XX edition of the Translational Research and Digestive Neoplasms Workshop

The XX edition of the Conference on Translational Research and Digestive Neoplasms took place on Thursday 6 October. It was organized jointly by the IGTP and the ICO (Catalan Institute of Oncology) and directed by Drs José Luis Manzano and Eva Martinez-Balibrea (ICO - IGTP) and Dr Albert Abad (Mi Tres Torres). The workshop took place at the Badalona Conference Centre (BCIN), with very positive feedback from the fifty attendees and the organization.

Dr Josep M. Llovet, Professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Professor at the University of Barcelona and researcher at IDIBAPS (Hospital Clínic) and at the Cahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York) opened the conference with an update of the therapeutic approach to Hepatocarcinoma and throughout the morning there were presentations on topics as current as protein degradation, new treatments against mutated KRAS or single cell analysis techniques.  A highlight was the participation of Dr Eduard Batlle, Professor at ICREA and researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) as the speaker for the third Xavier Giribés Conference (in recognition of his contribution to the search for colon cancer) speaking about stem cells, immune evasion and metastases in cancer colorectal. Batlle first presented new advances in the field of residual disease in colon cancer. The afternoon more clinical sessions included the role of immunotherapy in tumours with microsatellite instability as well as advances in treatments and biomarkers in pancreatic and gastric cancers.

"The aim of the conference is to deepen the knowledge of tumours of the digestive system from the perspective of translational research and to familiarize the attendees with the concept of individualized treatment" explains Dra Balibrea.