The conference Understanding Life, was held in Amsterdam on 12-14 January 2011, and brought together the world’s most prominent cancer biology and translational medicine experts.
VIDEO
Click here to see the keynotes (Silverlight required).
Read the interview with our ambassador Peter Kapitein in Dutch Newspaper Volkskrant here (translated from Dutch).
Objective of the conference
The objective is to have these leading minds work together on outlining a range of projects designed to get cancer under control within the next 10 years. The funding required for these projects is estimated to total EUR 750 million.
We want to achieve the programme’s objective by setting up a networked organisation of the best comprehensive cancer centres, where research and development are translational. The programme organisation focuses on:
- organising human capital
- providing incentives to work together
- creating and maintaining infrastructures that support translational medicine within and between laboratories and clinics and
- connecting to communication infrastructures that support information exchange among the cooperating centres.
The programme also focuses on mobilising the interest of the patient. And it is in the interest of the patient that cancer therapy becomes more personalised.
Four sub-objectives
During the conference, four working groups will be formed. Led by crack experts and supported by a moderator and a secretary, each group will be responsible for a sub-objective.
The first sub-objective is improvement of the disease models. The disease cancer is known to be a manifestation of deregulated cell growth and development. Therefore, research and the development of new therapies should be based on better biological models of this process.
The second sub-objective is to improve clinical practice. In improved clinical practices, cancer research, diagnostics and treatment are knit together more closely than is presently the case.
The third sub-objective is to improve the storage, retrieval and exchange of disease-related patient data.
The fourth sub-objective is to make stakeholders, public and patients more aware of their crucial role in improving treatment and discovering new treatments.
In December 2010 the participants will receive a lead paper relevant to the sub-objective. The paper will be accompanied by a pragmatic set of guidelines. The guidelines indicate what is expected from a working group. The results of the working groups will be the blueprint for the individual projects in the programme.
The calendar
In the evening of January 11, an informal gathering will take place. The conference will start officially on Wednesday January 12, at 10.00 am, with an opening address by the president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, professor Robbert Dijkgraaf. The second day of the conference will end with a captain’s dinner, during which we intend to bring the best scientific minds together with leaders from banking and industry. The conference will conclude on Friday 14 January at 3 pm. Following the official closure of the conference we offer those who choose to stay a bit longer all facilities for post-conference meetings, socialising and supper. During the conference there will be ample opportunity to meet, socialise and interact with the other participants.