ECRO Symposium 2017
Fifth Sense are pleased to be part of the 27th symposium taking place in Cambridge in September, which is hosted by ECRO (European Chemoreception Research Organisation). ECRO supports young scientists to secure grants to help them at the start of their career, and provides all scientists with a forum and collaboration opportunities through the annual congress.
ECRO explain that: “Chemosensory disorders affect millions of people, negatively impacting their health, their social interactions and their overall quality of life.” In the past, patients and patient groups have not been able to engage with researchers and clinicians in the field, despite several decades of studies into the causes and potential treatments for smell and taste impairments.
At Fifth Sense, we see the 2017 symposium as a great opportunity to demonstrate the importance of patient engagement to leading European chemosensory scientists. Duncan Boak will introduce the symposium by highlighting some of the work that Fifth Sense is doing to bring patients, clinicians and researchers together. Volunteer Fifth Sense member Tom Laughton will then present his perspective on how interactions between these different groups are important to patients, based on his participation in Fifth Sense events such as our Members Conferences.
Mr Carl Philpott, Consultant ENT Surgeon from the Smell and Taste Clinic at James Paget Hospital, will discuss diagnosing and treating patients at and his experience of leading clinical research into potential treatments.
From further afield, Director of the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste (UFCST), Dr Steven Munger, will address the audience to look at the importance of outreach and education from the perspective of an academic organisation, based in part on his experience of delivering SmellTaste2017 alongside Fifth Sense.
The event will close with a talk from Cedric Uytingco, a researcher UFCST, which will examine the advantages of using patient data to guide preclinical research aimed at developing treatments for chemosensory disorders.
ECRO hopes that the symposium “will provide unique insights into chemosensory disorders and suggest a way forward for a more effective search for therapies”. You can find out more here.