ECFS Conference

Winners at the ECFS Conference

The following were selected to win prizes at this year's European Cystic Fibrosis Conference which took place in Hamburg in June. Congratulations to all!

Cesare Romano Award for Cystic Fibrosis Research: Dr Matthew Hurley, Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham
The Cesare Romano prize was awarded for work detailing the effect of a commercial garlic preparation as a quorum sensing inhibitor. Many bacteria (including Pseudomonas in CF) communicate with each other so that all the bacteria in an infection can co-ordinate their actions and so act at the same time. In CF, it is thought that bacteria use this communication to form biofilms and other substances that can harm the lungs. Biofilms allow the bacteria to hide from the immune system and become resistant to antibiotics. Dr Hurley and his team think that if they can stop this communication then the bacteria will become more treatable. In work funded by the Wellcome Trust, they found that this garlic preparation reduced the bacteria's ability to produce harmful substances and reduced the amount of biofilms they made. More laboratory work and a clinical trial must be undertaken before we will know if this is of benefit to people with CF.

Best Poster in Microbiology/ Antibiotics: Dervla Kenna and team, Health Protection Agency
The poster by Kenna et al., described a cluster of highly similar isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from CF and non-CF patients, discovered as part of the Health Protection Agency's role in national surveillance. In 2010, thirty-eight isolates from 35 patients across 23 hospitals in the UK were found to belong to this cluster. Twenty-five of these were from CF patients. Further investigations using a range of techniques supported that these isolates represent a single strain. Some variability in the profiles of these isolates was found, suggesting independent acquisition and selection of this strain from the environment, rather than person to person spread. The team are now conducting further research to try to learn more about its adaptation to the CF lung and any clinical implications this might have.

Best Case Presentation Physiotherapy: Jenna Ballard, Royal Hospital For Sick Children, Glasgow
Jenna presented a physiotherapy case presentation regarding a baby boy called Jacob. He was born at 28 weeks gestation and was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. This was an unusual case as there are very few babies with Cystic Fibrosis born so significantly premature. In The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow babies would normally be treated with physiotherapy airway clearance techniques as soon as they are diagnosed, however Jacob had different needs compared to a full term baby. The team had to take into consideration his brain development and his delicate condition. Together the respiratory and neurological teams came up with a management plan for Jacob, and have subsequently written local guidelines to help them treat any other babies that are born prematurely and also have respiratory complications.

Best Poster in Immunology/ Inflammation: Dr Lorraine Martin, Queen's University, Belfast
Dr Lorraine Martin was presented with a best poster prize at the closing ceremony for her work on the development of a new assay approach for the measurement of neutrophil elastase, a critical inflammation-related protease which is elevated in the airways of CF patients. This enzyme contributes to the destruction of lung tissue and pulmonary decline and has mass application as a biomarker. Dr Martin hopes that her new assay approach (the development of which was funded by a Proof of Concept Award from Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund) will find application in point of care monitoring, patient stratification and will facilitate the efficacy testing of new CF therapeutics currently in clinical trials.

Best Poster in Pulmonology: Dr David Taylor Robinson, University of Liverpool
Dr Taylor Robinson was presented with an award for his poster on understanding the natural progression in FEV1 decline in patients with Cystic Fibrosis. This study aims to investigate the effect of social factors on clinical outcomes, healthcare use and employment opportunities in people with cystic fibrosis. These insights will inform the development of policies to improve public health and patient care for people with Cystic Fibrosis.

Best Poster in Nursing/Psychosocial Issues: Dr Lisa Reynolds, University of Leeds
This was an attempt by several members of the adult CF unit in Leeds, including psychologists, doctors and a microbiologist, to see how young people with CF balance the things important to all young people such as meeting friends with the risk of infection present in some environments. This formed the doctoral project of Lisa Reynolds, who was a clinical psychologist in training in Leeds at the time. She interviewed 8 people using vignettes about different situations in which they had to balance potential risk with an activity they might like to do, such as horse riding.