In November 2020, we held a 2-day Virtual Conference on the the topic of Liquid Biopsies, replacing the in-person event that would have been held in Bergamo, Italy, were it not for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Across the 2 days there were 7 speakers, 4 Proffered Papers, 3 Poster Spotlights as well as a virtual Poster Discussion Session using Gather. If you woud like to know more about the meeting, you can read the Virtual Liquid Biopsies conference review here.
We awarded six EACR-Worldwide Cancer Research Meeting Bursaries to assist members of the European Association for Cancer Research based in countries with low- and middle-income economies, as defined by the World Bank, to attend the conference. For virtual events, each Meeting Bursary gives a full free registration.
1Saber Imani
Job title: Research Assistant Fellow
Home institute: The Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China.
Research: My research lab’s direction is “Translation Oncogenic” and “Cancer Epigenetics”. We review the mechanisms and consequences of genetics and epigenetic changes in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In the lab’s ongoing project, we are particularly interested in the cancer metastasis science and therapeutically approach of microRNA-mRNA bipartite network. For example, by comparing differentially co-expressed RNA and microRNA, we are trying to identify the novel biomarkers or therapeutic targets for early diagnosis and evaluation of prognosis of MBC.
What was a personal highlight of the conference for you?
The “Industry Symposium” was the best part of the conference for me. On the first day, the Thermo Fisher Scientific symposium impressed me regarding documenting of the right ctDNA and EVs at the different molecular subtypes of breast cancer. On day two, I enjoyed the Roche Industry Symposium, particularly Aadel Chaudhuri’s presentation from Washington University Medical Center, USA. Aadel’s lecture stressed how important it is to use new state-of-the-art methodologies and detection methods for ctDNA and EVs isolation and how they used as a biomarker in the personalized oncogenomic analysis.
How was this conference different from others you have attended?
This was the first time I attended an international virtual conference. The time-difference between Europe and Asia was the main concern for me. I stayed up until the early morning in China! I was also quite excited to present my poster and use the online tool box to explain my research work. However, I do think face-to-face discussion is much better for understanding and impressing those who aren’t family members.
How has the conference inspired you in your research?
After my publication on prognostic potential of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), extracellular vesicles (EVs) signatures in patients with breast cancer liver metastasis, I was looking for every possible opportunity to learn more about the using of the CTCs and EVs in early MBC diagnosis. At the same time, I received an invitation email to the 2020 Liquid Biopsies conference! During the conference, I first received the views of experts and their challenges upon my research work. Secondly, I could perpetuate my knowledge on this subject and see where my lab’s research stands. I was awake listening to Gabriella Sozzi’s lecture, receiving up-to-date information about her lab on “The role of microRNAs for early detection of cancer”!
Did you gain any specific knowledge that has benefited your research?
After this meeting, I had several enriching and rewarding teaching and advising experiences on EVs derived microRNA from speakers and poster presenters. Certainly in the future I can use their ideas and guidance in my research field to enhanced the quality of research in EVs derived microRNA disciplines. Optimistically, I transferred more new idea that would let me and my future lab’s projects work upon liquid biopsies profile such as, EVs, CTCs, and EVs derived microRNA. I wish, by using the liquid biopsies profiles, we create a new diagnostics and therapeutic approach for the cancer patients.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
I would like to send my thanks to the EACR for the support. Similarly, I appreciate the people who tried to organize this conference online during the coronavirus pandemic. I hope that next year we will be able to get together again and with the support of EACR, we will be able to make the next edition even better.
2Farah Nassar
Job title: Postdoctoral Researcher
Home institute: American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Research: My research is about finding prognostic and predictive biological markers present in circulation for advanced colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the fourth leading cause of mortality and morbidity among cancers in Lebanon. Advanced colorectal cancer that has metastasis to distant organs are usually predicted to have poor outcome. We are interested in finding blood markers at diagnosis that can help us estimate the outcome of those patients. These potential blood markers are inflammatory markers and microRNA which are small noncoding RNA molecules.
What was a personal highlight of the conference for you?
Personally, it was a pleasure to attend a long-awaited conference where experts in the field of liquid biopsies were present. I have been working in this field for three years and it is hard to find scientists in my institution that have the same interest. It was an eye opener to look how this field is evolving and its future impact on personalized medicine. The discussions were interesting too since experts in the field were giving us their input on the different markers present in liquid biopsies.
How was this conference different from others you have attended?
This is my first virtual conference during the COVID19 pandemic. It is also my first conference as a member of EACR and about this topic. Usually in conferences, I find it hard to ask questions. However this time, I had the chance to ask my questions and get feedback for all of them.
How has the conference inspired you in your research?
This conference was very enlightening to me tackling the most recent research in liquid biopsies. Notably, most of the lectures focused on ctDNA as potential biomarker for cancer especially for prognosis and therapy prediction. Interestingly, there is a highlight on studies for cancer detection that used multi-analyte blood markers or combined markers in liquid biopsies with conventional screening imaging tools. This inspired me to initiate similar studies to increase the sensitivity of the identified markers that we are studying.
Is there anything from the conference that you immediately wanted to tell your colleagues about?
I was interested with new field of “Fragmentomics” which was discussed by Dr. Muhammed Murtaza in his presentation where the size of fragmentation patterns of ctDNA is studied. Moreover, I was intrigued by the different analytical methods for ctDNA sequencing utilized by the different presenters where each one required different amount of input requirements, had different lower limit of detection, precision and cost. I immediately shared these info with my colleagues.
3Aniefiok John Udoakang
Job title: Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
Home Institute: West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, Ghana.
Research: Female breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa is the primary cause of cancer-related death in women. This is mainly because patients often present at late-stage, with resistant tumours. There is currently no standardized molecular method of diagnosis to stratify patients for treatment. This is despite the current successes with immunotherapy in microsatellite unstable or unresectable tumours. Therefore, my research is focused on identifying significant molecular biomarkers in this population, and developing a marker panel for early diagnosis, including a method of monitoring treatment responses in patients. This will hopefully increase overall survival and improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
What was a personal highlight of the conference for you?
A personal highlight for me at the conference was getting to find out the possibility of applying Liquid Biopsy in Africa. Specifically the content of Dr Figueroa’s talk titled “Circulating tumour DNA is readily detectable in plasma samples among Ghanaian breast cancer patients supporting liquid biopsy studies in sub-Saharan Africa.” I was so excited to hear about this and currently seeking for opportunities to incorporate this in my future research.
Were there any social/networking highlights you want to tell us about?
Yes, I got to ask a question to Dr Figueroa and also tried to follow up with an opportunity for collaboration. Unfortunately, this has not been feasible. However, I was looking forward to some collaboration to explore this aspect of research, for a possible future clinical application. This is especially in monitoring patients response to treatment, when the primary tumour is inaccessible or otherwise, this was not possible. I am still hopeful that this will be possible.
How was this conference different from others you have attended?
The poster session for this conference, in Gather, was another major highlight for me. It was unique and different from other virtual conferences that I have attended so far. Getting to interact with poster presenters was so real, almost like an in-person conference. That was really exciting for me and did broaden my research horizon.
How has the conference inspired you in your research?
Being an area that I am very passionate about, the conference was quite insightful and opened my eyes to many opportunities, especially the positive impact that this could have on patients. The speakers were inspiring, passionate and practical in the application of liquid biopsies. Also, it was quite exciting learning of the application of liquid biopsies in the early detection of tumours.
Did you gain any specific knowledge that has benefited your research?
Yes, indeed. The presentations on the application of circulating tumour cells and methods of performing this were exciting to me. Also, Dr Murtaza’s presentation on “Monitoring treatment response in cancer patients using circulating tumour DNA analysis” I have already spoken to my advisor on this, and we are looking forward to incorporating this in our lab.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
I look forward to future conferences, hopefully, to present the results of my findings from the remarkable impact that I have had from this conference. Thank you to all the people who made it possible for me to attend the conference. I am grateful for the opportunity.
4Svetlana Paskaš
Job title: Postdoctoral Researcher
Home institute: Institute for Biological Research, “Siniša Stanković”, Serbia
What was the personal highlight of the conference for you?
The conference programme contained interesting and inspirational talks. For me, the highlight of the conference was Prof. Alberto Bardelli’s talk. He spoke about tracing mutations in blood and designing colorectal cancer therapy in such a way that it is delivered in mutation decreasing time frames. His report on the Pegasus and Chronos trials left me with anticipation of Chronos trial publication at the beginning of next year.
How has the conference inspired you in your research?
I found Gabriella Sozzi’s talk very inspiring. She spoke about using plasma samples from lung cancer patients and testing them for a panel of 24 miRNAs because we are considering for a while to tackle the miRNA expression profiles in our research. It was especially interesting when Dr. Sozzi demonstrated how protumor and antitumor phenotypes of fibroblasts, macrophages, etc. differ in their miRNA expression levels.
Is there anything from the conference that you immediately wanted to tell your colleagues about?
I told my colleagues about Prof N. Papadopoulos’ great talk about combining ctDNA, protein markers, and PET-CT. His research confirmed the value of complimenting biomarkers tests with radiology. Also, I shared Alicia-Marie Conway’s talk on cancers of unknown primary, and their cfDNA methylation profiling with my colleagues.
Did you gain any specific knowledge that has benefited your research?
Giulia Siravegna very clearly demonstrated how the percentage of ctDNA was predicting progression-free survival, which I found fascinating. Besides, her research on how ctDNA was used to uncover the molecular heterogeneity of tumors was very new and exciting to me.
5Amira Salah El-Din Youssef
Job title: Lecturer/postdoc
Home institute: National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Egypt
Research: As a lecturer at National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, I participated in cancer researches focused on finding some potential novel biomarkers that help in improving diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. Also, I am interested in participating in researches studying the genetic background of HCC, CRC and other cancers as well as studying viral pathogenesis and immunoregulation towards viral infections. This will help us finding out which genes exactly involved in the cancer development pathways and to understand their exact roles in order to find a way to stop the disease.
What was a personal highlight of the conference for you?
I have gained a comprehensive overview of liquid biopsies in cancer as it covers what is already in clinical practice. I also learned about the importance of liquid biopsies in cancer patient management and the latest new techniques for high sensitivity profiling of solid tumors in the blood. Moreover, I met experts and important speakers in the field. This conference opens the gates for collaboration and exchange of information between speakers all over the world.
How was this conference different from others you have attended?
This conference was well-organized, gave more details about liquid biopsies as non-invasive sample and its technique for handling. Also, it highlighted the role of the liquid biopsies as prognostic, pharmacodynamic and predictive biomarkers of treatment efficacy and resistance; and for patient monitoring, including of minimal residual disease for early identification of disease relapse. It also showed how liquid biopsies can be incorporated in cancer patient management and how implementation of liquid biopsies can develop the clinical practice.
Did you gain any specific knowledge that has benefited your research?
I gained useful information about using liquid biopsies as non-invasive samples. Currently, I am working on exploring the concordance of detected mutations between solid tumor (colonscopic biopsies) and the liquid biopsies (plasma) using targeted next generation sequencing in the Egyptian colorectal cancer patients at multistage of disease progression. This may help in using liquid biopsies as non-invasive samples instead of colonscopic biopsies. Also, it may help in using liquid biopsies to monitor the disease progression as well as response to treatment.
Were there any social/networking highlights you want to tell us about?
Yes, many collaborators and sponsors such as Qiagen, ThermoFisher, 10X genomics.
6Adel Zaid Ismail Mutahar
Job title: PhD Student
Home institute: University of Mysore, India
Research: The 3D – tumor model is an in vitro platform of anti-cancer drug screening and development. Multicellular 3D-Bioengineering tumor models mimic the in vivo environment to study tumor metastasis and angiogenesis. My research concentrates on the cross-talk between tumor cells and other cell types. These include Endothelial and human mesenchymal stem cells. Using stem cells as regenerative medicine is a promising treatment strategy currently and in the future.
What was a personal highlight of the conference for you?
Understanding ctDNA was very interesting and a new topic for me.
Understanding the differences between CTC and ctDNA was addressed in high advanced research methods and I am very happy with the knowledge I learned during this conference.
How has the conference inspired you in your research?
The conference inspired me to enjoy the entire program with amazing talks given by the top scientists from around the world.
Is there anything from the conference that you immediately wanted to tell your colleagues about?
Yes. How to add this area of research into our lab. CTC and ctDNA are very interesting techniques in cancer research and can be directly taken into the clinic.
