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What is it all about?
Scientists are always looking for new participants to help with the latest research. Medical research improves our understanding of the causes and progression of disease. In the field of Ageing Research, many studies are also concerned with normal development, e.g. understanding the ageing process.
A clinical trial is a scientific study that investigates potential new treatments for diseases and medical conditions. The new treatments being investigated in a clinical study have to undergo extensive testing before being considered safe to be used with human volunteers. Research studies are similar to clinical trials but are designed to investigate how the body works and devise new ways of identifying or screening for a particular condition rather than testing new medications. All procedures are designed to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to treat, identify or prevent a specific disease or medical condition.
Who can take part?
Anyone can register using this site, whatever your age, sex or ethnicity. Your details will be stored in our confidential database and you will be contacted when a suitable project is found. Participation in any study is completely optional and we will not pass your personal information onto any third party.
Why take part?
Most volunteers take part because they want to help others. Although individual reasons for volunteering are often wide ranging and personal.
Who benefits? Do I get Paid?
Some medical research provides relatively immediate term benefits for older people in the near future; other research may be of use many years in the future. Because AdvantAge is a charity, our research projects will not usually involve payment to participants.
Will the research involve testing any medications?
This depends on the type of research project. This webpage is used to register your interest in participation. Most of our current projects are scientific research programmes designed to shed light on the ageing process and do not involve taking any drugs. However, we are also currently supporting one project in Yorkshire that does include a full-scale clinical trial.
When you register your interest as a participant using the form on this website, we will store your details and keep you updated when a suitable study becomes available – you choose the projects in which you take part
What is involved?
This depends on the type of research project you choose to participate in. Some projects will involve completing questionnaires by post or telephone. Others could involve a visit to a hospital or university research facility for testing. The type of tests will also vary depending on the study; some use no medical procedures at all and just involve interviews or computer based tests. Other projects will use imaging (scanning e.g. MRI, EEG, ECG) techniques and some may involve blood tests. As always, participation is completely optional,
Ethics
All our own research (and research undertaken by our partner institutions) follows a strict protocol, all researchers adhere to an appropriate code of professional conduct and all information is treated in the strictest confidence. All projects are approved by an ethics committee and the relevant regulatory bodies before any testing is commenced.
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