SCIENCE GOES SHOPPING

An Official Science Week event at Princes Square Shopping Centre, Glasgow

14 March 2005 from 11am-3pm

Hosted by the University of Glasgow

We have found that the best way to instil understanding and trust between the public and scientists is to get scientists to talk in places where the public feel comfortable. The public can then question the scientist in an uninhibited way. Over the last year, we have successfully adopted this approach through our monthly Caf￩ Scientifique events, held in Glasgow bars (see http://www.cafescientifique.org/). Due to the success of these, The Wellcome Trust has funded a special event to be held during National Science Week (11 ﾖ 20 March). School children from local schools will be selected to meet and ask questions, and then the floor will be open to the public to question the scientists. The event is free and everyone is welcome.

The theme:
DRUGS - FROM THE BENCH TO BEDSIDE ﾖ CAN OUR GENES AND MIND CHANGE THE WAY WE RESPOND?

The scientists:
Professor Sir James Black, Nobel Laureate, King's College London
From basic science to drug discover-what's in the black box?
Nobel prize winner in 1988 for his contributions to the area of drug treatment. He discovered important drugs that treat angina, gastric ulcers, high blood pressure, migraines and other health problems. Most famous for discovering beta-blockers. Born in Scotland, his father a mining colliery manager, he started his formal education studying medicine at St Andrews University. He moved to academic basic research then to work as a pharmacologist in I.C.I.. Here he started to understand drug design and the black box between drug delivery and effect. He also made some of his most famous discoveries-the beta-blockers and anti-ulcer drugs during his time at I.C.I.. He then went back into academia to take up a Professorship in Pharmacology at University College London. He is well placed to address the ethical issues that concern scientists during drug development and the conflicts between commercial needs and scientific ambition. What would you like to ask him?

Prof David Porteous, FRSE, Edinburgh University
Gene Medicine-will our genes decide what drugs we take?
The completion of the human genome, in the fiftieth anniversary year of the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA, was a landmark event. The genomic era is now a reality. A revolution in biological research has begun.' [Nature, 2003]. How will this impact on Scottish Medicine in the future? Are 'designer babies' going to become a reality? A major focus of David's work is the application of knowledge emerging from the Human Genome Project to the identification of risk factors, disease processes and new treatments for common disorders prevalent in the Scottish population. What would you like to know about the influence The Human Genome Project will have for our futures? Professor Porteous is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institute of Biologists, the Academy of Medical Sciences and is an Honorary Member of the Association of Physicians in Great Britain & Ireland.

Dr David Reilly, Director of the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital.
Mind Medicine-do our minds play a role in our response to drugs?
We thought we had it cracked ﾖjust get better drugs, sharper chisels. We trained head doctors and body doctors. Then came the science of psychoneuroimmunology ﾖ sewing the head back on the body. The heart of the matter?: our deeply personal inner self is wired into our body, our physiology, and our resistance to disease and our ability to heal. Despair, hope, beauty, compassion, fearﾅ change our cells, our brains, our immune systems and shape our lives more that 20th century medical science ever dreamt. What does 'the placebo effect' tell us about our minds ability to heal our bodies? Is the pharmaceutical industry ethical in the hard sell marketing of drugs when a more holistic approach would be therapeutically better? Should the NHS be putting more money (rather that less) into homeopathic hospitals? What do you think? David Reilly is a doctor, active in caring for people. He is a Consultant Physician at Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Glasgow University, Visiting Professor of Medicine in Maryland and faculty member at Harvard Medical School, USA.

Funded by The Wellcome Trust
Supported by The British Association for the Advancement of Science

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

First published: 11 March 2005