Upcoming dialogue event to explore feedback of genetic information at Wellcome Genome Campus

We are pleased to announce that HVM has recently started work on a new dialogue event to explore feedback of genetic information with NIHR BioResource and Wellcome Connecting Science.

The BioResource is a bank of genetic information managed by the National Institute for Heath and Care Research (NIHR) to aid research into the diagnosis and treatment of a range of health conditions.

We are working specifically with the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) team at NIHR BioResource, whose focus is on improving the lives of people affected by Crohn’s and colitis. IBD affects approximately 500,000 people in the UK. 43,000 and counting have signed up to the IBD BioResource, the largest group of people with Crohn’s and colitis involved in research in the UK.

One of the key themes the IBD BioResource team is currently working on relates to genetic feedback of incidental findings. Given the implications of genetic information can be difficult to anticipate, the team would like to carefully consider the kind of feedback patients signed up to the IBD BioResource can receive and how this is communicated.

The team at HVM is excited to be involved in planning a dialogue event which will explore this impactful topic at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge this November. The event will bring together researchers and IBD patients who have signed up to the IBD BioResource to explore the hopes, concerns and interests they have about the feedback of genetic information. Henrietta, Suzannah and Jamie (pictured below) will be facilitating the event from HVM.

You can read more about the IBD BioResource team’s work, including background to this dialogue workshop, on their website here. And explore the wider work of the Research and Dialogue team at Wellcome Connecting Science here. We look forward to sharing an update on how the event unfolded later this year.