eduroam celebrates a decade of wifi internet access for students around the world

Posted by on May 24, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments With two sons at university, I imagine they take their instant wifi access on their campus for granted. The first secure roaming internet access of this kind was launched 10 years ago by eduroam® which has today been celebrating its landmark achievement at the prestigious 2012 TERENA Networking Conference – with special recognition for the role of Klaas Wierenga (pic) who first identified...
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The complexities of registering herbal products

Posted by on May 22, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment What determines whether an herbal product is registered as food, a cosmetic or for medicinal purposes? My client Greer Deal, Director of Global Regulatory Services (GRS), a UK based consultancy to the life science industry, will highlight the complex regulations involved with this when she speaks  at the Vitafoods Europe Conference in Geneva on Thursday, 24 May 2012. The main flavour of her...
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Abcodia seeks collaborations for breast cancer biomarkers

Posted by on Apr 18, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments I didn’t realise that there are currently no blood-based biomarkers approved for the screening of breast cancer. And yet worldwide, breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women (around 23% of all cancers) and around 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Although mammography is the main screening method for breast cancer, research has shown...
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Special educational needs – the way forward

Posted by on Apr 11, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments I would like to introduce you to one of the exceptional speakers at the SEN conference, Towards a Positive Future. She is Tania Tirraoro, a journalist and author who runs the website Special Needs Jungle and is a mother of two sons with autism. She will talk about how parents-carer forums, such as Family Voice Surrey, of which she is a member, are helping to shape SEN services with the SEN Green...
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The UK’s growing life science industry

Posted by on Apr 4, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments A group of leading Cambridge biotech entrepreneurs and investors have co-authored a letter in today’s Times with colleagues to highlight the promising future for their industry in the UK. They praise the government for its support and welcome last week’s Budget incentives for investment, including tax breaks for scientific spin-outs and start-ups. But, like biotech entrepreneur Sir...
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Abcodia nominated for awards

Posted by on Mar 19, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments I’m thrilled to be joining Abcodia’s CEO Julie Barnes (pic) and COO Chris Hodkinson at the Business Weekly annual awards dinner at Queen’s College, Cambridge tomorrow evening as the newly formed molecular diagnostics company has been shortlisted for two awards. I’ve worked with Abcodia since its launch a year ago and am delighted that they have achieved this kind of...
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EU medicinal herbal remedy laws need urgent review

Posted by on Mar 14, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 4 comments The medicinal herbal remedy industry is at risk in Europe following the introduction of new EU laws a year ago, according to Greer Deal, Director of Global Regulatory Services. She tells me that the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive is being flouted by some companies to avoid paying exhorbitant fees, a system which favours larger companies, while smaller businesses are struggling to...
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Sir Christopher Evans on entrepreneurs, life science and ‘knob heads’

Posted by on Mar 7, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments The British life science industry is thwarted by lack of investment with a slow regulatory process which is impeding its development, said Sir Christopher Evans, the biotech king who is regarded as one of Europe’s leading medical science entrepreneurs, if not the world, and created the now famous Cambridge cluster of biomedical companies. As someone who has established 45 successful science...
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Our intimidating appeal system for special educational needs

Posted by on Mar 5, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments I was shocked to discover the painful process that some families have to endure when appealing against their local education authority special educational needs provision for their vulnerable child. According to Janet O’Keefe, a speech and language therapist who attends many tribunals as an expert witness, special educational needs and disability tribunals are organised by the Ministry of...
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Abcodia announces collaboration with VolitionRx

Posted by on Feb 17, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment Congratulations to my client Abcodia following the announcement today of its collaboration with VolitionRx to advance the discovery of blood based biomarkers for cancer. The partnership will discover and develop nucleosome-based diagnostic tests for lung, colorectal and pancreatic cancer by using the latest ground breaking technology. It is hoped that through global collaborations such as this,...
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Research within the NHS – life science companies invited to share their thoughts and experiences

Posted by on Feb 15, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment I’m planning to attend a fascinating One Nucleus  Bench to Boardroom event in Newmarket on 6 March which will scrutinise how life science companies can can work successfully within the NHS, an increasing developing market, for example, the recent collaboration of the Virgin Health Bank at Cambridge University Hospitals. A workshop on this theme, entitled “The NHS – Virgin...
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In support of World Cancer Day

Posted by on Feb 4, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments Today is World Cancer Day, and it is hard to find a family whose lives have not been affected by this killer disease. I have signed its Declaration in support of their campaign, along with molecular diagnostics company Abcodia,who work with innovative global collaborators to provide earlier diagnosis of cancer. World Cancer Day is using today to unite the world in the fight against cancer by...
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Virgin Health Bank and Cambridge hospitals partnership

Posted by on Jan 27, 2012 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments Sir Richard Branson has launched an innovative new bank alongside Northern Rock – the Virgin Health Bank - which stores cord blood, the blood that remains in the umbilical cord after a baby has been born and is a rich source of stem cells which can be used for life saving transplants. It will be delivered in partnership with Cambridge University Hospitals and is believed to be the first of...
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Macmillan Cancer Support’s Biggest “Thank You”

Posted by on Dec 30, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment No words are spoken in this emotionally charged video, but the raw feelings of the six people it features are stripped bare as they read poignant and touching messages of thanks sent by from friends and loved ones suffering from cancer which have been published on the Macmillan Biggest Thank You. You too can add your thanks, those two little words which mean so much. Macmillan’s Biggest Thank...
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Government reforms ignore trans-racial adoption

Posted by on Dec 22, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments It’s the best Christmas news for any child languishing in care and waiting to be placed with loving, adoptive parents – the announcement today that the government is replacing its crippling bureaucratic process with a new system.  Proposals include forming an expert panel to develop a new system and assessment form so suitable placements can be made starting next year. I hope the...
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Families describe losing loved ones to sepsis

Posted by on Dec 12, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 7 comments I am struck by the generous selflessness of  bereaved families who genuinely do not want others to suffer like them after losing loved ones -  especially from deaths which they believe were preventable. They have offered to provide case studies about their traumatic experiences, which is crucial when highlighting the importance of a life-saving awareness campaign, such as sepsis, as they...
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Medics petition government to make sepsis a clinical priority

Posted by on Dec 5, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 6 comments The sudden death of Brazilian soccer legend Socrates from sepsis, blood poisoning following an infection, comes at the same time that I am promoting the vital work of the UK Sepsis Trust, which is petitioning the government to make sepsis a clinical priority by establishing it as a medical emergency. Campaigners, made up of patients and their families, as well as doctors and nurses, are urging...
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European robots perform brain surgery

Posted by on Dec 1, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 7 comments I am totally in awe of the advanced technology used to create “robotic surgeons” that can out-perform the skills of our best neurosurgeons, carrying out vital life-saving operations. Thanks to EU-funded researchers from Germany, Italy, Israel and the UK, this can be done. The robot has performed accurate keyhole neurosurgery on dummies, and when ready for humans, could ease the...
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Why is Cambridge a phenomenon?

Posted by on Nov 22, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 5 comments The Cambridge Phenomenon is 50 years old and a gripping story which constantly fascinates. To mark this incredible milestone, which saw the creation of home computers, pocket calculators, bluetooth – as well as the technology behind round teabags – its history is being told in a new book, The Cambridge Phenomenon: 50 Years of Innovation and Enterprise, with a foreword written by...
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Antibiotic Action media frenzy

Posted by on Nov 18, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 1 comment Do look out for Prof Laura Piddock and Antibiotic Action on Sky and BBC News today following a media frenzy after the Independent’s page one splash warning about the “unthinkable scenario of untreatable infections.” It follows a parliamentary launch and petition delivery last week to 10 Downing Street. The story also featured today’s Daily Mail, saying that the demise of...
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Antibiotic Action petition at 10 Downing Street

Posted by on Nov 10, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments Antibiotic Action’s message was delivered straight to the heart of government yesterday by two of its lead campaigners, Prof Laura Piddock and Tracey Guise, as well as nurse Vickie Longstaff and ITV’s best known doc, Dr Hilary Jones. They delivered a petition signed by almost 5,000 clinicians and researchers urging government to support the urgent need for new antibiotics. It followed...
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Antibiotic Action on TV

Posted by on Nov 8, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments I do hope you will  be glued to both BBC Breakfast and ITV Daybreak tomorrow morning when they both feature the launch of Antibiotic Action, a global initiative to highlight grave concerns about the shortage of  modern antibiotics. The BBC will include some case studies to highlight our desperate dilemma, with fears that one day human health could suffer by returning to a pre-antibiotic era as...
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Steve Jobs and pancreatic cancer research

Posted by on Nov 7, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 2 comments All the money in the world couldn’t sadly save Apple’s supreme Steve Jobs who died from pancreatic cancer. But hopefully our latest technological advances and medical research will enable others to be saved from an early death. Recalling Jobs’ gaunt and hollow expression is a potent reminder for us all that early diagnosis is vital for survival. So I congratulate my clients...
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David Cameron supports adoption reforms

Posted by on Oct 6, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments I am delighted to read in today’s Times that David Cameron has vowed to tear up Britain’s adoption rules and end the scandal of thousands of children lost in the care system. The announcement was made in a speech at the Conservative Party conference at the same time that adoption campaigner Francesca Polini urged the Prime Minister to support adoption reforms in an interview with the...
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Adoption with Humanity e-petition launch

Posted by on Oct 4, 2011 in Blog, PR client | 0 comments I have just signed the Adoption with Humanity e-petition which has just been launched on the government’s website.  You too can sign it too by clicking here. It has naturally thrilled adoption campaign reformer Francesca Polini who is delighted to have gained the support of Baroness King of Bow and Bruce Oldfield. This is what they say: Oona King: “Like Francesca, I am an adoptive...
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