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Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO
CCBIO Seminar series

CCBIO Seminar - Torsten O. Nielsen

Welcome to the last CCBIO seminar in the spring term 2022. Open to all in the auditorium in Armauer Hansens Hus. Speaker is Torsten O. Nielsen, Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada. We can finally again serve you pizza after the talk, as was the CCBIO tradition for the seminars before the pandemic!

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Speaker: Torsten O. Nielsen MD/PhD FRCPC, Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, MD/PhD Program Director, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada

Title: Breast Cancer Biomarker Development: Intrinsic Subtypes, Ki67 and Proteomics

Research field: Professor Nielsen is a clinician-scientist pathologist who has chosen to dedicate his career to translating basic science of cancer into new diagnostics and new therapies. His research has to date has focused on breast cancer and sarcomas. He provides pathology input into translational cancer research, bringing his skills in genomics and biomarker development into clinical trial design and the development of diagnostics that truly improve patient care. 

Main achievements: Major accomplishments include development of the PAM50 algorithm and FDA-cleared Prosigna assay; leading international standardization of Ki67 testing; and key work uncovering the biology of three kinds of sarcoma each of which led to new diagnostics and clinical trials of new therapies. Read more here: https://pathology.ubc.ca/faculty/torsten-nielsen/

Abstract: Torsten Nielsen is a clinician-scientist pathologist from the University of British Columbia, whose research programs focus on breast cancer and sarcomas. Prof. Nielsen will discuss how some of the world's earliest cancer transcriptomics experiments, through a series of subsequent validation and functional studies, were systemically translated into new diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies in cancer. In particular, he will tell the story behind breast cancer intrinsic subtyping and the development of the PAM50 classifier, its conversion into a nanoString-based diagnostic, and how this since has been applied to clinical trials to develop predictive markers for breast cancer, including new data on triple negative subtyping and capecitabine benefit. As one of the leaders of the International Ki67 Working Group, Prof. Nielsen will also describe current evidence and recommendations for Ki67 assessment in breast cancer, showing new results being presented at ASCO 2022 from a prospective clinical trial using this marker to guide the need for adjuvant radiation therapy. Finally, he will present very recently-published work on applying proteomics technologies to formalin-fixed breast cancer surgical specimens and how this new technology contributes to the molecular classification of breast cancer.

Time: June 13, 2022 at 13.00

Place: The auditorium in Armauer Hansens Hus, Haukelandsveien 28, Bergen

Host: Lars A. Akslen

Join us also in the informal pizza get-together outside of the auditorium after the talk!