April Science Cafe: Taking your breath away - lung disease and the development of an artificial lung

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The Swansea Science Cafe offers opportunities for anyone to find out more about new, exciting and topical areas of science in an informal and entertaining way.

Title:‘Taking your breath away: Lung disease and the development of an artificial lung’

Speaker: Dr Melitta McNarry, Swansea University

Date: Wednesday 24th April

Time: 7:30pm

Venue: The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea

Admission: Free, all welcome

In this talk, Dr. McNarry will focus on the challenges presented by respiratory disease, which kills one in four people in the UK - more than coronary heart disease.

It is the most common long term illness among children, the most common illness responsible for an emergency admission to hospital, and costs the NHS more than any other disease area.

Although a number of treatment options are available, many of these have serious limitations, such as the side effects associated with various drugs or the limited availability of lung transplants.

Indeed, in 2005 only 1,000 lung transplants were performed, despite over 3,500 people being on the waiting list in the US alone. This highlights the urgent need for artificial lungs to be developed, but how realistic is this?

Dr. McNarry will discuss efforts to meet this need by the development of artificial lungs which allow the user freedom of movement and an enhanced quality of life.

Contact details: http://swansea.ac.uk/science/swanseasciencecafe/

About Science Cafe Wales

Each month, a leading expert in their field will give a brief introductory talk followed by a friendly informal chat. You can sit back, relax with a drink and listen or get involved in the discussion and debate. The Science Café organisers are committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science accountable.

Science Café Wales are held in casual settings in Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor. They are informal and accessible and entrance is entirely free. They usually start with a short talk from the speaker, usually a scientist or writer, followed by a quick break and then an hour or so of discussion afterwards.

Previous topics have included dark matter, the common cold, Dr Who, the Big Bang and alternative therapies.

The first Cafes Scientifiques in the UK were held in Leeds in 1998. From there cafés gradually spread across the country.

Currently, some 40 or so cafés meet regularly to hear scientists or writers on science talk about their work and discuss it with diverse audiences