Review of BNOS2010 by Dr Aditya Shivane
Consultant Neuropathologist, The Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Plymouth, UK, originally published in Oncology News
The annual meeting of the British Neuro-Oncology Society was recently held in the University of Glasgow. The meeting, themed ‘Collaboration & Teamwork’, lived up to its expectations and was attended by more than 240 delegates from various neuro-oncology disciplines and brain tumour charities from across the UK and around the world.
The meeting kicked off on Wednesday morning with a postgraduate symposium, ‘Succeeding in Neuro-oncology Research’, wherein young scientists and clinical research fellows described their experience during the early stages of their postgraduate studies, highlighting the ups and downs in a research career, and gave tips on how to succeed. Overall, this was an excellent start to the meeting and was extremely useful for juniors starting their research career.
The afternoon symposium, chaired by Dr. Vakis Papanastassiou (Cyprus), was dedicated to the retirement of Prof. Roy Rampling. Dr. Martin van den Bent (Rotterdam) discussed pseudoprogression in malignant glioma and highlighted the difficulties faced in outcome assessment and randomisation in clinical trials. This was followed by a presentation by Mr. Manfred Westphal (Hamburg) on developing new therapies and emphasised various local therapies for malignant glioma. Prof. David Ellison (Memphis) discussed his pioneering research on clinical subgroups of medulloblastoma defined by pathological and molecular analysis. The symposium finished with a neurologist’s perspective of how to tackle medical problems in glioma by Dr. Robin Grant (Edinburgh). Throughout the symposium the speakers praised the achievements and contributions made by Prof. Rampling to neuro-oncology.
With a busy day listening to state of the art talks from eminent speakers it was finally time for some relaxation and social activity. The delegates couldn’t have hoped for anything better than spending the evening on a cruise down the river Clyde on the Waverley paddle steamer. Although the weather was a bit off, the atmosphere was excellent and it gave an opportunity to have an informal chat with seniors and juniors alike. The catering and service on the boat were excellent.
Thursday began with a breakfast symposium chaired by Dr. John Darling (Wolverhampton) themed ‘Achieving greater access to tissue in Neuro-oncology research’. The speakers highlighted the difficulties in procuring tissue for neuro- oncology research. Issues about HTA licensing and consent were discussed. Dr. Tim Dawson (Preston) provided a neuropathologist’s perspective and shared the difficulties he faced while setting up a research tissue bank together with tips on how to tackle them. The next two scientific sessions included presentations on the medical, surgical and pathological aspects of glioma.
After a full lunch, the afternoon session started with an excellent symposium sponsored by the British Neuropathological Society. Dr. Bernd Scheithauer (Mayo Clinic) in his talk made us aware of the common pitfalls in surgical neuropathology. Dr. Max Kros (Rotterdam) spoke on the difficulties in grading glioma using the WHO criteria. Dr. Andreas von Deimling (Heidelberg) spoke about the role of IDH1 and its potential impact on diagnosis and therapy in brain tumours.
The evening dinner was fantastic with a grand banquet at the most beautiful venue the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. The banquet was preceded by poetry recitals from the organisers (including Prof. Rampling who gave a most dramatic ‘Address to a Haggis’) and followed by a Ceilidh. Almost every delegate enjoyed taking part in the incredibly complex but entertaining dances. It was indeed a mesmerising experience not encountered in any of the meetings I have attended so far.
The last day of the meeting included two scientific sessions with presentations on clinical and radiological aspects of brain tumours followed by the inaugural ‘British Neuro-Oncology Society Young Investigator Award’ (sponsored by Brain Tumour UK) which was awarded to Dr Sara Piccirillo, a post doctorate researcher from Cambridge, for her excellent research on stem cells and glioma.
The meeting closed with Prof R Rampling giving an excellent presentation and convincing everyone that glioblastoma is actually in retreat. He emphasised the advances in glioblastoma treatment over the decades, new therapies and what the future holds for this devastating tumour. He gave hope to everyone that glioblastoma will be conquered in the near future and this should be the ultimate goal of every neurooncology researcher.
Many brain tumour charities and patient carer groups took active part with excellent exhibits at the meeting. The posters presented at the meeting were also of high quality and thought provoking.
The most important aspect of this meeting from a personal perspective was the multidisciplinary approach and interaction with people from various other neuroscience disciplines thereby developing network, exchanging ideas and engaging in debates which is difficult to achieve if we restrict to our own specialty. I thereby strongly encourage all working in neuro-oncology, especially trainees and junior researchers to experience and make contributions to this wonderful meeting in the future.
Finally, I couldn’t end this report without mentioning and congratulating the organisers especially Dr W Stewart for all their efforts in making this meeting a grand success. Cambridge will be hosting the next meeting and I am certain it will be as exciting as this one!
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