ITN-CONTRA Kickoff 2018

July 15-20
University Residential Center
Bertinoro (Forlì-Cesena), Italy

Scope

This meeting will set the stage for the series of training events organized by CONTRA (Computational ONcology TRaining Alliance) Innovative Training Network, a joint effort of
  • KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden (coordinator),
  • University of Warsaw, Poland,
  • University of Cambridge, UK,
  • King's College London-Francis Crick Institute, UK,
  • The Institute of Cancer Research, UK,
  • Institute of Biomedical Research (IRB), Spain,
  • University of Vigo, Spain, and
  • ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Tumors are mixtures of hetereogeneous cells. In CONTRA Innovative Training Network, we are interested in studying the evolutionary processes that give rise to such populations. The understanding of tumor composition and its evolutionary history requires cutting edge data analysis and modeling tools. It includes the analysis of large volumes of data and relies on recent technological advances in molecular profiling. It also motivates development of advanced computational models. This meeting will be interdisciplinary, and will cover topics from experimental characterization of tumor DNA and transcriptome to machine learning and statistical data analysis. Finally, this meeting will for the first time gather together the early stage researchers, their principal investigators, and CONTRA partners. We will enjoy the beautiful scenery of Bertinoro, get to know each other, and get right into the essence of studying tumor evolution.

The meeting will be divided into three parts:
  • CONTRA introductory day (arrival Sunday July 15, end Monday July 16 evening, 2018), when the CONTRA members will get to know each other and will be able to discuss the PhD projects, secondments and training events.
  • Workshop (arrival Monday evening July 16, end Thursday July 19 noon, 2018), where internationally recognized, exceptional researchers in the area of tumor evolution will present their work in this area.
  • Lecturing days (Thusday July 19 afternoon-Friday July 20 noon, 2018), where invited speakers, but also the CONTRA principal investigators and partners will give lectures, covering their area of expertise relevant for computational oncology and for tumor evolution.

(A growing list of) Confirmed speakers

  • Christophe Andrieu, University of Bristol, UK
  • Valentina Boeva, Institut Cochin, France
  • Brian Cleary, MIT / Broad Institute, USA
  • Peter Kharchenko, Harvard Medical School, USA
  • Nicholas McGranahan, UCL Cancer Institute, UK
  • Carlo Maley, Arizona State University, USA
  • Quaid Morris, University of Toronto, Canada
  • Rasmus Nielsen, Berkeley UC Research, USA
  • Johannes Reiter, Stanford, USA
  • Russell Schwartz, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
  • Eike Staub, Merck, Germany
  • Cristian Tomasetti, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA
  • Jeffrey Townsend, Yale University, USA
  • Bartłomiej Wacław, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  • David Wedge, Oxford Big Data Institute, UK
  • Benjamin Werner, The Institute of Cancer Research, UK