Making sense of Prostate Cancer - DCU hosts International workshop
PROSENSE: Making Sense of Prostate Cancer
DCU trains the next generation of scientists in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the disease.
PROSENSE is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network which aims to train the next generation of scientists in the interdisciplinary techniques required to develop diagnostic tools for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the one of the five most common types of cancer in Ireland with 2,859 cases reported in 2009 (Irish Cancer Society).
A focus of PROSENSE is cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral secondments, training and events to promote interaction, knowledge exchange and collaboration. The aim of the programme is to develop improved devices for prostate cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Prof. Richard O’Kennedy and his team lead the PROSENSE project in DCU.
PROSENSE began in October 2012 and the BDI was the first of the 15 European partners to host a workshop to train the fellows and partners. The workshop, hosted in July, consisted of a busy opening day of lectures where seven experts in the field of antibody research presented information ranging from the basics of antibody background and generation, to technologies available to study antibodies, to the wide ranging and important applications of antibodies. Day two included 4 practical sessions where the 50 delegates participated in ‘hands-on’ practical sessions in cell culture techniques and antibody expression and purification. Delegates also viewed demos of cutting-edge microfluidic platforms such as Biacore and centrifugal discs used for rapid biological analysis.
A conference dinner was hosted by Prof. Richard O’Kennedy in The 1838 Club and traditional entertainment provided by a local Irish dancing troupe was the highlight of the night. The workshop series was attended by over 80 delegates from industry and academia both national and international. Significant collaboration occurred during the workshop with new research projects planned as a result of the meeting.
PROSENSE is funded through a Marie Curie ITN, grant agreement number 317420.