Release Date: 2009-11-12
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_150398.html
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some 460 medical scientists from countries around the world learned about the latest advances in leukemia and lymphoma research and treatment at the biennial meeting of the International Association of Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases (IACRLRD), which was hosted by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) Oct. 14-16.
(PressZoom.com) - COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some 460 medical scientists from countries around the world learned about the latest advances in leukemia and lymphoma research and treatment at the biennial meeting of the International Association of Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases (IACRLRD), which was hosted by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) Oct. 14-16.
Titled “Symposium XXIV: Molecular Approaches to Leukemia in the 21st Century: Biology, Outcome Prediction and Personalized Therapy,” the meeting was held in the United States for the first time since 1989. IACRLRD holds its biennial meetings at the institution of its current president, a post that was occupied from 2007-09 by Dr. Clara D. Bloomfield, a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State who also serves as cancer scholar and senior adviser to the OSUCCC-James. Bloomfield is now secretary general and past president of the IACRLRD.
Bloomfield reminded the audience that the meeting is designed to stimulate the exchange of ideas and knowledge among research workers around the globe on leukemia and related diseases, a purpose that was furthered by the offering of 34 travel awards to young investigators from several nations so they could attend and meet with distinguished senior scientists.
The biennial meeting opened with an Oct. 14 mini-symposium on “Comparative Models of Leukemia and Lymphoma” at the College of Veterinary Medicine with lectures by eight medical scientists from the United States, Belgium and Japan. Among the memorial lectureship awardees was John Coffin, PhD, from Tufts University School of Medicine, who pioneered the use of genetic analysis to understand the biology of retroviruses and has played a major role in public policy issues on retroviral diseases, which include some forms of leukemia and lymphoma.
The meeting continued Oct. 15-16 at Mershon Auditorium with lectures presented by 33 medical scientists from institutions in the United States, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Japan. Memorial lectureship awardees included Dr. Brian Druker of the Oregon Health and Science University, who is credited with much of the work in identifying and developing Gleevec as an oral treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia that has strikingly improved the survival for such patients.
Other memorial lectureship awardees were Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founding member of the Whitehead Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and Dr. Hartmut Dohner of the University Hospital of Ulm in Ulm, Germany. Jaenisch is a pioneer in the reprogramming of adult differentiated cells into “induced pluripotent stem” cells that offer major promise for future curative treatments of human degenerative diseases and cancer, and Dohner is one of the world leaders in understanding genetic abnormalities occurring in leukemia and how they can be used to devise personalized therapies.
The next biennial meeting of the IACRLRD will be held in 2011 in Tokyo, Japan, and will be organized by current president Dr. Toshiki Watanabe.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute is one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 20 cancer hospitals in the nation, The James (www.jamesline.com) is the 180-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University. The OSUCCC-James is one of only five centers in the country approved by the NCI to conduct both Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.
CUTLINE INFORMATION: Representing many nations, members of the World Committee of the International Association for Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases (IACRLRD) pause between lectures at the association’s 24th biennial meeting. In front from left are: Giuseppe Saglio, MD, Italy; Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, United States; Toshiki Watanabe, MD, PhD, Japan; Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, United States; Jan Svoboda, MD, Czech Republic; and Jacques Ghysdael, MD, PhD, France. In back from left are: Andreas Hochhaus, MD, Germany; Cestmir Altaner, MD, PhD, Slovakia; David Grimwade, MD, PhD, United Kingdom; Andrea Biondi, MD, Italy; Charles Bangham, MD, PhD, United Kingdom; Roland Mertelsmann, MD, PhD, Germany; Luigi Chieco-Bianchi, MD, Italy; and Rudiger Hehlmann, MD, PhD, Germany.
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Eileen Scahill
Medical Center Communications
614-293-3737
Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu