The MRS2012 meeting is the 14th biennial conference of the Metastasis Research Society, and the first in Australia.
Metastasis is the major factor underpinning cancer morbidity and mortality across the board. Recent years have seen the implementation of metastasis –specific therapies such as Denosumab, and more such therapies are urgently needed. Moreover, preclinical studies on Avastin demonstrated that it caused increased metastasis in breast cancer models, which may underpin its poor performance in this tumour type in clinical trials. These are examples of important clinical scenarios involving metastasis that will be discussed at MRS2012.
Professor Erik (Rik) Thompson, St. Vincent's Institute and University of Melbourne Department of Surgery (MRS President) and Dr Robin Anderson, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (MRS board member) are co-conveners for the meeting.
Sponsored Registration
Through support from the Faculty and the Melbourne Medical School (MMS), two free conference registrations are available for MDHS researchers (one of which must be from MMS) - travel and accommodation costs will need to be paid for by the researcher and/or their Department. Interested applicants should submit up to 300 words on why attendance at the conference would further their research to Dr Michelle Ward by 10am Wednesday 13 June. Applications should include your current academic appointment, location, highest academic qualification and year awarded.
To promote integration and exchange with our nearby neighbours, representatives from the Japanese (Shun'ichiro Taniguchi, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto City, Japan) and Chinese (Wei-Gang Fang, Peking University Health Science Center, China) Metastasis Research Societies will also serve as co-conveners. This is an exciting and unprecedented move towards international integration of these major national bodies around the topic of metastasis.
For more information on MRS2102 and to register, visit the website.
We are also fortunate to have one of the founding Father’s of the Metastasis Field participating in our meeting as a Plenary lecture – Prof. Josh Fidler (MD Anderson, Houston, USA), as well as Plenary lectures from Xiu-Wu Bian (Institute of Pathology and Southwest Cancer Center, Southwest Hospital, Chongqing, China) and Mark Taketo (Kyoto, Japan). Prof Fidler will also present the Inaugural I.J. "Josh" Fidler Innovation in Metastasis Research Award, which will go this year to David Lyden. Our long-standing Paget-Ewing Award will be awarded to Joan Massague.
Our session topics (and Keynote Speakers) span the full spectrum of metastasis issues, including Stress, Chaperones and Metabolism (Amy Lee, LA, USA and Masahiro Inoue, Osaka, Japan); Microenvironment and Inflammation (Jeffrey Pollard, NY, USA); Pre-Metastatic Niche (David Lyden, Boston, USA); Imaging (Erik Sahai, London, England); Organotropism (Yibin Kang, Princeton, USA); EMT and Stem Cells (Jean Paul Thiery, A*Star, Singapore); CTC/DTC and Dormancy (Christoph Klein, Regensburg, Germany) and Clinical and Translational Aspects (Pat Steeg; NIH, USA).
In addition, two Young Investigator Sessions are being organized by the MRS Young Ambassadors, featuring 2-3 speakers each from Japan, China, Nth America, Europe and Australia.
The meeting also has the support and involvement of the Tumour Microenvironment working group of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR-TME).
Additional confirmed speakers include Janine Erler, Copenhagen, Denmark; Chris Overall, Vancouver, Canada; Klaus Pantel, Hamburg, Germany; Nigel Crawford, NIH, USA,
There are 2-3 slots available for selection from abstracts in each session.
KEY DATES
Abstract Submission Closes: 31st May 2012
Early Bird Registration Cut-Off: 31st May 2012
Conference Dates: 2nd-6th September 2012
