CRH hosts a successful MRC Festival

The University of Edinburgh’s MRC Centre for Reproductive Health and EXPPECT Edinburgh hosted their MRC Festival event on 23 June, 2017.

This article was first published on 28 June, 2017

The event aimed at informing patients, their families and friends about endometriosis and to highlight the groundbreaking research into the disease which is taking place at the Centre.

Attendees were welcomed by patient representatives and both clinical and research staff. They experienced three interactive information rooms involving the following activities:

1. A patient representative from Endometriosis UK and one of the EXPPECT research nurses gave an informative talk about endometriosis, summarising the condition and current treatment options.
2. Attendees took part in learning more about the keyhole surgery (laparoscopy) which is the surgical procedure used to diagnose and treat endometriosis. Attendees used laparoscopic simulators to learn more about what the surgery entails from a surgeon’s perspective.
3. Attendees could interact with the EXPPECT Edinburgh research staff and find out how endometriosis biopsies are used to find out more about the condition. They were given the opportunity to look at the biopsies via a microscope and received an update on what research is being performed at CRH and how this might impact future endometriosis treatment.

Attendees were encouraged to ask any questions as the travelled between the rooms, and were offered refreshments and a MRC goodie bag to take home.

Kirsty MacDonald, thirty-seven years old and from Edinburgh, has suffered from endometriosis since she was in her teens and attended the event.  

She said: “I found the MRC Festival fascinating and informative. It was exciting to see the pioneering research that The University of Edinburgh’s MRC Centre for Reproductive Health is undertaking, geared towards helping sufferers of this debilitating disease.

“It is really positive to see that so much is being done to help and support those affected by endometriosis, as it has a massive impact on your life. I am always shocked that so few people know about this health condition, despite it affecting one in ten women of reproductive age.”

Dr Erin Greaves, Principal Investigator at MRC Centre for Reproductive Health with a focus on endometriosis, added: “It was wonderful to have such a fantastic turn out from people who were eager to learn more about the research we are doing with the tissue samples, that are collected during operations. We demonstrated how this tissue is used to drive research forward, in the hope of finding better treatment options in the near future.”