Later this week we’ll be heading to the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR 2015), held this year April 18-22 at the massive Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. AACR is a master class for the most cutting-edge science related to understanding, diagnosing, and treating cancer. Attended by thousands of researchers and clinicians each year, the conference is the best cancer-focused meeting around. The AACR meeting is notable for a number of reasons, but two of our favorites are its well-rounded program and its focus on career advice. A quick skim of this year’s agenda shows that a wide range of topics will be covered, including immunotherapy, stem cells, epigenetics, and noncoding RNA. For students (really, for scientists at any career stage), AACR is an unmatched source of career education and professional advancement information. We’re pleased to see a full series of career advice sessions sprinkled throughout the meeting to help shape the future paths of these promising young researchers. There are several lectures and panel sessions that we’re particularly looking forward to this year. AACR always does an excellent job recognizing talent, and we’re eager to hear from Caltech’s David Baltimore, Bill Hahn of Dana-Farber, and current AACR president Carlos Arteaga at Vanderbilt during just a few of the great award presentations and distinguished lectures. There are also several sessions focused on using genomic data in the clinic, with great speakers such as FDA’s Zivana Tezak, MSKCC’s Ross Levine, and University of Michigan’s Arul Chinnaiyan, to name just a few. We’re also eager to learn more about the latest from CSER, the Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Program, which has been helping to elucidate the utility of genetic variants found in tumors. The scientists and clinicians working on CSER are really making a difference in how the community understands variants as well as differences in how they’re interpreted across labs. This is important work, and we can’t wait to hear from several participants at this special AACR session. Mark your calendar for our presentation:
- Understanding West Nile Virus Infection: The QIAGEN Bioinformatics Solution: Biomedical Genomics Workbench + Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) Speaker: Jean-Noel Billaud, Ph.D., Principal Scientist Booth: #1925 Day & Time: Sunday @ 1 pm Day & Time: Wednesday @ 9 am
Don’t miss our poster sessions:
- Presenter: Bodil Oester Title: Comparison and interpretation of variants in RNA and DNA from sarcoma cancer sample Session Title: Systematic Analysis of Omic Data Abstract Number: 2178 Session Category: Molecular and Cellular Biology Date and Time: Monday Apr 20, 2015 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Location: Section 11
- Presenter: Jean-Noel Billaud, PhD Title: Deconstructing protein and gene expression pathways to define the anticancer effects of XPO1 inhibition in ovarian cancer Session Title: Novel Agents and Mechanisms of Action Abstract Number: 1758 Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics Date and Time: Monday, Apr 20, 2015, 8:00 AM -12:00 PM Location: Section 32
- Presenter: Anika Joecker Title: Streamlined analysis and interpretation of RNA editing variants from melanoma cancer samples Session Title: Biological Conclusions from Computational Approaches Abstract Number: 1925 Session Category: Molecular and Cellular Biology Date and Time: Monday Apr 20, 2015 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Location: Section 2
- Presenter: Song Tian Title: lncRNA profiling and its potential usage as thyroid cancer biomarker Session Title: Diagnostic Biomarkers Abstract Number: 531 Session Category: Clinical Research Date and Time: Sunday, April 19, 2015, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Location: Section 23
- Presenter: Quan Peng Title: Reducing amplification artifacts in highly multiplex amplicon sequencing by using molecular barcodes Session Title: New Development in Sequencing Abstract Number: 4879 Session Category: Molecular and Cellular Biology Date and Time: Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm Location: Section 6
In addition, QIAGEN Bioinformatics will have a booth at the event (#2162), and we encourage AACR attendees to stop by. We’ll be showcasing Ingenuity Variant Analysis, CLC Biomedical Genomics Workbench, and BIOBASE PharmacoGenomic Mutation Database (PGMD) — and of course we’d be happy to answer questions about how any of our other products can help. We hope to see you in Philly!