Dear Friends,
Next week, approximately 100 people will gather with us in Santa Monica for the International Symposium on the Breast. This biennial program, a hallmark of the Foundation’s research program’ brings together basic, clinical researchers as well as advocates to focus on understanding the human breast and why it gets cancer.
At this year’s program, we welcome 29 speakers, including such esteemed researchers as Mina Bissell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Piyush Gupta, MIT, Sara Sukumar, Johns Hopkins, Thea Tlsty, UCSF, David Danforth, NIH, and many more scientists from around the world. We are also excited to include some researchers that are early in their careers and more than a dozen advocates.
Our speakers will present on topics ranging from the bacteria and viruses that live in the normal breast to figuring out the basis of the transition from in situ cancer to invasive. The full program will be posted on our website in the coming days.
One of the hallmarks of our Symposium is its multidisciplinary and collaborative nature. During the breaks and in the hallways, we find many participants discussing the potential synergies of their work and we watch as a new research partnerships and collaborations form before our eyes.
At our last Symposium, in February 2015, Dr. Love discussed with some colleagues the idea of creating a map of the breast ductal system using automated 3D ultrasound on lactating women. Two years later, we have not only begun the work on this project, but engaged international and non-traditional research partners, and received funding to move this concept from one of Dr. Love’s “brilliant ideas” closer to reality. Next week, our collaborator, Dr. Maria Kallergi, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, will present the early results of our efforts.
We anticipate an exciting meeting and will keep you abreast of all the new ideas as they spring up and take root to become important research projects in the near future. And, as always, I promise to update you here about the outcomes of the Symposium.
The International Symposium on the Breast would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and the many people who donate generously to the Foundation throughout the year. We thank you all for your continued support.
Best wishes,
Heather
