This May, the 2024 Annual Meeting was held in Seattle, and after taking some time to absorb the whirlwind of activity and insights, three elements stand out:

1. ARVO is back!

The pandemic changed the face of many conferences and meetings, and ARVO was no exception. This year, the annual meeting returned to pre-pandemic levels of attendance and participation, and the energy and enthusiasm were palpable. The number of abstract presentations and scientific research presentations rebounded, and I was very proud of the large showing by my colleagues and fellow vision scientists from Doheny Eye Institute and UCLA; Doheny contributed 67 papers and posters among a total of 155 from UCLA.

In addition to the many new learning opportunities, there were a number of opportunities for forging collaborations and networking. Growing connections within the scientific community is essential to expanding our thinking and considering new methods of achieving outcomes to benefit all.

2. Tech innovations are driving progress.

Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic in almost every industry in recent years. In vision science, we’re seeing many developments in AI that have the potential to enhance assessments and diagnoses, as well as to quantify disease features precisely, something previously thought not possible.

Additionally, incredible gains are being made in genetic science and gene-based therapies. The recent groundbreaking FDA approval for a gene-editing approach to addressing sickle cell anemia, which can affect the eye, opens the door to other patient trials and new gene-based therapeutics.

In parallel with these advances in genetic and molecular therapies, significant progress is happening in high-resolution diagnostic technologies. For example, my colleagues at Doheny and UCLA demonstrated, for the first time, visualization of metabolic processes in individual retinal cells in the living eye.

Exciting innovation in the tech space inspires the ARVO 2025 Annual Meeting, which has the theme of “i3: Imagining Innovation and Intelligence in Vision Science.”

3. We need to communicate.

The closing keynote speech focused on a topic that some don’t readily associate with the scientific community: communication. The vision science community is producing incredible work and results, and while we are adept at sharing technical information with vision science colleagues, we cannot necessarily take the same approach with other audiences.

Communication needs to be tailored to reach various stakeholder groups, from the general public to policymakers to government and philanthropic organizations that hold the keys to funding. Advocacy is one of the pillars of ARVO’s five-year strategic plan, developed in 2023. We can only grow advocacy for our cause if we can clearly communicate its impact and importance.

Start planning for 2025.

ARVO 2025 Annual Meeting will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 4-8, and as the newly appointed president of ARVO, I am already deep into the planning stages. If the 2024 meeting is anything to go by, our 2025 gathering will offer compelling content and unparalleled opportunities for collaboration and engagement. I invite all members of the vision science community to join me!

The post Key Takeaways from the ARVO 2024 Annual Meeting – the Vision Science Community Gathers appeared first on Medika Life.

More than 30 preeminent experts to present virtually; vast degree of structural disease change, high speed of cancer evolution, rarely considered until now

Date of Release:  Sept. 21, 2020

BOSTON, /PRNewswire/ — Evolutionary processes have made cancer supremely difficult to treat and cure – but evolutionary thinking could hold the fundamental keys to stopping cancer in its tracks. 

That premise, rapidly gaining momentum with outside-the-box cancer trailblazers, is the thrust behind a global “Cancer & Evolution Symposium,” held virtually October 14, 15 and 16.  

More than 30 leading scientific researchers, oncologists, and biopharma experts will participate as speakers and panelists from 8:30 am to 2 pm ET each day.

“We are not winning the war on advanced-stage cancers, when therapy resistance and disease spread often emerge suddenly,” said Frank H. Laukien, a lead organizer of the conference.  “The fact that tumors are constantly, rapidly transforming their genetic makeup is one reason late-stage cancers are difficult to cure.  This has spurred thoughtful leaders to take an evolutionary approach to tackling cancer.”

“We have yet to adequately capture the evolutionary capacity of cancer cells,” said Professor Henry Heng, Wayne State University. “Advanced stages of disease can be different from initial stages.  This massive genome reorganization produces treatment-resistant and more ‘fit’ species of cancer cells in just weeks.  We need adaptive therapies to combat this evolution process.” 

The symposium and marriage between evolution and cancer is expected to mark an inflection point for physicians and patients, addressing difficult but important issues:

• Does the standard “maximum tolerable dose” of one single therapy, despite initial benefits, cause the disease to make a rapid evolutionary transition that inevitably does more long-term harm to patients, as resistance evolves?
• Does the present treatment paradigm of not following up with secondary or tertiary therapies until after tumors reemerge demand reconsideration to extend more lives?
• What are the critical biomarkers for screening to identify tumors before they have evolved beyond treatable stages?
• Does this deeper understanding of these major evolutionary transitions in cancer offer new molecular targets for treatment? 

Registration is $250 for corporate participants; $95 for government, nonprofit or academic research; $25 for students, post-docs or retired/emeritus individuals.  A detailed agenda can be found at the conference website www.cancerevolution.org.  Press may contact diane.ferrucci@brucker.com for free access. 

“Beating cancer means understanding how it evolves, especially in response to treatments,” said University of Chicago’s James Shapiro.  “If you hammer someone’s advancing cancer, you may eliminate 99% of the cells but the stressed 1% that survive shift into a rapid evolution mode and produce a tumor population resistant to your therapy.  Knowing how this tumor evolution happens is key to preventing it.”

The 2020 Cancer & Evolution Symposium is organized by a committee including:  Frank H. Laukien, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Bruker Corporation; James A. Shapiro, University of Chicago, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Henry H. Heng, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University; Denis Noble, Oxford University Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics; and Perry Marshall, Founder, $10 M Evolution 2.0 Prize.  Notable participants include Veracyte CEO Bonnie Anderson; Anna Barker, Chief Strategy Officer, USC Institute for Transformative Medicine; Steven Carr, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; George Church, Genetics, Harvard and MIT; and Azra Raza, M.D. Columbia University and Author, The First Cell:  And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last.  More information is www.cancerevolution.org.

SOURCE Natural Code LLC

Related Links

evo2.org

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