Numerous discussions at the Status Seminar in Dresden

At the annual status seminar of LiSyM-Cancer from 28th to 29th of March 2023, about 80 members from partner sites all over Germany met at the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden (CRTD) to discuss their current research and future plans.

At the annual status seminar of LiSyM-Cancer from 28th to 29th of March 2023, about 80 members from partner sites all over Germany met at the Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden (CRTD) to discuss their current research on liver diseases and the future of the systems medicine network. Dr. Nicola Scholz from the BMBF (German Ministry for Education and Research) attended the event and greeted the participants with pleasant words for the network. Also, representatives of “Forschungsträger Jülich” (PtJ) were present and listened to the progress and challenges of the LiSyM-Cancer partners.

In preceding workshops on mass spectrometry as well as cell isolation and spatial transcriptomics, the researchers discussed common standards and prerequisites for results of high quality. During the meeting, clinicians, experimentalists and modelers exchanged to bring the different approaches of research together. In interdisciplinary presentations of the three consortia SMART-NAFLD, C-TIP-HCC and DEEP-HCC, they showed their progress in multi-level characterization of early liver diseases and liver cancer. During poster sessions, coffee breaks and meetings determined for cross-network exchange, the scientists presented and discussed their interim results and received valuable feedback for their work. In break-out sessions specifically addressing clinical and modeling topics, the members exchanged on clinical procedures, MR Imaging as well as the different modeling approaches within the network.

Finally, the results from all sessions and consortia were brought together. Members of the scientific advisory board participating in person or online gave constructive and highly appreciated advice for improvements and future directions and highlighted the remarkable results as well as the extraordinary communication across multiple professional disciplines in the network. The meeting paved the way towards the interim evaluation and preparations for the next application phase which will focus on the clinical translation of the findings of LiSyM-Cancer.