Plenary Speakers
John Howard Sampson
University School of Medicine
North Carolina
United States
Current research activities involve the immunotherapeutic targeting of a tumor-specific mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor. Approaches used to target this tumor-specific epitope include unarmed and radiolabeled antibody therapy and cell mediated approaches using peptide vaccines and dendritic cells. Another area of interest involves drug delivery to brain tumors. Translational and clinical work is carried out in this area to formulate the relationship between various direct intratumoral infusion parameters and drug distribution within brain tumors and normal brain. The Duke Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program (BTIP) has an emphasis on translational research in Neuro-Oncology. There are two main areas of study. The first is novel mechanisms of delivery of large molecular weight molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies, throughout brain intersitial space using novel intracerebral infusion techniques developed by this laboratory. Studies exploring this technology are undertaken in both small and large laboratory animals and patients with brain tumors. The other focus of the BTIP is translational immunotherapy. In this line of work, dendritic cell vaccination strategies and adoptive T-cell strategies have been developed to target novel and well-characterized tumor-specific antigens in patients with brain tumors. The BTIP integrates well with and works closely with the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. The BTIP is well funded and currently holds seven NIH grants, including a SPORE in Brain Cancer grant. There are a large number of investigators at various levels so that students will get exposure to various levels of research and mentorship.
Keynote Speakers
Dimitri Aristotle Raptis
Royal Free Hospital
London
UK
Dimitri Aristotle Raptis is a Surgeon-Scientist at the Department of HPB Surgery and Liver Transplant of the Royal Free Hospital in London, UK. He holds an MSc in Healthcare Research Methods from the Queen Mary’s University in London, UK and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research if focused on basic science, surgical outcomes, international registries and collaborative studies, evidence-based medicine, research methodology, statistical analysis, health informatics and software development. Dimitri Aristotle Raptis has received several grants, awards and distinctions. He has co-organized several surgical and information management research conferences and among others, he is the founder of rBiostatistics.com, a free cloud-based statistical package.