Conference Scene Research Articles

Conference Scene: Translating Pluripotent Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine: a Platform for Applications and Issues to Consider

Euroscicon hosted a discussion workshop on the rapidly moving area of pluripotent stem cell research on the 6 May 2011. The event brought together a panel of seven experts as well as three invited speakers to demonstrate and discuss important areas of their work. The workshop was split into two main sessions: the morning session allowed each panel expert to give a short talk on their area of specialty. In the afternoon sessions the delegates were divided into small groups for informal discussions with each expert panelist. There was also an exhibition session organized by various companies presenting their products.

Conference Scene: Epigenetics Eh! The first formal meeting of the Canadian epigenetics community

In recognition of Canada's longstanding interest in epigenetics - and a particular linguistic interjection - the inaugural 'Epigenetics, Eh!' conference was held between 4-7 May 2011 in London, Ontario. The meeting struck an excellent balance between Canadian and international leaders in epigenetic research while also providing a venue to showcase up-and-coming talent. Almost without exception, presentations touched on the wide-ranging and severe consequences of epigenetic dysfunction, as well as current and emerging therapeutic opportunities. While gaining a deeper understanding of how DNA and histone modifications, together with multiple classes of ncRNAs, act to functionalize our genome, participants were also provided with a glimpse of the astounding complexity of chromatin structure, challenging existing dogma.

Conference Scene: 34th SCAI Scientific Sessions

Interventional cardiologists are constantly challenged by an evolving field with new technology and an increasing evidence base for patient management. The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2011 program encompassed coronary and valvular interventions, nonsurgical approaches to peripheral vascular disease and congenital heart disease. The program educated attendees through several formats including expert lectures, case-based reviews, didactic sessions and scientific abstracts. In a climate of increasing scrutiny on appropriateness and outcomes of interventions, the program provided sessions and tools for quality improvement in the field. Selected sessions are reviewed and presentations highlighted.

Conference Scene: Pharmacogenomics, Biochemistry, Toxicology, Microbiology and Cancer Research in One Go

Arylamine N-acetyltransferases (NATs) are phase II xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes playing a key role in the detoxification and metabolic activation of aromatic amine xenobiotics. The triennial International NAT Workshop has been an important academic meeting where developments in the study of NATs and aromatic amine metabolism have been presented. The 2010 Workshop took place in University Paris Diderot Paris, France. Topics included: structures and functions of eukaryotic and prokaryotic NATs, gene regulation and expression of human NATs, polymorphisms and their effects, arylamine metabolism and toxicity. Nomenclature issues were also discussed.

Conference Scene: Histopathology: Advances in Research and Techniques

Immunohistochemistry together with in situ hybridization remain essential technologies. Their sphere of influence is continually widening with the application of increasingly sophisticated image analysis capabilities. This 8th annual event, the flagship meeting for EuroSciCon, drew together international experts to discuss the most recent updates and attracted clinical, academic and pharmaceutical delegates. The advantage of this meeting was the high quality of invited presentations interspersed with commercial presentations, not forgetting the ‘question and answer’ session. The breaks afforded sufficient time both to visit the trade stands and for discussion with colleagues.

Conference Scene: T-cell Subset Phenotype and Function

Organized by Euroscicon, this meeting focused on the complex and fast-paced research field of T-cell subset phenotype and function. During the past 20 years, this field has moved on from the simple Th1-Th2 paradigm to the discovery of a range of T-cell subsets, including Tregs and Th17 cells. The meeting brought together a variety of researchers currently exploring this field, to give insight into what we know, what we need to know and the potential implications of this research in the medical setting.

Conference Scene: Environmental Epigenomics and Disease Susceptibility

The main objective of this conference was to provide solid evidence that environmental exposures during early development can affect faithful reproduction of individual parental epigenomes without changing DNA sequence in the offspring. No doubt, this important goal has been successfully achieved owing to the high quality of presented epidemiological and experimental studies and engaging discussions of many yet to be published results. Compelling data suggested a strong causal link between prenatal vulnerability of future parental epigenomes to damaging environmental factors aggravated by abnormal socio-cultural conditions (including, for instance, malnutrition and chronic stress) and the alarming risk of developing heritable complex medical conditions later in life, such as asthma, autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia and a whole range of rare neuromuscular pathologies. It was concluded that modern epigenetic research promises to markedly improve our ability to diagnose, prevent and treat these and other pathological conditions of humans. However, the complex heritability pattern of 'epigenetic syndromes' also introduces unique legal and ethical issues that were discussed at the end of this outstanding meeting.

Conference Scene: Progressing Biomarkers from Basic Discovery to Companion Diagnostics

The biomarker field is moving in a direction whereby functional interactions between key stakeholders are increasingly desired and necessary for progress. Indeed, clinicians, academic researchers, pharmaceutical drug developers, diagnostic tool developers, contract research organizations, regulatory agencies, health insurance payers and obviously patients themselves, all benefit from a growing availability of clinically applicable biomarkers. To facilitate those interactions, forums that bring together experts in these fields are needed now more than ever. Whereas such specific conferences have frequently been held in Europe and the USA, only few are being organized in Asia. The Biomarkers in Diagnostics and Therapeutics conference described here aimed at doing both, by bringing together and facilitating the exchange of views between international experts in diagnostics, central laboratories, basic research and pharmaceutical drug development.

Conference Scene: Nanomedicine Kindles The Development of The ‘Elixir of Life’

For the seventh time, nanomedicine experts from around the globe congregated in SAS Nagar, Punjab, for the Fourth Winter School on Nanotechnology in Advanced Drug Delivery, organized by the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, India. The program covered almost all the scintillating areas of nanomedicine, including novel nanosystems for oral, ocular and transdermal drug delivery, nanostructured surfaces for medical applications, 'smart' nanobullets for site-specific drug and gene delivery, designer nanoparticles for therapeutic delivery, tissue engineering and nanobiocomposites, cancer nanotherapy, and novel analytical and diagnostic tools. Special emphasis was given to the commercialization of nanomedical products, including issues related to intellectual property and risk management.

Conference Scene: Cell and Gene Therapies: Clinical and Near-Clinical Focus

The Phacilitate Cell and Gene Therapy Forum was a showcase of the steps required for translational medicine. The major focus was on requirements from early phase discovery through to the regulatory and business processes to bring treatments to patients. Talks on discovery and new methodologies and technologies were presented in light of adaptability to treatment regimens. Venture capitalists and bank representatives, external evaluators of these new treatments, gave valuable financial process insight. US FDA officials offered explanation and advice on successful approaches to the regulatory challenges to this new and emerging field. Completing the picture were talks from contract suppliers and manufacturers of necessary materials and equipment.

Conference Scene: Personalized Medicine in Europe.

The translation of personalized medicine into clinical practice is proving to be quite challenging, with numerous stakeholders all reliant on its success. A key aspect to its success is the timely creation and launch of companion diagnostics that can help implement personalized medicine into the clinic. In this article, I report from the Personalised Medicine and Diagnostics Europe 2011 industry conference, which was held on 9-10 March 2011 at the Novotel, St Pancras, London, UK. This industry conference was well attended with a primarily European pool of delegates representing the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, the technology/diagnostic developers and regulators, as well as the academic research community. This conference represented the current state of affairs with respect to personalized medicine and diagnostics in Europe.

Conference Scene

The Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s (CHI) 18th International Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference 2011 brought together all the key stakeholders in the stem cells marketplace including academic researchers, researchers from biotechnology companies, as well as business leaders involved in various aspects of the regenerative medicine space. The focus of the stem cells track, of this 12-track conference, was on the translation of basic stem cell discoveries into preclinical and clinical milestones. Many presentations focused on the production of induced pluripotent stem cells from various patient populations and the potential utilization of induced pluripotent stem cells in the future for cellular therapy. In this article, I provide a snapshot of this conference and highlight selected presentations, giving the overall direction that the stem cell field is taking.

Conference Scene: Conference report on the 4th Annual International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes

The 4th annual meeting of Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) was held in London, UK, and focused on technological and scientific advances in the field of diabetes. Topics relating to the development of a closed-loop artificial pancreas featured prominently throughout the conference, although the broader aim of the conference was to facilitate discussion and discourse on the latest advances in technologies and therapies for people with diabetes. Approximately 1500 delegates from around the world attended, up a third on the year before.

Conference Scene: Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine: Observations from the World Companion Diagnostics Summit

On 1-2 December 2010 worldwide leaders in the field of co-diagnostics gathered in Boston, MA, USA, to discuss the state of predictive medicine and the complexities of biomarker implementation and partnering. Flanking the primary conference were three workshops where participants could increase their understanding of companion diagnostic commercialization, best practices from well-known case studies and regulatory guidance and practice. The primary conference reviewed here consisted of 18 lectures and one round table discussion. Topics for the summit included biomarker discovery and validation, partnering between pharmaceutical development and diagnostics companies, commercialization models and evolving regulatory perspectives and guidance. While it is clear that there are many difficulties remaining in making personalized medicine a broad-based reality for all therapeutic areas, it is equally clear that much progress has already been made and that the conference participants are optimistic and dedicated to fulfilling the personalized medicine promise of bringing the right drug to the right patient at the right time.

Conference Scene: A Bright Future for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in the Asia Pacific Region

The Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Asia Pacific (TERMIS-AP) annual meeting was held in Sydney, Australia from 15-17 September 2010 and highlighted the latest developments in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in the Asia-Pacific region. Several of the plenary lectures focused on the vascularization of tissue engineering constructs, an issue that is critical for the success of larger tissue engineered constructs and was central to the meeting overall. In addition, a wide range of research also presented developments in tissue engineering for a range of body tissues (including cardiac, neural, bone, cartilage, tendon, skeletal muscle and skin), as well as advances in technologies (high-throughput screening and microfluidics). Looking more broadly, the meeting incorporated developments covering the spectrum of fundamental research through to clinical studies, with discussions on how best to direct the scientific advances being made into realistic therapies that could be made widely available in the future. Overall, the meeting highlighted the promise of early strategies, which are now showing promising results in clinical trials, and the development of a strong foundation of research from which future therapies will no doubt be developed.

Conference Scene: Report on the 8th Annual Cold Spring Harbor/Wellcome Trust meeting on Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine

The joint Cold Spring Harbor/Wellcome Trust Conference on pharmacogenomics, held in the USA and the UK in alternate years, focuses on the growing contribution of genomic technologies to the study of variable human responses to therapeutic agents. The meeting brings together researchers from academic, medical, regulatory and industrial sectors who discuss the current issues for the clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics, and to offer a look into the future advancements of technologies and the biostatistic and bioinformatic methodologies used to analyze arising complexity.

Conference Scene: The healthcare reform act, comparative effectiveness research and personalized medicine.

This article provides a summary report based on the presentation by Dr Elizabeth Ofili on a panel at the annual Burrill Personalized Medicine meeting, titled: Has 'Healthcare Reform' accelerated or decelerated the move to a more Personalized Medicine World? The panel moderator was Dr Edward Abrahams, President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (Washington, DC, USA). Other panelists were: Dr Richard Barker, Director General, Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (London, UK) and Dr David Lawrence, Former Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals Inc. (CA, USA). This report describes Dr Ofili's discussion on the panel, using the Warfarin Adverse Event Reduction For Adults Receiving Genetic Testing at therapy Initiation (WARFARIN) study as a specific example of how well-designed studies can accelerate personalized medicine, by providing evidence that supports the appropriate adoption of pharmacogenetic testing in diagnosis and treatment. The WARFARIN study was recently approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under 'coverage with evidence development'.

Conference Scene: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Meeting

Immunotherapy was prominently featured at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), held on the 13–16 November 2010. Even though it has been 100 years since the first paper on immunotherapy appeared, the field is continuing to undergo dynamic and exciting advancements that make this therapy the most appealing and appropriate for allergic patients.

Conference Scene: Lessons from Animal Models of Autoimmune Diseases: From Mechanisms to Applications

Autoimmune diseases are a group of maladies in which the patient's immune homeostasis becomes so deregulated that it mounts a destructive attack against the hosts tissues. Such diseases are characterized by an activation of autoreactive T and B cells and are associated, in some cases, with the production of pathogenic antibodies against self-molecules, culminating in inflammation and tissue damage. Target tissues can be from immune-vulnerable and immune-privileged sites. In view of the complex nature of autoimmune diseases, it is not surprising that they have long baffled immunologists, physicians and basic biomedical scientists who are struggling to combine known immunoinflammatory mechanisms into a unified general theory. The present seminar, organized by Euroscion, hosted a group of national and international scientists, affiliated to both academic and industrial research, to discuss state-of-the-art animal models for investigating pathomechanisms of autoimmune diseases, novel laboratory-based diagnostics and novel therapeutic prospects. The timely event on this important topic covered significant features of the basic pathomechanisms of autoimmune disease per se, the development of diagnostic and prognostic tests using functional biomarkers for monitoring patients and the development of targeted therapies. The absence of several prescheduled speakers allowed younger scientists, Stefan Kürten, Liliane Fossati-Jimack and Allan Holmes to shine. We are grateful for their participation. This meeting report describes key points and themes arising from this conference.

Conference Scene: CIRSE 2010 – helping minimally invasive therapy reach its maximum potential

The annual Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) congress is Europe’s most influential interventional radiology platform, and 2010 was no exception. With over 5600 attendees traveling to the host city of Valencia, it once again set records. The high attendance is representative of the meeting’s scientific importance – CIRSE 2010 also featured a broader scientific program than ever, with record numbers of scientific submissions and educational workshops.