Functional Precision Medicine for Blood Cancer Workshop and Symposium 2022

The Functional Precision Medicine for Blood Cancer Workshop & Symposium is an annual event organized in cooperation with the European Hematology Association Scientific Working Group for Precision Hematology, and which brings together biomedical and clinical researchers who aim to develop and apply functional assays for the improved care of blood cancer patients. Functional assays are not only useful scientific tools that highlight phenotypic changes occurring in tumor cells but can also be used to predict patient response to specific treatments. As more targeted drugs are developed and become available, it is important that tools that help guide therapy selection are also developed. This meeting provides a forum for researchers to present the latest developments in the field of functional precision medicine and discuss how discoveries in research laboratories can be advanced for clinical use and patient benefit.

A day-long workshop will be held at Biomedicum Helsinki and Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) at the Meilahti Medical Campus in Helsinki on the 5th of September 2022. This includes training on functional assays used for profiling cancer patient samples and associated data analysis tools. Participation is limited and will be determined by application to the workshop.

The symposium will be hosted in the Marina Congress Centre at the Katajanokka seafront, Helsinki, during the 6th-7th of September 2022, and present outstanding speakers in functional precision medicine and blood cancers. As part of the symposium, there will be a poster session and networking event held on the 6th of September. Posters and short presentations will be selected from the abstract submissions.

Key dates:        

7th of June                  Symposium registration and abstract submission opens

14th of June                Workshop application submission opens

1st of August              Abstract submission deadline (23:59 CEST)

1st of August              Workshop application deadline (23:59 CEST)

26th of August            Registration deadline (23:59 CEST)

5th of September       Registration for virtual participation deadline (11:00 CEST)

Confirmed speakers:

  • Tero Aittokallio (University of Oslo, Norway)
  • Evren Alici (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
  • Ido Amit (Weizmann Institute, Israel)
  • Pamela Becker (City of Hope, USA)
  • Lawrence Boise (Emory University, USA)
  • Jean-Pierre Bourquin (University Children’s Hospital Zürich, Switzerland)
  • Lars Bullinger (Charité, Germany)
  • Sascha Dietrich (Medical University Heidelberg, Germany)
  • Olli Dufva (University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Bjørn Tore Gjertsen (University of Bergen, Norway)
  • Caroline Heckman (FIMM; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Merja Heinäniemi (University of Eastern Finland, Finland)
  • Olli Kallioniemi (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
  • Mika Kontro (HUS; FIMM; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Nikolaus Krall (Exscientia, U.K.)
  • Klara Kropivsek (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
  • Jan Krönke (Charité, Germany)
  • Heikki Kuusanmäki (University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Sirpa Leppä (HUS; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Anthony Letai (Harvard University, USA)
  • Janne Lehtiö (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
  • Olli Lohi (Tampere University, Finland)
  • Ravi Majeti (Stanford University, USA)
  • Satu Mustjoki (HUS; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Carsten Niemann (Rigshospitalet, Denmark)
  • Celine Pallaud (Novartis, Switzerland)
  • Tea Pemovska (Medical University Vienna, Austria)
  • Vilja Pietiäinen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Yana Pikman (Harvard University, USA)
  • Kimmo Porkka (HUS; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Bo Porse (BRIC, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Ilya Shmulevich (Institute of Systems Biology, USA)
  • Raija Silvennoinen (HUS; University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • Sigrid Skånland (Oslo University Hospital, Norway)
  • Berend Snijder (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
  • Philipp Staber (Medical University Vienna, Austria)
  • Eva Szegezdi (National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland)
  • Kjetil Taskén (Oslo University Hospital, Norway)
  • Markus Vähä-Koskela (University of Helsinki; FIMM, Finland)
  • Krister Wennerberg (BRIC, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Janghee Woo (Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, USA)
  • Jun Yang (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA)
  • Thorsten Zenz (University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland)

Local organization:

  • University of Helsinki
  • Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)
  • HUS Helsinki University Hospital