Post Event Review
On March 17th 2023, the Diagnostics North East (DxNE) annual conference was held at The Catalyst in Newcastle– an award winning, state of the art conferencing facility, and centre of innovation
The venue provided the perfect location to celebrate the North East, with impressive facilities designed to encourage networking amongst delegates, and demonstrate the expertise in place to support end-to-end development of diagnostic solutions, from basic science through to adoption.
Bringing together over 150 leading professionals from industry, healthcare and academia, the event showcased the north east of England as a hub of excellence in diagnostics, underpinning advances in precision medicine.
With a wide range of exhibiting sponsors, and a varied agenda, including breakout sessions and lunch time seminars, the event provided a truly interactive experience for delegates, to encourage networking, open discussions, and collaborations.
Opening the conference, key note speaker, Professor Matt Brown (CSO, Genomics England) discussing ‘New ‘Omics Approaches in Rare Disease and Cancer Clinical Practice’. Prof. Brown discussed the challenges of developing genomic diagnostics from the 100K genomes project to the development of the national genomic medicine service and the opportunities that omics offers for diagnostics in the future.
Following on the agenda, Dr Vicky McFarlane Reid and Dr Jackie Cook delivered a fascinating presentation on “Precision Care and levelling up – tackling health inequalities through better access for diagnostic tests and procedures”.
The work of the North East and Yorkshire Genetic Medicine Service Alliance (NEY GMSA) was discussed including ensuring equity of access to genetic testing for the whole population of the North-East and Yorkshire, to facilitate diagnosis, and treatment.
The day was then interspersed with a number of morning and afternoon breakout sessions, providing case studies of successful collaborations (AMLo Biosciences and NovoPath), hands-on workshops on developing and evaluating diagnostic tests (the North East Innovation Lab and NIHR Newcastle In vitro Diagnostics Evidence Cooperative), and discussion sessions on data, digital technology and the future landscape of diagnostics.
Further information on the AMLo Biosciences and NovoPath session can be found on the AMLo Biosciences website. Further outputs from these sessions will be issued in the coming months.
Dr Geoff Hale, CEO of mAbsolve, concluded the day with a thought-provoking keynote presentation ‘The Pharmacy of the Future? Antibody Therapies from the 19th to the 21st Century’.
Mhairi Anderson, Operations Manager, Diagnostics North East, said:
“We are delighted at the success of this year’s conference. The incredible buzz around the venue, and positivity expressed has been inspiring. It has been fantastic to be able to demonstrate the expertise and infrastructure we have in place in the North East and initiate exciting new conversations to extend our networks and identify areas for future collaboration”.
Dr Michael Wright, Chair of Diagnostics North East said:
“DxNE prides itself in connecting academics, clinicians, and industrial partners from across the region and beyond. Last week’s conference was a true representation of what DxNE can do. The feedback we have had confirms the success of the event and we are delighted delegates found it so useful.
We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors for their support and allowing us to offer great networking opportunities for our delegates. We also want to offer special thanks to our speakers and workshop leaders who delivered fascinating content throughout the day."
For further information on Diagnostics NE, please see our brochure, or contact us nuth.diagnosticsnortheast@nhs.net
The sponsors of the 2023 Diagnostics North East Conference are:
