Molecular Mechanisms in Cancer – Translating Discoveries into Personalised Therapies

• General information
• Location
• What is the Summer School 2018 about?
• Objectives of the Course
• Participant requirements
• Application
• Support

General information

The “Molecular Mechanisms in Cancer – Translating Discoveries into Personalised Therapies” Eurolife Summer School lasts one week and will be held in Leiden (The Netherlands) from 9th to 13th July 2018. The Eurolife Summer School is organised by the Leiden University Medical Center. Furthermore, leading experts from other Eurolife institutions will participate as lecturers.

The inscription fees for three (3) students from each Eurolife Institution will be supported by the network. Each institution will select their candidates.

The participation fee (700€) includes:

• Attendance and course materials
• Accommodation (5 nights, from 8th-13th July 2018) including breakfast
• Lunch during the 5-days Course
• Social activities (city and boat tour)

Eurolife students will have to pay for their own travel.

What is the Eurolife Summer School about?

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death around the world; one out of every eight of all deaths is due to cancer. Cancer arises when cells acquire gene mutations that induce uncontrolled cell growth often resulting in invasion into other tissues. Standard chemo- and radio therapy are aimed at killing the rapidly proliferating cancer cells. However, these therapies can be ineffective and have effects on normal cells that cause serious side effects. Furthermore, for many cancer types no effective drugs are available and targeted drugs, while prolonging life with months/years, often ultimately fail. Consequently, efforts need to be done to search for new ways to tackle this disease.

This 5-days international Eurolife Summer School is focused on the current challenges behind the fight against cancer:

• the basics of cancer biology and the unmet clinical need
• emerging technologies and their application
• targeting signalling pathways
• new frontiers in cancer research and therapy
• bringing discoveries into clinical practice and academic-industry partnerships

Aspects related with technology transfer will also be developed during the course.

The program of the Eurolife Summer School 2018 is available here.

Objectives of the Course

At the end of this summer school the students should be able to have a good understanding of:

• how cancer initiates and develops, and which emerging tools, techniques and models are available or being developed to study patient-specific cancer progression
• how an increased understanding in cancer progression, tumor cell plasticity and heterogeneity, and in the contribution of the tumor microenvironment and the underlying mechanisms of drug resistance, can be used to overcome current limitations of cancer therapy
• how to identify and validate potential drug targets, what strategies can be employed to target these molecules in cancer patients in a patient tailored manner, and how to implement them into clinical trials
• the importance of intellectual property rights, the needs to set up a new biotech company, and how academia and industry can collaborate effectively
• how to identify relevant questions for scientific inquiry and incorporate newly learnt strategies into plans for their own Research

Participant requirements

The Summer School is addressed mainly to PhD students who are further along in their project and who are interested on increasing their knowledge related to different aspects in the field of cancer research and treatments. Although PhD students well advanced in their doctoral project will be prioritized, master’s students and junior postdocs might also apply.

During the 5-days course, all students will have the opportunity to present a brief summary of her/his thesis followed by a brief discussion with the professors and students involved.

Application

Interested candidates must contact the Eurolife Network Liaison Officer in their Home University and send them the application form and the following documents no later than Tuesday 20th March 2018.

• Application form
• Curriculum vitae
• Motivation letter
• Supporting material: Students will need to provide a brief description of their Master or PhD project. In case of PhD projects, year of PhD has to be highlighted.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Letters of acceptance will be sent out no later than 20th April 2018.

This Eurolife Summer School is supported by

• Eurolife
• Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
• CancerGenomiCs.nl (CGC; Dutch Center of Excellence)