CANCER blood-scan (CBS) is a newly formed consortium funded by the “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (EPAnEK) Operational Programme with academic leader Prof. Evi Lianidou, Professor of Analytical Chemistry – Clinical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, NKUA. The program is attended by Assoc. Prof. A. Psyrri, Attikon Hospital, Medical School NKUA, Prof. Ch. Papadimitriou, Aretaieio Hospital, Medical School NKUA, Prof. A. Stratigos, Syggros Hospital, Medical School NKUA, Prof. S. Kakolyris, Medical School DUTH, and the PHARMASSIST Company. The total budget of the project reaches the amount of 893.058 EUR and its duration is three years.
The aim of the CANCER blood-scan project is the development and clinical validation of innovative methodologies for the detection of cancer biomarkers by liquid biopsy approach. A key goal of the CBS-project is to "translate" the results of basic research into new commercially available products, leading to the application of personalized therapy by liquid biopsy into the clinical routine. To achieve this, the research team brings together experts from the academic community, clinical research and company, thus contributing to the development and commercialization of in-vitro diagnostic products / kits, with the aim of establishing liquid biopsy in clinical practice.
5th ACTC Advances in Circulating Tumor Cells, 22-25 September 2021, Kalamata, Greece
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is really a hard time for all and I really hope that you and your beloved ones are doing well and that we will be out of this COVID-19 pandemic disaster soon. We had to spend a long time communicating remotely with each other and attending virtual meetings.
Since the vaccination program has successfully started in most countries around the world, and based on the fact that everyone working in Health Care will be soon vaccinated, we plan to have the 5th ACTC meeting “Liquid Biopsy in its best” live, but only for those that will have received COVID-19 vaccination by September 2021. We will also provide an on-site complimentary RT-qPCR highly sensitive saliva testing for all participants that are not vaccinated by September 2021. This in combination with the negative RT-qPCR test that will be required as expected in order to fly to Greece will guarantee that the meeting environment will be safe and COVID-19 free!
The 5th ACTC meeting (www.actc2021.org) will be held as initially planned in the beautiful town of Kalamata, Peloponnese Greece, on September 22nd– 25th 2021. World recognized pioneer researchers and clinical oncologists that have major contributions in the field have already confirmed their participation. A critical mass of participants from all over the world will have again the chance to interact, establish collaborations and present their latest data in a safe, relaxing and stimulating environment. During intense keynote, oral and poster presentation sessions, state of the art and mostly unpublished cutting-edge research on the latest achievements, technical advancements and the latest results of clinical trials based on liquid biopsy will be presented. Three travel grants and three poster awards will be granted to the best submitted abstracts.
Most of you know already that all previous ACTC meetings were highly attended and very successful and that a lot of fruitful collaborations were established between world class leaders in the field, top liquid biopsy clinicians, researchers, postgraduate students and technology providers from all over the world.
It is now a great pleasure to invite again all of you to come, present, discuss and share the latest information on liquid biopsy. We aim to ensure that the 5th ACTC meeting will be highly safe, highly interactive and will stimulate intensive discussions between basic researchers and clinicians as well as Diagnostics and Pharma-industry companies that are active in this exciting field. Networking, live discussions and knowledge sharing across basic researchers, clinicians and Diagnostics and Pharma-industry companies are of great importance and we expect that this event will contribute towards achieving these after all this difficult time. It is also important to mention that the meeting venue (www.filoxeniakalamata.com) is right on the beach, the weather is expected to be perfect, all breakfast and lunches will be served outdoors, and the liquid biopsy technology exhibition and all poster sessions will be outdoors as well.
We are looking forward to welcoming you in Kalamata, in September 2021.
Warm regards,
Evi S. Lianidou
University of Athens, Greece
