Tissue Engineering for Human Healing

Tissue engineering has the capacity to radically change medical practice. A major objective is regenerating diseased tissues and organs for the benefit of those suffering from ailments ranging from trauma to neurodegeneration. Its development is connected to new treatment possibilities, better quality of life for patients and the possibility to overcome the shortage of donor organs for transplantation. The main focus of this application is the bringing together of research and public engagement scientists from the interdisciplinary Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER) group to provide an engagement platform for this remit. CITER is an established interdisciplinary network, linking around 130 academic staff from 11 Schools across Cardiff University. It is internationally recognised for its expertise in basic, translational and clinical research in the field of tissue repair, regeneration and rehabilitation and is committed to educating and informing the public about the huge potential of Tissue Engineering. CITER provides a very successful MSc in Tissue Engineering and several students who successfully passed through this Programme and are now in PhD Programmes have come together to establish Postgrad@CITER for the express purpose of promoting outreach. With substantial support from the National Eisteddfod of Wales and industry we plan to organize major exhibits and smaller events at different locations in Wales. The main engagement platform will be the 2010 and 2011 National Eisteddfod of Wales in Ebbw Vale and Wrexham respectively. The National Eisteddfod is the premier cultural festival of Wales with an annual attendance of over 150,000. The event houses a large Science Pavilion and festival that is visited by over 24,000 people during Eisteddfod week. Working in conjunction with the National Eisteddfod we will organise a visually stimulating, interactive and educational exhibit focused on tissue engineering. The exhibition will house a talking human model implanted with either engineered replacement tissue or prostheses, a tissue engineering operation game, a stem-cell sorting lottery, a chemistry laboratory for children, wound cleaning maggots, microengineered tissue-making chips, educational posters, displays and a theatre for lectures. Between the Eisteddfods the exhibits will visit Techniquest, a science adventure complex that is visited by over 300,000 people annually. Techniquest is an educational charity, based in Cardiff. The Techniquest mission is to engage people with science and to motivate them to learn more; particularly to address science-related areas such as maths, engineering and technology. Techniquest has a world-wide reputation for creating excellent programmes and exhibits (more than 150 in Cardiff alone). There are now four Techniquest science centres in Wales: Cardiff, Wrexham, Bluestone and Llanberis and although we initially plan to exhibit in Cardiff, we will also consider future exhibits at the other Techniquest centres. We also plan to set up the exhibition in Bangor University and to ensure that as many people as possible benefit from this work we will also exhibit in Cardiff University during National Science and Engineering Week.We intend to publicise the work of CITER and its members widely with flyers and postcards printed for this purpose. We will assemble, over the tenure of the EPSRC award, an audio/visual library of CITER projects to educate and inform the public and to allow us to interact with the media and importantly with schools both locally and in Cities further afield. All this will ensure the public are engaged with the potential that tissue engineering has for the benefit of human health and also the exciting research activities that are currently ongoing at Cardiff University.

Tissue engineering is already having a major impact on the health of the nation and the next few years are likely to witness further significant advances. It is important that scientists working within this remit engage with the public to highlight how its foundation is multidisciplinary science is now being translated into new treatments for a variety of different health conditions This application describing activities at different venues in Wales will impact and benefit all age groups. Thousands of pupils in Wales receive their education through the medium of Welsh and the National Eisteddfod Science Exhibition is the only major event which allows them and their families to experience science communication in through this medium. At the Eisteddfod the culture of Wales celebrated and science is placed firmly in the limelight it deserves. The National Eisteddfod in 2010 will be staged in the Blaenau Gwent area, a historically deprived area where local people may have little local access to interactive science of the type offered here compared with other regions. Young Children will be fascinated and inspired by the dynamic and interactive nature of the exhibits and will benefit from getting first hand experience of the joys that science can offer. Older, 12-15 year old children will also benefit from the clear learning outcomes of each activity. Teachers of all the age groups gain valuable information regarding curriculum and extra curriculum science and will also gain immediate benefit from the participation of the team when they bring their science to Schools To ensure that maximal benefit will be gained from these activities we plan to stage the activities at three major venues in Wales. Initially we are locating at the National Eisteddfod and Techniquest; combined over 400,000 people attend these two venues in a single year thus we are maximizing our opportunity for outreach in Wales. Our activities will also be highlighted during National Science and Engineering week. Both the principal applicant and the National Eisteddfod have strong links with the media and they will be proactive in ensuring this exhibition receives wide publicity thus benefiting those who may not attend these functions directly but can indirectly appreciate what tissue engineering can bring to health and medicine and how scientists in Wales are engaging with this remit. The impact that these outreach activities will have on the presenters at the different exhibitions should not be underestimated. It is all too easy for research scientists to forget that there are people to whom they are responsible and for whom they are investigating and developing therapies. An important part of our reporting strategy will be to ensure that the impact on the target audiences and their responses are fedback to researchers. This will be done through the CITER Learning & Teaching Committee and also through presentations to the CITER membership at the CITER AGM held every September. It is hoped this will educate researchers into the importance of outreach and encourage future participation. Also highlighted here will be the fruits of the EPSRCs investments in science at Cardiff University such as the Platform Grant awarded to Pete Griffiths, the involvement of Prof Barrow in the DTI-EPSRC Laboratory-on-a-Chip project that matured to form Q Chip Ltd and EPSRC support for the MSc programme in tissue engineering. The EPSRC will benefit from proof that they support high quality science that impinges on the wealth and health of the nation and that the scientists that perform the research are proactive in sharing their knowledge with the public. The main attractions described here also often attended by policy makers such as politicians - Rhodri Morgan opened the Science Festival at the 2008 Eisteddfod - thus benefiting science and also those from academia, charities and industry who have invested their time to highlight their scientific endeavours.