CCBIO's 1st symposium (2013)

The Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO was officially opened by Arvid Hallén, Director of the Research Council of Norway, who handed over the SFF plaque to Prof. Lars A. Akslen, Director of CCBIO. "These are research environments with high ambitions and the Research Council has great expectations that they will leave their distinct mark on their field of research", Arvid Hallén said.

Talks were held by representatives from the University of Bergen, Haukeland University Hospital, the Norwegian Cancer Society, and others.

The scientific program was well received, with keynote lectures by Bruce Zetter (Harvard Medical School), Mina Bissell (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and John Cairns (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine). Several other presentations on biomedical research as well as health ethics and economy attracted many positive comments. The poster session was a success.

Speakers included:

• Welcoming announcement and presentation of the Centre of Cancer Biomarkers by CCBIO's Director, Professor Lars A. Akslen.
• Official opening and short speeches and congratulatory statements Arvid Hallén, Director, Research Council of Norway, Berit Rokne, Deputy Rector, University of Bergen, Eivind Hansen, Deputy Director, Haukeland University Hospital, Nils Erik Gilhus, Head, Department of Clinical Medicine, UIB, Jannikke Ludt, Head, Research Department, Norwegian Cancer Society and Nina Langeland, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, UIB
• Professor Bruce Zetter (Harvard Medical School): New Mechanisms and Biomarkers of Chemoresistance.
• Professor Mina Bissell (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): Engineered models of dormancy and metastasis: the importance of the extracellular Matrix
• Professor John Cairns (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine): The economic evaluation of cancer biomarkers.
• Roger Strand (University of Bergen): From Ethics to ELSA of Research on Cancer Biomarkers.
• Oddvar Martin Kaarbøe (University of Bergen): Biomarkers, economic aspects.
• Arne Östman (Karolinska Institute): PDGF-dependent CAFs and pericytes; impact on metastasis and prognosis.
• Christopher Hughes (University of California Irvine): Angiogenesis and the tumor microenvironment.
• Randolph Watnick (Harvard Medical School): Development of a novel therapeutic peptide for the treatment of advanced cancer.
• Rolf Brekken (University of Texas): Macrophages and metastasis: targeting prometastatic macrophages and the products they make.
• Ate van der Zee (University of Groningen): Examples of biomarker research in gynaecologic oncology.
• George N. Naumov (Merck Research Laboratories Boston): Development and biomarker strategy of novel combination therapies using two investigational oncology agents.
• Oddbjørn Straume (University of Bergen): Angiogenesis as a treatment target in metastatic melanoma.
• Biaoyang Lin (University of Washington): Recurrent Targeted Genes of Hepatitis B Virus in the Liver Cancer Genomes Identified by a Next-Generation Sequencing–Based Approach.
• James Lorens (University of Bergen): Stem cells, EMT and cancer: The role of Axl.