose of hope on the morning of 28 November, 2011.
From London, James cycled to meet the Oxford research team at the John Radcliffe Hospital. He arrived in Oxford around 4.30pm to deliver the second Rose of Hope.
James spent the rest of the week cycling to Edinburgh and and delivered the final Rose of Hope to the research team at Edinburgh University on Monday 28th November. The rose was accepted on by June from the CF Trust on behalf of the Edinburgh team. You can read more about James incredible challenge at his blog site. If you would like to sponsor James please visit his Virgin Just Giving page. Congratulations James!
29 June, 2011: The Imperial College Podcast features an interview with Prof Eric Alton (12 min 30 to 18 min). In the interview Prof Alton discussess the progress of the Consortium to date, the current state of our Wave I clinical programme and future plans for Wave II.
12 June, 2011: At the Queen's Birthday Honours List, Rosie Barnes, former Chief Executive of the CF Trust was awarded an OBE for her services to healthcare. Rosie became Chief Executive at the CF Trust in 1996 and was a tireless fundraiser and advocate for CF. One of her many achievements was to persuaded the three competing CF gene therapy research groups to come together and form the UK CF Gene Therapy Consortium in 2001.
For more information on Rosie's time as Chief Executive at the CF Trust you can read this article from CF Today (September 2010) entitled 'Thank you to an exceptional Chief Executive'.
07 June, 2011: The Consortium scoops two awards at the Medical Futures Innovation Awards.
At the awards ceremony held in London, our Lentiviral Research Programme was recognised twice by the judging panel. We won Best Therapeutic Innovation in the Respiratory category and also walked off with the highly prestigious MRC Translational Research Award.
05 June, 2011: Multiple news stories covering our funding issues. BBC, Sunday Express, Daily Star,Science AAAS, Belfast Telegraph and a Robin McKie article in the Observer on Sunday.
"We have developed a drug," said Professor Eric Alton, the consortium's co-ordinator. "We have carried out safety tests on it. We have found that the drug works very well in many patients. We have manufactured large numbers of doses of the drug. We have lined up 200 patients to take part in the final phases of trials. But now we have had to suspend operations because our money has run out. We are already laying off staff. It is horrendous."
24 May, 2011: The Consortium has won a Medical Futures Innovation Awards for our Lentiviral Vector research programme.
11 May, 2011: Statement from the CF Trust regarding fundraising push to raise money for our planned clinical tial.
18 October, 2010: Miracle Cure? A Decade of the Human Genome - Horizon, BBC2, Monday 25 October featured some of the work of the UKCFGTC.
25 June, 2010: Jenny Agutter: 'Cystic fibrosis is in my family' by Neil Bowdler, BBC News.
01 February, 2010: Interview with Deborah Gill in Oxford University's Blueprint magazine.
14 October, 2009: Work of the UKCFGC and our ongoing clinical trial was featured on BBC Radio 4, Trials for Life. Eric Alton, Jane Davies, Steve Hyde and volunteers from the clinical trial talk to Vivienne Parry about the background, challenges and practicalities of our ongoing clinical trial.
19 April, 2009: 'Cystic fibrosis to be treated by gene therapy technology', The Observer.
26 February, 2009: 'Gene Modifies Lung Disease Impact' , BBC News.
19 February, 2009: 'Cystic Fibrosis Sufferers Offered Hope by Gene Therapy Treatment' , The Telegraph.
17 February, 2009: 'Cystic Fibrosis Gene Cure Closer' , BBC News.
14 May, 2008: VGXi Pharmaceuticals sign a multi-year production agreement with the United Kingdom Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium. VGXi Pharmaceuticals (Houston, TX) today announced that the company has signed a multi-year supply agreement to provide plasmid DNA to support the ongoing toxicology and clinical trials of the United Kingdom Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium.
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Medical Futures Innovation Award 2011
