The Child Health Research Institute’s 2024 Pediatric Cancer Research Group Symposium, scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 27, will focus on pediatric brain tumor research.
The annual symposium brings together stakeholders from academia, clinical operations, government, patient families and philanthropic groups who are invested in creating advancements in pediatric cancer treatments. This year, the Pediatric Cancer Research Group has invited three external experts on brain tumor research to share their work.
The invited speakers are:
- Rajeev Vibhakar, MD, PhD, professor, pediatrics-hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation, University of Colorado.
- Mateusz Koptyra, PhD, lab director, Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, H. Houston Merritt Professor of Neurological Sciences, scientific director of brain tumor research, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center.
Dr. Vibhakar’s research focuses on the genetic mechanisms by which normal brain cells become cancerous and how these genetic differences can be used to better diagnose and treat children with brain tumors.
Dr. Koptyra studies noninvasive diagnostics in pediatric brain tumors, biomarker search, cell-free DNA/RNA and extra-cellular vesicles, including the development of noninvasive medulloblastoma tumor profiling using circulating in blood tumor material (cell-free DNA).
Dr. Wechsler-Reya specializes in understanding the signals that control cell growth and differentiation in the nervous system and how these signals are dysregulated in brain tumors.
After the featured speakers, research collaborative teams within the Pediatric Cancer Research Group will present their projects and experiences encompassing multiple areas of pediatric cancer.
The symposium will be held on the UNMC Omaha campus at the Truhlsen Campus Events Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a poster session starting at 7 a.m. and running throughout the day.
Information regarding poster submission rules, poster submission and symposium is available on the event webpage. Registration for the symposium is free.