Crohn's MAP Vaccine is a support group of volunteers, all directly affected by Crohn's Disease (CD), who believe that the work of Prof John Hermon-Taylor of King's College London offers the best hope for a Crohn's cure. The group supports his work by raising awareness and funds to complete the work on the MAP Vaccine and new MAP test. To find out more, visit www.crohnsmapvaccine.com

The new MAP Test is a simple test for MAP in blood and tissues, on which work is nearing completion at King's College London. It will be used as an essential 'companion diagnostic test' for the trial of the MAP Vaccine, enabling doctors to tell which patients need vaccination and to monitor patients' responses to the vaccine. It may also help in monitoring the variation in blood MAP levels in response to other CD treatments. The test enables MAP to be seen in the tissues and bloodstream of people with CD for the very first time - something scientists have been trying to achieve for decades.

Our next milestone: At a time when we should be celebrating the achievement of our 2nd milestone of raising £120K by the end of May (in fact we reached it on 20th April, a whole 6 weeks early!) we have to bring you the news of a disaster which occurred in the lab just before Easter: The machine used to run MAP blood test - called a Flow Cytometer - crashed and on assessment by experts was found to be irreparable. It was a 9 year old machine and approaching the end of its lifespan but had been expected to be adequate to see the project through to its conclusion. Hence the purchase of a new Flow Cytometer - at a cost of £50,000 - was not included in the research budget. [The long-term plan for the funding of this project can be viewed here: http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/funding-for-the-map-test-and-vaccine-explained/] And until a new one can be bought, work on the MAP blood test is on hold (work on the tissue form of the new MAP test and the Vaccine is unaffected).

As a team, we have put our heads together to tackle the problem of the Flow Cytometer. Borrowing one in another institute costs £100/day and would be logistically impractical as the machine is needed on a daily basis. So we have decided to launch our FLOW CYTOMETER EMERGENCY APPEAL to raise £50,000 to buy a new machine (example pictured below):

This appeal is different in that a new Flow Cytometer would not only benefit our project but would be a lasting legacy to KCL even after our project is complete (N.B. A Flow Cytometer is a key instrument, widely used in many areas of medical research).

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Crohn’s and Colitis UK and to Rick Parfitt Jnr for their fantastic support of this appeal!:

Amy and Helen from the CMV team met with the leadership team of Crohn’s and Colitis UK on 17th April to discuss the possibility of their supporting our appeal. Amy reports:

‘We were delighted to have the opportunity to meet with David Barker, Helen Terry and Dan McLean from Crohn’s and Colitis UK on 17th April to discuss the possibility of their supporting our appeal. The meeting was very positive: the team found my presentation of the latest science in the MAP field very interesting and Helen and I were equally impressed by what we learned about the excellent work of Crohn’s and Colitis UK. In particular, it was great to hear that the charity increased their research funding to >£700K last year (divided between medical research and living with IBD research) and that they plan to increase this further by 2018 (for more info click here) http://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/Resources/CrohnsAndColitisUK/About-us/strategic-plan-2014-2018.pdf  Like many other charities, Crohn’s and Colitis UK operate a peer-reviewed grant funding programme whereby they allocate awards on an annual basis. However, I’m delighted to let you know that they can make a donation of £15,000 specifically towards our Flow Cytometer Emergency Appeal, thanks to a special fund that their Ambassador Rick Parfitt Jnr supports. We came away with very good will on both sides, new bridges built, a commitment to keep in touch regarding the science and the hope of working together more closely in future.’

If you would like to ask us a question about this appeal or any aspect of the research, please get in touch on info@crohnsmapvaccine.com or send us a message on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/crohnsmapvaccine or tweet us @CrohnsVaccine

If you would like to donate directly to the Crohn's Fund at King's College London rather than via this Justgiving page, please contact Temi on 020 7848 4388 or eyitemi.cheke@kcl.ac.uk

Amy and the Crohn’s MAP Vaccine team