Weekend Educational Course:
Probing Cancer with MR II: From Animal Models to Clinical Assessment
Organizers: Martin O. Leach, Ph.D. and Anwar R. Padhani, MRCP, FRCR
 
Skill Level: Basic - Intermediate
 
Sunday, 19 April 2009
08:30 - 17:30

OVERVIEW
This one day course focuses on clinical imaging biomarker development with a view to meet current challenges in clinical diagnosis and management, and drug development. Didactic lectures will cover the key biological hallmarks of cancers which are assessable by MRI/MRS techniques that are ready for clinical translation (hypoxia, proliferation, altered metabolism and angiogenesis). For each biomarker, the biological basis, quantification methods, validation and clinical use will be described by pairs of experts (scientist with physician) involved in biomarker development. Emphasis will be placed on biomarker qualification processes including the integration of multi-parametric information using statistical methods and bioinformatics. The approaches demonstrated will be relevant to other biomarkers and for diagnosis, the assessment of tumor aggressiveness, therapy response and resistance and will be relevant to the development of novel anti-cancer therapeutics.
 
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES     
Upon completion of this case based session, participants should be able to:
  • Explain the challenges of clinical diagnosis and management and of drug development;
  • Describe how cancer cellular proliferation and tissue hypoxia and angiogenesis are key biological markers of the aggressive cancer phenotype;
  • Describe biological basis and evidence for MRI biomarkers that are ready for clinical translation;
  • List methods for predictive biomarker qualification; and
  • Discuss insights on how to integrate multi-parametric, multispectral imaging information using bioinformatics.
 

Sunday, 19 April 2009
     
  Biomarker Needs in the Clinic and for Drug Development  
08:30 Clinical Bottlenecks in the Patient Cancer Journey Shih-chang Wang, M.D.
09:00 Imaging in Drug Development (RECIST and Well Beyond) Philip S. Murphy, Ph.D.
09:30 Framework for Clinical Predictive Biomarker Qualification Anwar R. Padhani, MRCP, FRCR
10:00 Break - Meet the Teachers  
     
  Choline and Cancer  
10:30 Metabolic Changes in Cancer Kristine Glunde, Ph.D.
11:00 Clinical Applications of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Arend Heerschap, Ph.D.
  Vascular Targets  
11:30  Extracting Physiological Vascular Information Using Contrast Agents David L. Buckley, Ph.D.
12:00 Break - Meet the Teachers  
     
13:30 Assessing Anti-Vascular and Anti-Angiogenic Therapies Jeffrey L. Evelhoch, Ph.D.
  Hypoxia Importance and Assessments  
14:00  Clinical Importance of Tumor Hypoxia Peter Vaupel, M.D.
14:30 Imaging Assessments of Tumor Oxygenation Simon P. Robinson, Ph.D.
  Cellular Density Evaluations  
15:00 Diffusion MRI: Principles & Data Analyses Thomas L. Chenevert, Ph.D.
15:30 Break - Meet the Teachers  
     
16:00 Diffusion MRI: Utility in Cancer Management Dow-Mu Koh, M.D.
  Statistical Considerations and Bioinformatic Integration  
16:30 Statistical Analyses of Imaging Trials Brandon J. Whitcher, Ph.D.
17:00 CAD Solutions to Multimodal Data Analyses Henkjan Huisman, Ph.D.
17:30 Adjournment - Meet the Teachers