CITER Collaborative Research Workshop with the Cardiff Materials Research Network (CMRN)

The first CITER collaborative research workshop with the Cardiff Materials Research Network (CMRN) took place on the 27 November 2019 at the Hadyn Ellis Building, Cardiff University. The theme of the half day workshop was focused on translating biomaterials technologies to the clinic (Biomaterials: From Bench to Bedside).  Members from across both networks attended. The workshop brought together regulatory experts, pre-clinical testing specialists, clinical trials coordinators, funding advisors and academics to discuss ways to translate biomaterial technologies into the clinic for patient benefit.

There was a full programme which was split into two sessions: the first session focused on pre-clinical development and the second session focused on clinical development and funding pathways. Thanks to our keynote speaker Dr Michele Barbour from the University of Bristol and founder of Pertinax Pharma Ltd for delivering an inspiring talk on her experiences on research commercialisation and founding spinning out a biomaterials company.

We would also like to thank our invited external guest speakers including Dr Pete Wall from ISCA Healthcare Research, Ms Gavia Taan from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Mr Peter Rees from Covance, Professor Chris Fegan and Robyn Davies from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) and Dr Philip Pallmann from the Research Design and Conduct Service (RDCS). Furthermore to express our gratitude to our internal speakers: Dr Wayne Ayre (organiser), Dr Ben Newland (School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences), Dr James Kinsey-Jones (Accelerate) and Dr Matthew Stott (RIS) and all the attendees on the day. We hope you gained some useful knowledge from the afternoon and look forward to seeing you all at the next workshop.

If you would like to be part of the interdisciplinary CITER membership which gives you access to such workshops and conferences amongst other benefits, please sign up to the free membership.