Scientists at Bath Skin Symposium share breakthroughs in managing skin disorders, cancer and sun damage
The University of Bath, the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust Foundation (RUH) and the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases (BIRD) has hosted a successful third annual, Skin@Bath Network Symposium at the Guildhall in Bath.
Over 170 people attended the event in December (14th -16th) from 13 countries with 55 talks and 26 posters presented in two days by national and international clinicians, healthcare professional and scientists as well as early career researchers, medical trainees and postgraduate students.
The event brought together leading scientists in skin research to discuss breakthroughs on skin disorders, skin cancer and sun damage. The breakthrough research studies related to the mechanisms underlying skin pathologies and novel approaches to their therapies. Also new disease therapies and managements were shared by speakers on chronic inflammatory disorders such as psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, eczema and systemic lupus erythematosus.
A speech was given by Prof Ian White, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bath and Professors Adele Murrell and Banafshe Larijani also gave inaugural speeches. Over thirty delegates from China, including respected Dermatologists and scientists, attended the symposium online due to COVID-19 restrictions to travel in China.
A partnership with China-UK Skin Consortium continued this year with the introduction of a new topic to the symposium on “Biomechanics and biomedical engineering.”
With support from the Faculty of Science and the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases, (BIRD), this year the conference team was able to launch the Dr. Nick Hall Memorial Bursary to provide travel bursaries to a number of early-career researchers, medical trainees and postgraduate students. Dr. Nick Hall, is fondly remembered as a distinguished academic reader and a director of studies at the former Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology of the University of Bath.
The Symposium sponsors included Pfizer, Sanofi, Abbvie and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson as well as Faculty of Science and the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases, BIRD. Support in kind was also received from members of the Department of Life Sciences and Centre for Therapeutic Innovation.
Celia Mead, Executive Director at BIRD said, “Once again we are delighted to support, facilitate and underwrite this important symposium, which covers psoriatic arthritis in particular and helps to encourage collaboration between academics and clinicians in general. Our focus at BIRD is to support a wide range of arthritis research studies, education and patient engagement in research.”
Dr Charareh Pourzand, Reader in Skin Photobiology and Pharmaceutics from the University of Bath’s Department of Life Sciences, and joint organiser of the event, added, “The event fostered strong collaborations with top clinical and non-clinical researchers in academia and healthcare from around the world. It was also a great forum for experts sharing information, stimulating novel research ideas and translating this into state-of-the-art therapies. Our main emphasis is on meeting the current needs of patients as there are a lot of disorders that are not addressed or curable at present. We want to change that.”
To find out more about the Skin Conference visit https://skinatbath.org or to find out more about BIRD visit www.birdbath.org.uk.
Pictured above: The Bath Skin Symposium at the Guildhall in December
