Latest News & Press Releases
James presenting the London research team with a rose of hope at 9.20am on 21 November, 2011.
Week commencing 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
