Member News
Spinal Research UK are to host an 'awareness raising' parliamentary reception on Monday evening in the Houses of Parliament.
The event, in partnership with Dods parliamentary services, the House Magazine and ePolitix.com, will be a 'new venture' to showcase the work of the UK's leading charity that funds medical research into spinal cord injuries.
To be hosted in the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Westminster Hall, the evening session will be Spinal Research's first venture into the world of parliamentary receptions.
Speaking exclusively to ePolitix.com, Spinal Research chief executive Jonathan Miall said:
"What we want to do is establish what we are here for, who we are as a charity, what we do, and what we are aiming to achieve over the next few years. The reception is an opportunity to set out our stall at the Palace of Westminster to MPs and peers but also to the administration as well.
We want to secure support from key public figures and politicians who recognise the need and justification for long term investment in any research strategy, but in particular this one."
The reception will seek to focus on Spinal Research's new translational initiative.
Miall explained the significance of this initiative to ePolitix:-
"For the last 27-30 years we have been funding projects that have been looking at the possibilities of spinal cord injury repair. Much of that has been in the laboratory; we call that basic science. Now we have got to a point where we need to apply that to humans. We are getting very close to when we will have a trial on a human being.
To ensure that happens effectively and carries the greatest chance of success, we have to develop a strategy for pushing those trials forward. That is what we call the translational initiative; we are translating the gains in the laboratory into the clinic."
For more information please view the dedicated Parliamentary reception page on Spinal Research's ePolitix microsite.
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