Therapeutic resistance to cancer treatment, topic of first B·Debate of the year
On 7 and 8 April, national and international experts in oncology treatment will meet at Cosmocaixa to debate the latest advances in this field
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Cancer Therapeutic Resistance. Progress and Perspectives is the title of the first B·Debate of 2016, which focuses on finding a way to promote and improve research into the resistance of cancers to oncology therapies and transfer it to clinical practice. It is a scientific debate organized by B·Debate –an initiative of Biocat and the "la Caixa" Foundation– along with the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).
Therapeutic resistance is the main issue standing in the way of curing oncology patients, and despite great advances in recent years, there are still very few examples of transfer to clinical practice in this field. There are many reasons behind this problem, noteworthy among which are: the complexity of each type of cancer, the lack of precise or personalized molecular profiles to predict the benefits and/or resistance of a specific therapy, the evolution of cancer cells under therapeutic pressure, and the wide variety of pre-clinical models.
These sessions will bring together national and international experts, basic, translational and clinical researchers who are working on cancer therapies, and industry professionals and representatives of public policy in health and research. Participation is also open to associations of patients and people interested in learning the latest advances in this field.
Program and speakers
The scientific leaders for this B·Debate are Miguel Angel Pujana, head of the Breast Cancer Unit in the Translational Research Laboratory (LRT1) at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), and Joaquin Arribas, director of preclinical research and head of the Growth Factors Group at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). These debate sessions have also received support from The Company of Biologists.
The program will feature six scientific sessions: Immunology and cancer therapy; Genetics, epigenetics and mechanisms; Molecular classification and therapeutic targeting; Cancer omics and therapeutics; Molecular signaling and models; and Stem cells and malignization. Each one will include several speakers, renowned experts from the front lines of oncology research. Plus, the first day will feature a think tank entitled Caveats/opportunities to improve the translation to the clinic, run by scientific leader Joaquín Arribas with Josep Corbella of La Vanguardia and Alberto Villanueva of ProCURE and ICO.
Date: 7 and 8 April
Place: CaixaForum Barcelona
Follow the debate on Twitter with the hashtags #BDCancerResistance and #BDebate and the account @BDebate.