2nd workshop: keynote speakers known
Prof Fran Balkwill (Queen Mary University of London) and Prof Jon Wadsley (Weston Park Cancer Centre, Sheffield) have kindly accepted our invitation to give a keynote lecture at upcoming workshop.
Preliminary results survey Radiobiology of MRT
The survey, carried out by Eero Hippeläinen, Samantha Terry and Julie Nonnekens, about radiobiological work ongoing worldwide is now complete. The survey involved 27 PIs worldwide (see map) and research backgrounds from groups varied greatly, covering the whole field of biological radiobiology. The complete report and new database will be published shortly after the next working group meeting. Watch this space.
Dates set for the 2nd International Workshop on Radiobiology of Molecular Radiotherapy
After the great success of the 1st workshop held virtually, we will host a 2nd Workshop on the 13th and 14th of March 2023 at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.
Survey Radiobiology of MRT
After the success of the first European Workshop on Radiobiology for MRT, held earlier this year, we would like to maintain momentum towards building an excellent network in this area. We have therefore set-up a survey in which you can a.o. fill in your research interests and infrastructure.
The information collected will allow us to create a database of people working in and around the field of Radiobiology of MRT. This will be made public here on the website as a database, where people can more easily find connections.
Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNMW9XS
Deadline: 9th of December
Congratulations to the winners of the oral and poster presentation awards during the workshop on 17-18th of March
Oral presentation: Justine Perrin, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie et Immunologie Nantes Angers, France: “Reversing cold tumor microenvironment with targeted alpha-therapy”
Oral presentation: Tiffany Chan, University of Oxford, UK: “High-throughput screening and bioinformatics analysis of 2,000 177Lu-PSMA and Radiotherapy + drug combinations”
Poster presentation: Elise Verger, King’s College London, UK: “Relating DNA damaging effects of radionuclides to those from external beam radiotherapy”
Poster presentation: Jihad Karam, IRCM, Inserm, University of Montpellier, FR: "Role of small extracellular vesicles in the non-targeted bystander effects of targeted radiotherapy"
Success of first (hybrid) symposium, Montpellier 17-18 May 2021
Big thanks from our working group (see photo) to all for helping towards the success of our first international IWRMR symposium. As well as 8 proffered scientific papers as oral presentations and 8 poster presentations, topics covered overviews of the role of radiobiology in MRT, how it marries with physical dosimetry, and what the clinical big questions currently are that radiobiology could help with. The roundtable events and debate also stimulated discussion around the need for biobanks, standardization, large data sets, and research into biomarkers and mechanisms of MRT success and how it is linked to the tumor microenvironment and immune system. With over 300 registrants, and 36 abstracts submitted, and fabulous discussions during the round table events and after talks, we are now in a great position to strengthen the MRT radiobiology community across Europe and beyond.
Scholar-in-training committee
The scholar-in-training committee had their first meeting on the 16th March 2021, introduced themselves and met with several PhD students over some drinks and nibbles, albeit it virtually.
Goodbye to An
March 2021: An Aerts has moved out of the field of radiobiology of MRT and, as such, we are sad to see An leave the working group and we wish her all the best in her next endeavors. A sincere and hearty “thank you” for all of us for your efforts in setting up the working group.