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Report: TransPot Consortium Meeting & the 26th Meeting of the EAU Section of Urological Research 

My name is Ingrid Tomljanovic, I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie early stage researcher (ESR) within the EU-funded project TransPot (the Translational Research Network for Prostate Cancer), working at the R&D department of GenomeScan. TransPot is a European research training network aimed at deepening the understanding of lethal prostate cancer in order to improve the prognosis and treatment of patients through a personalized medicine approach. The TransPot consortium offers a research programme designed to train 11 ESRs through a collaboration between academic, private and clinical sectors. As a TransPot ESR, I hope to integrate different data types from preclinical models for biomarker discovery and validation, as well as for elucidating gene regulatory mechanisms in castration-resistant prostate cancer.

TransPot Consortium Meeting – October 8th and 9th, 2019
The biannual meeting of the Translational Research Network for Prostate Cancer took place at the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto) and comprised a series of lectures and hands-on training events for ESRs. Together with TransPot ESR Mario Cangiano and myself, GenomeScan project manager dr. Inès Beumer attended the event and presented an invited talk on the subject of clinical implementation of biomarkers. The overall training program focused on methodologies and infrastructure for translational research in prostate cancer, with the first day of lectures covering a range of topics such as biobanking, tissue mass spectrometry, intellectual property rights and the prognostic value of liquid biopsies. A subsequent career development session for the ESRs ensued along with an overview of the pathological significance of epigenomic factors in cancer held by experts from IPO Porto.
The second day of the Meeting was marked by a joint scientific exchange between members of TransPot and the Tribbles Research and Innovation Network (TRAIN), which investigates the role of TRIB pseudokinases in the development of different cancers, including prostate cancer. Highlights involved an international career panel by representatives from Numares Health, IPO Porto and Worldwide Cancer, as well as short talks by several selected ESRs from both networks and a session on research grant funding supported by Prostate Cancer UK.

26th Meeting of the EAU Section of Urological Research (ESUR19) — October 10th to 12th, 2019
Following the TransPot Meeting, GenomeScan ESRs attended ESUR19 where they had the opportunity to access cutting-edge research insights from international experts in urological diseases with a main focus on prostate cancer. Clinically relevant topics involving molecular subtypization, novel therapeutics, epigenetic reprogramming and immunooncology were emphasized along with issues of data protection, regulation and ethics.
As part of ESUR19, Mario Cangiano was among eight researchers who received a travel award by the Movember foundation in acknowledgement of an outstanding abstract entitled “A transcription factor activity profile as a prognostic signature for androgen deprivation therapy resistance predisposition in prostate cancer”. For this occasion, he presented his work to a broad audience of clinical and academic researchers. His presentation will be covered in the following blog.

In summary, the ESUR19 and TransPot Meetings provided a unique framework for state-of-the-art education, scientific dissemination, networking and setting the ground for future international collaborations.

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