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Sunday 15 July 2012

Reflections of Professor Chris Garland on MicroCirc2012

A series of blogs from the MicroCirc2012 conference at Keble College Oxford, 4-6 July, for which local organization was lead by Professor Chris Garland, on behalf the British Microcirculation Society (BMS) and the US Microcirculatory Society.

Chris Garland and Keynote speaker Kim Dora
Chris Garland is Professor of Vascular Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. Here are his reflections on the meeting and his role as principal local organizer of MicroCirc2012.

'It was a great relief to the organizers that the joint BMS/MCS meeting at Keble College proved to be a tremendous success; enjoyed scientifically and socially by all who attended. This of course reflected the fact attendance was fantastic, with 250 scientists and clinicians from 15 countries around the world making the trip to Oxford. However, the success also depended on the support of many of the world leaders in research in this area, particularly those who agreed to provide the Plenary and Keynote lectures that formed the basis of the scientific programme. Apart from defining the current state of research into the working of the microcirculation in health and disease, these provided, I am sure, inspiration to the many young scientists present. 

Carsten Thorndahl, DMT with Prof David Gutterman

Some of these speakers give more insight into their research in the video blogs on this website. All were outstanding, but I would highlight one Plenary Lecture, that given by David Gutterman from Wisconsin, as encapsulating what our research endeavours are all about. His DMT lecture described the crucial importance of fundamental scientific endeavour in informing and sign-posting the way forward to applied research in people. This balanced approach to research is the only way we will understand the complex cell mechanisms that drive the microcirculation and ensure it operates to keep us alive, and importantly what changes disrupt the way it works in disease. With so many people world-wide suffering from cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, and a wide range of other  serious diseases in which the microcirculation is implicated, from abnormal pregnancy, to inflammatory disorders, and cancer, there can be no doubt of the relevance and importance of this fundamental scientific area of research in the 21st century!' 

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