The inaugural Cambridge Festival, which runs from 26 March - 4 April, brings together the hugely popular Cambridge Science Festival and the Cambridge Festival of Ideas. It hosts an extensive programme of over 350 events that tackle many of the critical global challenges affecting us all, and features hundreds of renowned experts in the field of health and medicine. The key themes are health, society, environment and explore. Over 120 events focus on health.
COVID-19: As the world locked down in 2020, scientists at the University of Cambridge were hard at work researching COVID-19. Several events at the Festival reveal the latest developments to help in the global fight against the disease.
Post COVID-19, how can we continue to keep up the pace of innovation we have seen in the digital health sphere, specifically in improving the patient experience and outcomes in trials and beyond? What are the opportunities? What are the challenges? How can we work together to maintain and build on the momentum? An interdisciplinary panel, chaired by BBC Digital Planet presenter Gareth Mitchell, discuss these questions and more during Learnings from a pandemic: Accelerating the research and development of new medicines (30 March, 7-8pm). With Cristina Duran, Chief Digital Health Officer, R&D, AstraZeneca; Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London; Michelle Longmire, Co-founder and CEO of Medable, Inc; and Nick Hartshorne-Evans, CEO of Pumping Marvellous.
MRC scientists, Dr Kirsten Rennie and Dr Rebecca Richards, discuss how remote testing approaches are transforming large population research to adapt to social distancing rules during Involving people in telehealth research during the COVID-19 pandemic: The challenge of scale, engagement and inclusivity (30 March, 7-8pm). Examples include a first in the UK blood draw device that allows a dried blood spot to be taken by participants at home, and the smartphone app that identifies the COVID-19 pre-symptomatic phase by collecting information on symptoms, temperature and oxygen saturation together with digital measurements such as heart rate and breathing. Innovations such as these have promise for a range of clinical healthcare and research settings, reducing the need for people to visit clinics and maintaining better online contact.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government has said that it is following the science, but what does that mean when scientists do not necessarily agree on the evidence or what action should be taken? In the panel discussion, Following the science: What lessons have we learned about science communication from COVID-19? (30 March, 6-7pm and then available all day from 31 March-4 April) experts from diverse fields look at the question from a variety of different scientific angles, from behavioural science to public health and science communication and policy implementation. With David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team; geophysicist, civil servant and science communicator Claire Craig is Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford; Daniela De Angelis, Professor of Statistical Science for Health at the University of Cambridge; Parth Patel, research fellow at the IPPR think tank and at University College London's Institute of Health Informatics and has worked as a junior doctor during the COVID pandemic. The session is chaired by Rob Doubleday, Executive Director, Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge.
Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly investigates why obesity might lead to adverse outcomes with COVID-19 in Why does obesity make COVID19 more dangerous? (31 March, 7-8.15pm) There have been attempts to explain this based on physiology, but Professor O’Rahilly suggests that we look closely into the metabolic effects of obesity to move the science forward and pinpoint effective medical interventions. As the number of people affected by obesity is high, even a modest reduction in its impact on patients would be important.
In Health data research and COVID-19 (31 March, 7-8pm), Professor John Danesh, Head of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care and an HDR UK Research Director, explains how data from the NHS is being combined with information and samples from volunteers and the national COVID-19 testing programme to understand the disease and inform the UK public health response. Using examples from cohorts of blood donors and the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, Professor Danesh explains how HDR UK has been able to rapidly generate new insights, using data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support.
Further COVID-related events include:
Cancer: Significant progress during the past 40 years has transformed the prospects of people diagnosed with cancer in the UK, with survival doubling since the 1970s. However, further improvements are still greatly needed, and teams of researchers in Cambridge are looking into numerous ways of finding and successfully treating cancer.
In How our bodily fluids help diagnose cancer earlier (28 March, 3-4pm), four group leaders from Cancer Research UK discuss their latest research and the challenges of earlier detection and diagnosis. Dr Charlie Massie on how cancer might be detected with a simple test that analyses the DNA fragments circulating in blood; Dr Jamie Blundell on using blood samples taken over a long period of time to try to predict what lesions might progress to cancer; Dr Daniel Muñoz-Espín on how early lesions detected may be successfully treated; and Dr Harveer Dev on treatment stratification – how different treatments are used for different patients.
Professor of Immunology Klaus Okkenhaug explores how cancer immunotherapy harnesses the power of our immune system in the fight against cancer in Cancer Immunotherapy: Innovation from Laboratory Bench to Bedside (29 March, 6.30-7.30pm). He explains what cancer immunotherapy is, how it works, how it is helping patients, and how it can be improved.
In What can we do about difficult cancers? (1 April, 7.30-9pm) Neurosurgeon Professor Colin Watts, engineer Professor George Malliaras, and chemists Professor Oren Scherman and Dr Ljiljana Fruk discuss the problems in delivering drugs to combat some of the most difficult to treat cancers, and how we can use new advances in engineering and chemistry to overcome them.
Heart disease: In A View of the Heart (26 March – 4 April all day), Cambridge cardiovascular researchers discuss their exciting new research, from heart valves to regenerative medicine to heart disease, during a series of short personal interviews. Topics include the future of heart attack treatment and how a new artificial heart valve could transform open-heart surgery. In The role of genetics in cardiovascular health and disease (30 March, 6-7pm), Dr Dirk Paul, Dr Seamus Harrison, Valerie Rhenius and Amy Lafont from the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit discuss the role of genetics on our cardiovascular health and how studies are investigating the impact genetic changes can have on the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Genetic editing: The 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize was awarded to the pioneers behind a tool for rewriting the code of life. The ability to edit specific sections of human DNA creates exciting new possibilities for combatting diseases and helping people stay healthier into older age. However, there are ethical concerns surrounding the use of this developing technology. Two events explore the future of this breakthrough that has revolutionised life sciences research and biomedicine. In The dilemma of genome editing – should we do all we can to age well? (29 March, 7.30-9pm) scientists discuss the current and future applications of this technology in ageing research, as well as the wider ethical dilemmas it creates for society. In Developing Regulations for Biotechnology: Is there a role for Citizens? (1 April, 7.30-9pm) experts discuss the development of regulations for biotechnology, with a focus on the development of a governance framework for human genome editing under principles of safety, social justice and welfare, human rights, fairness and equity.
Further health-related events include:
The Festival also hosts several virtual lab tours with live demonstrations at some of the world’s leading research institutes, including The Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute; the Gurdon Institute – during the tour two young researchers talk about how they use tiny worms or mini-lungs to explore human development and disease; the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, whose scientists have won 12 Nobel Prizes; and the Babraham Institute’s Biological Support Unit (BSU)
View the full programme at www.festival.cam.ac.uk. Many events require pre-booking, please check the events listings on the Festival website.
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Instagram: @Camunifestivals |Facebook: @CambridgeFestival |Twitter: @Cambridge_Fest Sponsors and partners: AstraZeneca and RAND Europe. Media partners: BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Cambridge Independent.