The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer
November 5-8, 2013
Omni San Diego
San Diego, CA
Abstract Submission and Award Application Deadline: Monday, August 26, 2013
Advance Registration Deadline: Monday, September 23, 2013
CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRPERSONS:
Cory Abate-Shen, Columbia University Medical Center, The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York, NY
A. Thomas Look, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Terry A. Van Dyke, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD
The past decade has witnessed an enormous expansion in the variety, complexity and sophistication of model organisms of cancer. There are now available a plethora of models in a variety of organisms that recapitulate many important features of the cancers they are intended to emulate. This veritable explosion of new models reflects advances in our understanding of cancer mechanisms combined with technological advances in the generation of model organisms. These new model organisms are becoming well integrated with translational efforts to identify biomarkers of disease progression and outcome, to understand mechanisms of drug action, to investigate novel drug combinations and to study mechanisms of metastases and drug resistance. Model systems will include: mouse, dog, zebrafish, Drosophila and patient-derived xenografts. This meeting will highlight important recent advances in the use and complementarity of model organisms for translational research, as well as future directions and opportunities for successful translation from models to human clinical applications.
Panel Discussion Focus:
Significant progress has been made in cancer models. Current models provide a promise for not only discovering therapeutic targets and disease biomarkers, but predicting potential therapeutic outcomes relevant to human cancers. However, many challenges currently prevent the development and application of reproducible and scalable methods to predict hypotheses for routine application in clinical research that could result in improved patient outcomes. This panel discussion featuring those in academia, industry, and government, will aim to identify the most critical current challenges and focus discussion on identifying realistic solutions for the cancer research community.