International AIDS Pre-conference 2016: Saturday July 16th

Today, is the first day of a 2 day pre-conference and we get up at 6.45am. After breakfast Rolande, Prakash and I jump straight into a Heavenly Shuttle which takes us to the ICC for R80 (£5).  Each time you enter this place you and your bags have to go through a security check.Scanned just like at the airports. I thought I'd seen the last of that for a few days lol.
The pre-conference is intense and there a many concurrent sessions going on and lots of choice of different topics within the HIV field. Before attending delegates must register online for a maximum of 3 areas. This strikes me as strange as they are all happening at once and it is impossible to be in 3 places at the same time. They fill to capacity quickly and I found that the most 'scientific' ones had already been filled, but I found one which I am very happy to attend as it is what we all want and will update me on the latest info. Namely 'Towards an HIV cure'.

The pre-conference and the conference itself are composed of talks, poster sessions, workshops, poetry readings, film screening, networking opportunities and so much more. As each delegate can choose what to attend, everybodys conference and experience will be different, so if you are interested, I encourage you to seek out the blogs and reviews of other attendees and see what they did and learned. The premutations are endless........
So, the first session of 'Towards an HIV cure' began at 9am and I got in easily as I had preregistered.  Rolande was not so organised and it took some time for her to appear. I have learned that she knows how to get herself into places and to get things done. As we were to do for most sessions, we sat on the second row. This session was introduced by the co-founder of the HIV and Nobel laureate Francois Barre-Sinoussi herself! She defined HIV cure and said the main priority in science these days is getting papers published but this shouldn't be the case. She is right.

On each of our seats was a green and a red card for us each to hold up if we agree or disagree with some statements we were given to think about by the next distinguished speaker Anna Laura Ross. Firstly she asked if community was an active part of the HIV cure. Without hesitation I held up my green card and saw that Rolande and many others near us had put up a red card. No rights or wrongs but not all communities are involved in this. I hadn't thought of that so maybe I won't be so hasty next time. Then she said 'a cure is an essential part of ending the epidemic'. I was happy to be in agreement with the majority as I put my red card in the air. No, a cure and ending an epidemic are not the same things at all. Finally, she said 'curing HIV will end stigma'. Red cards. Wouldn't that be great though? This session ended with us being asked to think about what it meant to be HIV cured and what the legal implications of this would be. This was a nice gentle and interesting start which took us to 9.30am when the second session began. This consisted of 3 presentations on the basics of the science behind an HIV cure.
First up was Asier Saez-Cirion talking about the hurdles to an HIV cure.

The virus can persist undetected in lymph nodes. Also one thing I never think about but makes sense is that the virus is found in tissues as well such as the brain and lungs, it isn't just in the fluids. The HIV virus works by integrating itself into the genetic information which then forms part of an 'HIV reservoir'. Whilst viral multiplication can be stopped there is (as of yet?) no way to get rid  of this reservoir. The virus can be followed using animal models and the virus also persists due to infected memory cells. Two strategies have been deveopled to deal with this. Eradication which doesn't mean a person is protected, and control of HIV-1 infection. Early treatment seems to  favour this. An interesting Q & A followed. The second talk was given by Sharon Lewin and Gus Cairns  about current strategies and ongoing clinical trials. This retrovirus fools the immune system and one option is to make HIV invisible so that the immune system never sees it. This is difficult to achieve for a lifetime. Another major problem is that this virus comes back very quickly within weeks if antiretroviral therapy (ART) is stopped. The 2 Boston patients were mentioned, they had been in remission for just a few months. The Mississippi baby was clear of HIV for 28 months. This viral rebound as it is known, is not understood. The Berlin patient is very rare and unusual indeed. Two main strategies for dealing with this are decreasing the persistance of the virus which will increase immunity, and trying to shock the virus for latent infections. This has progressed to clinical trials but shocking alone doesn't work. Possible to enhance immunity using T cell  vaccines and there are alot of new ones. Also gene editing 'CRISPR'.The last presentation of this session was given by Judith Auerbach and David Evans talking about integrating social reseach into HIV cure. The key areas here are the stakeholder perspectives i.e. patients, clinicians, policy makers. Also the public understanding of science,  access and equity, and HIV identities. The morning ended with a quick talk at noon by Kevin Osborne, Advocating an HIV cure. He talked about what is needed and what isn't. What is happening and what isn't.
There were lots of similar looking eatery stalls scattered outside around the venue. What a great place! Rolande and I went to one of them and found a table where we could acquaint ourselves with whoever wanted to join us. It was suddenly very windy. I have a large chicken pasta salad which I really enjoy and a bottle of water I had brought with me. Again not expensive, at R35 my food cost less than £2. Prakash found and joined us and started talking about his work. A cure for HIV involving mercury? I tell people about The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association the AIDS non-profit which has a firm grasp on my heartstrings and I show them my now very tatty leaflet which I got from a fundraiser back in 2012.
The afternoon session begins at 2pm and takes place in the same room (5). There were 3 introductory speakers, firstly Jack Whitesciver then the President of the National AIDS Society Dr Chris Beyrer who tells us there are alot of femail speakers at this conference and they had over 7000 abstracts submitted! Then Barre-Sinoussi speaks and tells us that the 1st AIDS Symposium was in Vienna in 2010. Incidently this is the second time this conference has taken place here in Durban, the first time as 16 years ago in 2000. Next Sharon Lewin introduces the first speaker, none other than Dr Anthony Fauci of NIH who talks about the challenges persistant in HIV research. His lab recently used transfer of monoclonal antibodies on an exploratory study of 30 people with chronic HIV infection. They all rebounded no matter what.

The next steps  are eradication vs sustained remission. This involves state of the art gene editing techniques such as the aforementioned CRISPR. There is also passive infusion of combinations of 3 or more long lasting antibodies. 


  

Next up was a South African speaker Gethwana Mahlase talking about movng towards an AIDS cure involving community. She has her own NGO and said that the introduction of ARV's means taking 1 pill a day and alot of people forget. She spoke of there being 10 funerals a week in her community. The way forward is more research, effective drugs, community work and meaningful partnerships.
The next session started at 3pm and Dianne Rauch introduced a british speaker Andrew Phillips from UCL who spoke about identifying the key drivers of the impact of HIV cure intervention in sub-saharan Africa.

This was the first time during the pre-conf I had heard of the word 'cure' being replaced by 'suppression'. It won't be the last time and I like it, its more accurate.





After a coffee break a special session begins at 4.30pm. This is about paediatric HIV and there are several speakers. I find this a very emotional session and feel its my favourite one so far. Is it because its about kids? Oh so young. Two speakers introduced by Deborah Persaud. The first is Deena Gibbons from Kings College London talking about the relevance of paediatric immunology to HIV persistance.

  

Next up was Nigel Klein of UCL talking about the comparison of babies and adults. Over the age of 5 years old, the capacity to generate CD4 count diminishes. Overall conclusion here is that infants have a

 better immune response. 

An amazing table discussion begins at 5pm with a diverse range of people and very interesting topics. I find this a powerful session too. They include Paolo Rossi of Rome who chats about why childrens model is essential to advancing HIV, Caroline Tenneson who speaks of mother to child transmission. This was moderated by Jintanat Ananworanich from the US military HIV program. I was very touched here by a south african lady called Barbara Kinsley. She has been HIV+ for 16 years and was in denial for the first 8 years but had to face up to it when she got sick. She got better once on ARV's and started running. She is now an activist and an ultramarathoner. Her message was that we need to take care of pregnant women as no infant should be born with HIV. Positive reinforcement is needed. Maybe I was moved because she is a fellow runner who cares about the same subject. Two things in common at least. She spoke beautifully and the Q & A was also great. Todays sessions all took place in session room 5 on the ground floor in the middle of the building. We were somewhat bemused by a pigeon who kept putting in an appearance appearing from the rafters but never flying over the audience. He just hovered above the speakers. I think he has something to say or wanted to ask a question.

It is now 6pm and there is a poster and networking session at the front of the room which will go on all night. 

A nice french lady spoke to me whilst I was admiring her poster and told me she was speaking at 2 sessions this week. She spent ages telling me about her poster/research. Alas I wish I had taken a photo of it and can't think now why I didn't.







There was a wide variety of food available which waiters brought around for us. I was still full from lunch but it looked so good I eat anyway. There was a variety of alcohol available which my colleagues enjoyed and I had one can of Castle beer which I made last all evening.Sometimes not being aable to tolerate booze is a bummer!  This was a lively fun session, being able to mingle, meet and chat to likeminded people and exchange business cards and stories etc. Rolande certainly took advantage of everything on offer and it was good to see her enjoying herself. I kept wandering around to look at posters, meet new people and stretch my legs. Plenty of great people stopped off at our table to say hello.  I wish I could recall the name of the jolly kenyan guy we chatted to. Sorry dude.

L to R:Kenyan delegate, Rolande, me and Prakash

There are lots of lovely volunteers here who have come from far and wide. Tonight Rolande and I befriended a lovely botzwanan called Katie. We would see her working at the conference and when she had time she would come and seek us out bless her heart! I love anyone who loves hugs too. We were the last to leave and got a taxi back to our lodge. We got there at 8.30am. I was surprised to see puddles on the floor as a sign that it had been raining. Time to recharge out phones and laptops and catch up with emails etc. Amazing where the hours go. We had coffee and watched abit of tv before recharging our own batteries at midnight. It rained all night too xxx 

International AIDS Pre-conference weekend 2016: Friday July 15th, arriving in Durban.

Flying from the UK to South Africa takes more than a day so I won't  bore you with the details. I got there via Schipol, Cairo and Johannesburg on Friday 15th July. We landed at 10.15 am and it was a clear 30 degree day in Durban. My hint that this conference had taken over Durban were the conference banners and people waiting for delegates, also volunteers easy to spot in their bright t-shirts. The lovely helpful volunteers were able to put me on a shuttle and get me a return ticket for R160 which is about £8. I am happy I don't need to worry about getting back here for my flight home. Just seeing the volunteers made me happy too. My hotel wouldn't you know it is not on the designated route and the driver is keen to take me to the ICC (International Conference Centre) which I need to visit at some point today to register and  get my ID/lanyard for the week. I am fine with this but hope I don't have problems finding my guesthouse. I also get to wondering how and when I will meet up with my german colleague with whom I am sharing a room even though we have only corresponded online so far. She is Dr Rolande Hodel, founder of AIDSfreeAfrica and she does most of her work in Cameroon which she loves. I had hardly been here long already but enough locals had told me that this was their winter. I love all seasons but this is my kind of winter I think as its still warmer and sunnier than the UK in July. Once at the ICC, it didn't take me long get my photo ID and lanyard but then I had to join a long queue to get my conference materials, with my suitcase of course. As I queued and got closer to the desk I turned around and there behind me talking to a guy was Rolande! I made myself known and knew already that she had been here one night. We both laughed at the chances of this happening out of more than 18k delegates! She introduced me to the indian guy she was talking to whom she had met in our hotel at breakfast. His name is Prakash and the 3 of us would spend most of the pre-conference and conference together.  I am keen to get to hotel to check in and drop off suitcase, and have a shower as I have been on planes and in airports for over 24hours. Prakash very kindly phones a taxi for me and its a firm we end up using half the time with the name of Heavenly Shuttles.  He is a nice man. Another cab firm which tickles me  goes by the name of Mozzie Cabs lol. When my ride arrives Rolande hugs me even after I warn her I'm all sweaty. We tell each other we are happy to see each other. Cab to our lodge costs R80 which is approx. £5. Such lovely views here wherever you look, an ocean drive and palmtrees everwhere. Once at our lodge which up a hill, I shower, get to know my home for the next week and shower. Then its time to charge phone and Mac and sort out the usual tech probs which I can't seem to avoid when traveling.

view from room balcony

Another view from our room

Main entrance to venue

Rolande returns when I am sat emailing. We have an empty fridge in our room and decide to walk down the hill to a supermarket she discovered yesterday. I was amazed at how cheap everything is. I buy crisps, a yoghurt and a chicken salad sandwich. Wine is cheap and Rolande buys a carton for £1.50 but I am abstaining at the moment as part of my half marathon training, especially as I'm not running this week. The very nice and young guy on our hotel reception sells me a SIM card he had originally bought for himself to help me with my phone woes. Really appreciate that! Once in our room we spend evening  on our laptops and eating and drinking. I look at the pre-conference program deciding which events I want to see tomorrow. As we put out the lights I marvel at the fact that I am wide awake having just travelled 6,099 miles and I dont feel any jetlag just yet. Is it too early to tell? Also can't believe that all those miles and the time difference is just one hour ahead here in Durban. Weird but amazing...xxx  

International AIDS Conference 2016

I was very excited to attend my very first AIDS conference which this time took place in Durban, South Africa. I was at the pre-conference too as advised and am so glad that I went.

I had a great time but was distracted somewhat and could've had a better time. My heart was in Dublin though with my mother who was in a hospice.
I will be back soon with many entries talking you through my conference.

Love Sarah xxx

Books!

On the 5th of this month of June I visited Keele University for a CLEAPSS health and safety course. Afterwards I visited their on campus Blackwells book store not really expecting or needing any new books. However, so much great literature on offer. I couldn't help but buy these beauties.

So thats my summer reading taken care of! :D

Book Review:Saving Bletchley Park by Dr Sue Black OBE

I read this gem of a book 2 weekends ago but have had precious little time to write about it so now I'm making time. Especially as I recieved the book in January and told Sue Black it would be the first book I read this year LOL. I have kept my promise, it IS the first book I have read this year so far. Its been such a busy year so far though. Here is a picture of me taken 1st January with this marvellous book.

I have been following Dr Sue Black on Twitter for a few years now so I know how much she loves Bletchley Park and all she has done for it. I have even visited the park myself 2 easters in a row 2014 and 2015. So there was no way I wasn't going to buy this book and I have been excited about reading it. So I read it in about 11 hours over the course of 2 days. If I had to describe it in one word I would say it is 'unputdownable' and I really mean that! From Start to finish you are on a journey with Sue, from how she got the ball rolling by emailing as many heads of computing departments as she could think of to learning that Bletchley Park was saved and the focus now being on maintaining it. This is a real demonstration of what passion and determination can achieve. Sue gets you emotionally involved and I found myself rooting for her every step of the way. You can learn alot about BP from just reading this book as well as a little about the key people involved, and if I hadn't already been I'm sure this piece of fine literature would make me want to go. Saving Bletchley Park gives you an insight into how the codebreakers managed to shorten and help win WWII, so the importance of BP really can't be stressed enough!
I know others have said this but it is so true that this is also a prime illustration of how to use Social Media as a force for good.
I am proud to have supported the publication of this book in my own small way and to have my name listed among the Murrays in the back of it :) Thanks Sue.

I can tell you this won't be gathering much dust on my shelf.
So if you only read one book this year, make sure its this one. I look forward to Sue's next book.
Long live Bletchley Park!
Love Sarah xxx

Chernobyl, a commemorative event

Volunteering at last years Manchester Science Festival, the highlight was the Chernobyl installation. I loved it so jumped at the chance to volunteer at this Aprils PI event when I found out what it was! PI (Platform of Investigation) is a once monthly even where scientists/researchers can spend a weekend sharing their work and knowledge with the public at MOSI. On Saturday 23rd April and Sunday 24th April, this was about Chernobyl and coincides to mark the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear facility explosion which is next to the Ukraine town of Pripyat. I know what I was doing on this day as 26th April 1986 also happens to be my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary! Happy 30th to them! I was excited to volunteer for both days and also enjoyed the company of other volunteers I know and see regularly here.

http://aboutmanchester.co.uk/featured/chernobyl-is-open-for-virtual-visits/

Here I am modelling what is now the official MOSI volunteer t-shirt.



Like all of the PI events this one also took place on the ground floor of the main building at our MOSI. This is the first PI event I have voluteered at and I hope to do more in the future.


On this table you can see some VR cardboard headsets which we had to show people whilst they waited to use the oculus rift. They use your smartphone and we were more than happy to demo this, folks seemed impressed especially the kids. 

Here is a volunteer looking through oculous rift. I had the chance to have a go myself at the end of the day on Sunday. It really is amazing to see the footage from Chernobyl which the scientists had shot and put together like this. 

Here you can see people queuing up and also listening to the Chernobyl scientist from Salford university, Dr Mike Wood. This event started at 10.30am and Mike had flown straight in from Chernobyl that very morning! He was very chatty and passionate and interesting and carried on talking to people after the event was supposed to have finished at 4pm. The other scientists were his PhD studenst and they had all visited Chernobyl. Later in the day one of them told me that Mike was a machine LOL. I certainly want to maintain my bounce like has :)

These 3 images above show footage from various areas of Chernobyl showing the abandoned areas, plant and wild life whch is present now.  More scientists with headsets ready to show people. The footage used to make the oculus rift VR was shot with a 360 degree camera and there was one here to show people. The aim of this event is to make people aware of how Chernobyl is now and that there are in fact a diverse range of plants and animals living here. The radiation effects would have a greater effect on humans which is why nobody lives here but the population density in this country is so low that there is no necessity for anyone to occupy this area. I also learned that whilst there is DNA damage in those animals living there it is not paased along generations. Due to predation no animal lives long enough to see if they will get sick anyway. Interesting...Thank you Salford for a great weekend event and to the MOSI staff for looking after us so well as usual. Mike is such a nice guy and he sent an email around thanking the volunteers as did Rosie from MOSI. Pleased to have done this, it was a joy and always good to find out from the experts. Till next time xxx

Wear it! Festival

This mini festival was a weekend of exploring the world of wearable technology and it took place on Saturday12th and Sunday 13th March. I volunteered for both days sporting a plain but bright yellow t-shirt which I got to keep.

This event of course took place in our Museum of Science and Industry on the ground floor of the main building (Great Western Warehouse) from 10am until 4pm. There was plenty to see and do, it was fab. It was so nice to hear all visitors I spoke to say how good it was. A wearable technology festival conjours up images of blood pressure and heart monitors. Smartphone accessories, running monitors such as Fitbit and Garmin. Whilst this is true I was surprised that there was nothing like that here. It didn't even get mentioned. Lets now checkout all the wonderful stuff there was to see!
In the Textiles Gallery, there were a few things going on and I spent alot of time in here with great pleasure. The highlight was a workshop where you can sew an LED into a tote bag with a circuit board design. It was very popular and the seats filled up easily. This didn't stop myself and another volunteer from showing of the totes to visitors hoping to garner further interest. If I remember correctly, we ran out bags in the end anyway!

Also in the textiles gallery you could make a pair of 3D glasses from card and red and blue filters then look at these images.

Also there were some amazing 3D printing pens and I watched people print a selection of nice things. I want one! The are around £100 each.

This photo shows a police vest with the latest Kevlar technology and also here you could try out a virtual reality headset, Oculus Rift and travel around the world. I had a go, it was set to take us to Paris which I have yet to visit in person. It was fantastic and I asked what the app was as all you need for this is your smartphone. The app is Googlecard board and you can buy a cardboard headset from Amazon for £10. I am now the proud owner of a VR headset myself and have enjoyed visiting my favourite places.

Looking outside from this gallery into the main area you can see we had a marquee. There's a team of performers who can do impressive moves with LED laden hoola hoops and visitors could have a go themselves.

                                  In this last picture on the right you can see our Minecraft area. I was unaware as to what this game was never mind its great popularity especially amongst the young ones.



This photo n the left shows the main area where we had a soldering workshop where kids could make their own badge and learn to solder. It proved very popular and I helped to manage the queue. Even though we ran out bulbs everyone was happy! We hope visitors enjoyed this event and went away with a greater awareness of the uses and applications of wearable technology. I am glad I volunteered. Thank you MOSI xxx