THE ACTIVITIES FROM 2013 REPORTED HERE BELOW HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT BY THE IMPACTS GROUP IN COLLABORATION WITH THE OECI BIOBANKING AND MOLECULAR PATHOBIOLOGY WORKING GROUP AND WITH THE ESP MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY WORKING GROUP
ACTIVE WORKING GROUPS:
-OECI-ESP Working Group on Next Generation Sequencing in Clinical Research. (A. Jung, G. Stanta)
-ESP Pre-Analytical Tissue Condition Working Groups. (C. Marchiò)
-ESP – Heterogeneity, inter-WGs of ESP. (WG leaders)
-OECI-ESP Liquid Biopsy WG (I. Gut, G. Stanta)
-ESP – Proteomics SOPs in AT, in development. (K. Becker)
-ESP In-Situ Techniques, in development. (G. Stanta)
- Member of the Committee of CEN (European Committee for Standardization) for Molecular in-vitro diagnostic examinations - Specifications for pre-examination processes for fresh tissues, FFPE tissues, blood for DNA, RNA and proteins, technical specifications to ISO 15189. Giorgio Stanta is the liaison representative from ESP to CEN/TC 140.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2018 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-20 June: organization of OECI Pathology Day “Development of Clinical Cancer Research”, Poznan.
In this meeting new types of medical studies will be discussed. Moreover the European project on preclinical conditions of diagnostic clinical material (SPIDIA4P), the EURACAN project on solid rare cancers (with a comparison of frequent tumours), and the EUROPDXL consortium on patients derived tumour xenographt will be presented. A special session will be devoted to molecular morphology with the presentation of the most sophisticated methods. The meeting will be closed by a roundtable to discuss the new aspects of oncology-pathology collaboration.
-4-6 June: co-organization of “8th EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology Approach to Cancer”, Amsterdam. In this course most of the new approaches to molecular pathology in cancer will be presented. This course has become an annual event to be updated on the issue.
-16-17 May: “European HERCULES Project Management Committee meeting” in Helsinki.
New developments of the project on ovary carcinoma were discussed.
-16 April: meeting at JRC in Ispra about QASDG (Quality Assurance Scheme Development Group) to establish and vote for the importance of clinical research in clinical applications for breast cancer.
-10-11 April: SPIDIA4P Consortium Meeting M16, Dudelange, Luxembourg.
Some of the most general aspects of pre-analytical conditions of patient biological material were discussed. The development of technical specifications will be then developed in further meetings.
-20 March: “First Scientific Steering Committee meeting for the conference on the translation of genomics into breast cancer healthcare”, Leuven.
The meeting was held in preparation of a congress to present new translational research developments in breast cancer treatment. It will be discussed in Brussels in 2019 during a general meeting with the participation of scientists expert in health and with organisations of citizens and patients.
-23 February: “European Society of Pathology Working Groups Chairs meeting”, Brussels.
The development of a European Molecular Pathology Master/Diploma was discussed. This initiative is absolutely important to try to make molecular diagnostics in Europe more reproducible and exchangeable. The discussion will be carried on throughout the year.
-30 January: EURACAN General Meeting on rare solid tumours, Paris.
On this occasion the need to use new types of clinical studies, such as N-1 trials in the clinical approach for rare solid cancers was presented.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2017 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-11 October: OECI meeting for the development of N-1 trials consortium, held in Brussels.
-18-19 September: scientific meeting of the SPIDIA4P project (SPIDIA for Personalized Medicine - Standardisation of generic Pre-analytical procedures for In-vitro DIAgnostics for Personalized Medicine, pr. No. 733112) in Florence.
-2-6 September: co-organization of the ESP Congress in Amsterdam.
a. Symposium: “In-situ methods: molecular pathology of the microenvironment”.
b. Symposium: “Tissue-based proteomics: State-of-the-art in clinical research and molecular diagnostics”.
c. Joint symposium: “The times are changing – the situation of molecular pathology across Europe in an era of technological revolution”.
-21 June: organization of OECI Pathology Day “N-1 trial consortium: collaboration among oncologists, pathologists, bioinformaticians, and ethics experts”, held in Brno.
-16 June: meeting for the development of ATMA (Archive Tissue Molecular Analysis) Expert Centre of BBMRI-ERIC, BBMRI.IT, and SDN. The meeting was held in Naples.
-15-16 May: scientific meeting of HERCULES project (Comprehensive characterisation and effective combinatorial targeting of high-grade serous ovarian cancer via single-cell analysis, pr. No. 667403) in Helsinki.
-11-13 May: International Symposium on "Resolving Cancer Heterogeneity", held in Washington.
-8-10 May: co-organization of “7th EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology Approach to Cancer”, held in Amsterdam.
-26-27 April: organization of the meeting of the Working Group for NGS guidelines standardization, organized by OECI, CRO, ATMA-EC, and BBMRI.IT. The meeting was held in CRO campus in Aviano.
-3-4 April: organization of the meeting of the Working Group for plasma DNA analysis standardization, organized by OECI, CRO, ATMA-EC, and BBMRI.IT. The meeting was held in CRO campus in Aviano.
-13-16 March: co-organization of the OECI-EACR conference "Making it Personal: Cancer Precision Medicine” held in Amsterdam.
-31 January: kick-off meeting of SPIDIA4P project (SPIDIA for Personalized Medicine - Standardisation of generic Pre-analytical procedures for In-vitro DIAgnostics for Personalized Medicine, pr. No. 733112) in Hilden.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2016 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-25-29 September: organization and implementation of ESP-IAP Congress, Cologne.
a. Symposium: “Tumour Heterogeneity: an update”.
b. Short course: “Preanalytical conditions of tissues”.
c. Long course: “Major Cancer Theranostics”.
-15 June: organization and implementation of OECI, ESP, BBMRI-ERIC, EuroCan Platform, IMPACTS Pathology day in Brussels, Belgium: “Clinical Research and Applied Oncology: an integrated and indissoluble process”.
During the meeting tumour heterogeneity was discussed as clonal and non-clonal evolution. Three round tables were also held, related to tumour heterogeneity and industry, heterogeneity and tissue biobanking, heterogeneity and different tumour types, similarities and differences.
-11-13 May: organization and implementation of “EACR-OECI-ESP 6th EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology approach to Cancer”. The course was held in Amsterdam.
This course was an advanced course on Molecular Pathology of Cancer, with some of the most experienced scientists in the field. It was very successful and attracted participants not only from Europe.
-Projects:
a.Participation in the European project HERCULES (Comprehensive characterisation and effective combinatorial targeting of high-grade serous ovarian cancer via single-cell analysis)
Project financed by the European Commission – Horizon 2020 – Call: H2020-PHC-2015 – Topic: PHC-02-2015 – Type of action: RIA – Proposal number: 667403-2. Coordinator: Prof. Sampsa Hautaniemi, University of Helsinki.
New type of collaboration between basic/translational research and clinical research for rapid validation of new biomarkers and molecular targets.
b.Participation in the European project SPIDIA4P (SPIDIA for Personalized Medicine - Standardisation of generic Pre-analytical procedures for In-vitro DIAgnostics for Personalized Medicine).
Project financed by the European Commission – Horizon 2020 – Call: H2020-SC1-2016-RTD – Activity: SC1-HCO-02-2016 – Funding scheme: CSA – Proposal number: 733112. Coordinator: Qiagen GmbH, Hilden (Germany).
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2015 BY IMPACTS AND THEIR CONNECTED STEERING COMMITTEES OF OECI, ESP AND BBMRI:
-Participation in the organization of NIPAB (Network of Italian Pathology Archive Biobank):
a. 7 May, NIPAB meeting in CRO (Centro di Riferimento Oncologico), Aviano, Italy.
b. 24 September, NIPAB meeting in Milan within the SIAPEC (Italian Society of Pathology) Congress.
-5-9 September: ESP Congress, Belgrade. Organization of:
a. Molecular Pathology Heterogeneity Session: “Does tumor heterogeneity interfere with predictive biomarker evaluation?”
b. Joint session Molecular Pathology - Haematopathology: “Early genetic lesions in lymphomas”
c. Joint session Infectious Diseases Pathology - Molecular Pathology: “Microbes and tumours: An update”
-28-31 July: HandsOn Biobanking, EXPO, Milan.
This congress was organized by BBMRI.IT, the Italian node for biobanking, together with the Italian meeting on biobanks.
-22-23 June: OECI, ESP, BBMRI-ERIC, EuroCan Platform, IMPACTS Pathology meeting in Porto, Portugal: “Tumour Heterogeneity and Next Generation Sequencing: Morphology and Technology”.
During the meeting tumour heterogeneity was discussed as clonal and non-clonal evolution. Three round tables were also held, related to tumour heterogeneity and industry, heterogeneity and tissue biobanking, heterogeneity and different tumour types, similarities and differences. For this latest round table, a document on how to approach tumour heterogeneity in the different tumour types is in development by the chairs of the different Working Groups of the European Society of Pathology.
-11-13 May: organization and implementation of “EACR-OECI-ESP 5th EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology approach to Cancer”. The course was held in Amsterdam.
This course was an advanced course on Molecular Pathology of Cancer, with some of the most experienced scientists in the field. It was very successful and attracted participants not only from Europe.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2014 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-30 August - 3 September: ESP Congress, London.
* Technological improvement oriented to better diagnostics in FFPE tissues.
-12 June: OECI Pathology Day in Cluj, Romania, devoted to diagnostics and clinical research in archive tissues.
-5-7 May: organization and implementation of “EACR-OECI-ESP 4th EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology approach to Cancer”. The course was held in Amsterdam.
This course was an advanced course on Molecular Pathology of Cancer, with some of the most experienced scientists in the field. It was very successful and attracted participants not only from Europe, but from all over the world.
-31 March - 4 April: organization and implementation of “2nd Basic Molecular Biology for Pathologists Course” held in Graz by OECI, ESP and ESCoP (European School of Pathology).
This was a basic course on Molecular Pathology aimed to give all necessary information on Basic Molecular Biology and on Molecular Technology, to understand the analyses performed today in Pathology for prognostic and predictive biomarkers. The course was very successful and requests for participation were five times as high as the available places.
-28-29 March: organization and implementation of the meeting “Tissue Based Biomarkers for Advancement of Personalized Cancer Treatment”, held in Graz and organized by ESP, OECI, Medical University of Graz and BBMRI Austria.
Many of the major European organizations interested in cancer, like ECCO, EuroCanPlatform, EPAAC, Royal College of Pathologists, German Society of Pathology, EATRIS, BBMRI-ERIC and the BBMRI nodes from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany and Italy, participated in the discussion on how to improve the quality of retrospective studies performed in archive tissues and how to accelerate the clinical application of new biomarkers.
A white paper has been drawn up to better define the characteristics of these types of studies.
THE WHITE PAPER OF THIS WORKHOP IS AVAILABLE IN THIS WEBSITE.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2013 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-7 November: meeting of the Technical Group of the OECI-ESP-IMPACTS European Working Group for the Development of SOPs and IQC for DNA and RNA Extraction, Quantification and Quality Analysis in Molecular Archive Tissue Diagnostics, held in Munich.
-4-5 October: participation in the OECI-ESO International Conference “Nuclear and Personalized Medicine Development in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer”. Presentation on “The Role of Archive Tissue Biobanks in the Development of Personalized Cancer Medicine”.
-25-26 September: participation in the High Resolution Workshop organized by JRC and EPAAC in Ispra, Italy. Discussion about the introduction of biomarker molecular analysis in retrospective survival studies.
-20-21 September: participation in the Basic Molecular Pathology Course with "Hands On" Interactive Practice, held in Istanbul.
-13 September: participation in the meeting held in Madrid by EPAAC on the project on biomarker molecular analysis in retrospective survival studies.
-4 September: ESP Molecular Pathology WG meeting in Lisbon. During this meeting the OECI-ESP “NGS diagnostics group” was set up. Organization of “ESP-OECI-EORTC-BBMRI Symposium on Molecular Pathology: the molecular approach to colon cancer”.
-6 July: setting up of the European Working Group: “Standardization of Pre-Analytical Conditions”, together with ESP and OECI during the ASP meeting in Grottammare, Italy.
-16 May: organization of OECI Molecular Pathology Day.
-6-8 May: organization and implementation of 3rd EACR-OECI Joint Training Course Molecular Pathology approach to Cancer, together with EACR and OECI. The course was held in Amsterdam.
-22-23 March: participation in 2nd Meeting on External Quality Assurance in Molecular Pathology. Collaboration on EQA on Diagnostic Molecular Biomarkers in Tissues started with ESP and ESMO.
-24 January: OECI-ESP-IMPACTS meeting in Brussels, with the participation of representatives of EORTC, to set up a European Working Group for the Development of SOPs and IQC for DNA and RNA Extraction, Quantification and Quality Analysis in Molecular Archive Tissue Diagnostics.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2012 in collaboration with the IMPACTS group:
-18-19 October: participation in EPAAC Forum Research and established collaboration with the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer (EPAAC - http://www.epaac.eu/)
-September: Constitution of Biobanking and Molecular Pathobiology WG of the Organization of European Cancer Institutes (OECI – http://www.oeci.eu/)
Chairman: Giorgio Stanta, University of Trieste (Italy)
Members of the Steering Committee:
Rui Henrique, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia "Francisco Gentil" EPE do Porto (Portugal) – secretary
Rares Buiga, Oncology Institute "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta" – Cluj Napoca (Romania)
Manfred Dietel, Charité – Berlin (Germany)
Denis Larsimont, Institute Jules Bordet – Bruxelles (Belgium)
Antonio Llombart-Bosch, IVO - Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia – Valencia (Spain)
José Antonio López-Guerrero, Fundación Instituto Valenciano de Oncología – Valencia (Spain)
Lia Menasce, Christie Hospital NHS Fundation Trust – Manchester (United Kingdom)
Petra Nederlof, NKI – Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Giuseppe Pelosi, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori – Milan (Italy)
Peter Riegman, Erasmus MC Daniel den Hoed Cancer Centre – Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Jean-Yves Scoazec, Institute Gustave Roussy – Villejuif (France)
János Szoke, National Institute of Oncology – Budapest (Hungary)
Mauro Truini, IST – Genova (Italy)
-September: Constitution of the Molecular Pathology WG of the European Society of Pathology (ESP – http://www.esp-pathology.org/)
Chairman: Giorgio Stanta, University of Trieste (Italy)
Members of the Steering Commitee:
Gerald Hoefler, Medical University of Graz (Austria) – Secretary
Generoso Bevilacqua , University of Pisa (Italy)
Falko Fend, University of Tübingen (Germany)
Andreas Jung, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany)
Winand Dinjens, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)