The funding provided by the ACTF allows us to run the Emerging Analytical Professionals (EAP) conference, which is a forum for fostering and promoting networking opportunities as well as gaining experience in the delivery of poster pitches and presentations. The conference also furthers the delegates analytical knowledge by hearing from early career scientists, as well as invited speakers from academia and research backgrounds. The event provides valuable learning opportunities in a relaxed and supportive environment, which allow the attendees to gain experience that they can take forward through their career and future conference attendance. The ACTF’s funding is invaluable, and we are incredibly appreciative of their continued contributions and support towards the ASN.

-Harriet Pembroke, ASN Chair

The ACTF scholarship allowed me to travel to Uganda to learn more about the burden tuberculosis (TB) and its treatment has on the Ugandan population.  Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a major obstacle to effective TB therapy and if it occurs the life-saving treatment must stop and can only commence when the liver function returns. DILI is hard to determine in resource-limiting settings and there is an unmet need for point-of-care platforms to assess DILI.  Working with our collaborators at Makerere University, we carried out a pilot study to evaluate if a point-of-care test could detect DILI in serum samples from patients undergoing TB treatment. Positive results for all patients who had elevated DILI biomarker levels were achieved demonstrating that the test could be used to successfully detect DILI in this cohort. Overall, the visit was a great success and will hopefully lead to a successful translation of the point-of-care test in Uganda.’

Dr. Sian Sloan-Dennison MRSC (She/Her)