top of page

DMM2018: “Emerging Asian Epidemic of Cancer and Heart Disease”

Date: March 1 & 2, 2018 (Thursday & Friday)

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Venue: Cheung Kung Hai Lecture Theatre, G/F, William M.W. Mong Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong



OVERVIEW

Over the past 17 years, the DMM conferences have been one of the most prestigious international events dedicated to promoting translational science and molecular medicine. The meetings are designed to break new ground in areas that are both timely and critical to the advancement of translational science. The impact of DMM is amplified by participation of senior editors of NEJM, Nature Biotechnology, and Science Translational Medicine, all of whom are confirmed as co-chairs, along with several members of the Nobel Assembly at KI.


The 2018 conference aims to highlight how new technologies, the study of unique patient populations, and new academic-foundations-private sector partnerships, are aligning to fight the global increase of cancer and cardiovascular diseases in a way that is clearly beyond the conventional thinking of pandemics, tropical illnesses, and infectious diseases.


A dramatic rise in cancer has engulfed the entire Asian region, driven by aging, environmental concerns, unique dietary/nutritional norms, and genetic predispositions for unique forms of the disease. Heart disease is expanding exponentially, largely due to the increased prevalence of obesity and associated Type II diabetes, with an extraordinarily high incidence of stroke, and unique genetic susceptibility to statin intolerance. The volume of diseases in the relatively uniform genetic background of China holds great promise for uncovering new insights into these important human diseases. Meanwhile, scientific advances ranging from liquid biopsies, cancer genetics, the development of NHP and other large animal models for testing regenerative therapeutic strategies, new genetically engineered NHP and pig models, mRNA cancer vaccines, CAR-T cell therapy for leukemia, and a host of new technologies hold great promise. Research support for developing new therapeutic approaches has increased dramatically in China, which fosters a unique Asian perspective where cost-effectiveness will be critical to allow widespread access. Biotechnology and innovation are likely to blossom in this part of the world in the coming decade, particularly as China becomes an increasingly important market for cancer and heart drugs. In this regard, this year's program includes a roundtable discussion on promoting innovation via new partnerships with foundations, private sector, and academia, with several notable leaders with direct interests in the region presenting diverse viewpoints. The DMM 2018 keynote speaker is Victor Dzau, MD, the President of the national Academy of Medicine (USA) and a leader in cardiovascular science and medicine, and a native of Hong Kong. Several other notable chairs and speakers are attending, please see preliminary agenda below.


*************************************************************************************

Program



March 1, 2018


8:00 Welcome

Ken CHIEN (Professor, Karolinska Institutet) and Gabriel LEUNG (Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong)


8:20 – 9:00 Keynote

Victor DZAU (President, National Academy of Medicine, USA)

The Emerging Global Health Epidemic of Cancer, Cardiovascular/ Metabolic Disease and Aging: Importance of Game Changing Science and Innovation


Session I – Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases in China

Chairs: Rui-Ping XIAO (Director, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University/Associate Editor New England Journal of Medicine) and David TANCREDI (Executive Director, Fondation Leducq)


9:00 – 9:35 Halving premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases in China

Zhengming CHEN (Co-director of China Oxford Centre for International Health Research)


9:35 – 10:10 New Therapeutic Pathways for Metabolic syndrome: A Tale of MG53

Rui-Ping XIAO (Director, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University/Associate Editor New England Journal of Medicine)


10:10 – 10:30 Break


10:30 – 11:05 Beyond Fitbit: "NEAT" (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) and Anti-obesity

James LEVINE (President, Fondation IPSEN)


11:05 – 11:40 Molecular and cellular mechanisms of vascular malformation

Lars JAKOBSSON (Assistant Professor, Karolinska Institutet)


11:40 – 12:15 Pressure Overload Increases Cardiomyocyte Proliferation in Right Ventricle

Jinfen LIU (Chief Physician, Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Shanghai Childrens Medical Center)


12:15 – 13:15 Lunch


13:20 – 13:55 Pluripotent Stem Cell Models of Human Heart Disease

Karl-Ludwig LAUGWITZ (Professor, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine, Technical University of Munich)


Session II – Cancer Genetics and Diagnostics

Chairs: Jussi TAIPALE (Professor,Karolinska Institutet/Cambridge, UK) and Orla SMITH (Editor, Science Translational Medicine)


13:55 – 14:30 East-west epidemiologic consequences for breast cancer detection

Gabriel LEUNG (Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU)


14:30 – 15:05 Systems Biology of Cancer

Jussi TAIPALE (Professor,Karolinska Institutet/Cambridge, UK)


15:05 –15:20 Break


15:20 – 15:55 New insights into Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Maria LUNG (Chair Professor, Department of Clinical Oncology, HKU)


15:55 – 16:30 T cell Receptors, Checkpoint inhibitors, and Cancer

Tak MAK (University Professor, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, UHN)


16:30 – 17:05 Gene edited CAR-T cell therapies

Christos GEORGIADIS (Research Associate, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health)


18:00 – 20:30 Speakers dinner



March 2, 2018


Session III – Biologically Targeted Cancer Therapeutics

Chairs: Klas WIMAN (Professor, Karolinska Institutet) and Maria MASUCCI (Deputy Vice Chancellor for International Affairs, Karolinska Institutet)


8:00 – 8:35 Hereditary breast cancer as a model of familial cancer in Asia: From genes to personalized therapy and prevention of breast cancer

Ava KWONG (Assistant Dean, Chief of Breast Surgery Division, The University of Hong Kong)


8:35 – 9:10 Battling the lung cancer epidemics in Asia

Tony MOK (Chairman, Department of Clinical Oncology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)


9:10 – 9:45 Novel cancer therapy by targeting missense and nonsense mutant TP53

Klas WIMAN (Professor, Karolinska Institutet)


9:45 – 10:00 Break


10:00 – 10:35 Towards the Use of Circulating DNA for Cancer Screening

Dennis LO (Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)


10:35 – 11:10 Designer Drugs for CNS Tumors: Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier

Xiaolin ZHANG (CEO, Dizal/Joint Astrazeneca-China Newcoirector, Innovation Center China, AstraZeneca)


11:10 – 11:45 Safety, Tolerability, Protein Expression Profile and Physiological Function of Modified mRNA Encoding for VEGF-A Following Intradermal Administration to Male Patients with Type II Diabetes – Results from a Phase 1, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Study

Li-Ming GAN (CVMD, Early Clinical Development, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden)


11:45 – 12:45 Lunch


Session IV – Biotechnology Innovation: The Academic-NPO-Private Sector Axis

Chairs/Moderators: Ken CHIEN (Professor, Karolinska Institutet); Paul TAM (Provost, The University of Hong Kong); Andy MARSHALL (Editor in Chief, Nature Biotechnology)


13:00 – 13:20 Keynote Open Innovation: A new paradigm for Academic, Biotechnology, and Pharma collaboration

Regina Fritsche-Danielson (VP and Head of IMED CVMD, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases, IMED Biotech Unit, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden)


Roundtable

NPOs and Innovation in Cancer and Heart Disease


13:20 – 13:40 Paul TAM (Provost. The University of Hong Kong)


13:40 – 14:00 Funding Impact in Cardiovascular Research

David TANCREDI (Executive Director, Fondation Leducq)


14:05 – 14:35 Group Roundtable Discussion with Ken Ch


14:35 – 14:50 Break


Roundtable

Private Sector and Innovation in China


14:50 – 15:10 Overview: Andy MARSHALL (Editor in Chief, Nature Biotechnology)


15:10 – 15:25 China Medical Device Approval via Hong Kong Clinical Studies: A Bactiguard Case Study

Nina NILSSON (Vice President, Bactigard)


15:25 – 15:40 China Oncology - overseas technology acquisition heating up

Michael SJÖSTRÖM (Co-Founder and CIO Geneva/Montreal/HKG, Sectoral Asset Management)


15:40 – 15:55 Dizal - a Joint Venture Between China Local Innovation and Multinational Pharmaceutical Company

Xiaolin ZHANG (CEO, Dizal/Joint Astrazeneca-China Newcoirector, Innovation Center China, AstraZeneca)


15:55 – 16:15 Group Roundtable Discussion


Closing Remarks

Maria MASUCCI (Deputy Vice Chancellor for International Affairs, Karolinska Institutet)

*************************************************************************************

Organizers:

  • Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

  • Days of Molecular Medicine Global Foundation

  • Karolinska Institutet


























in collaboration with the Fondation IPSEN (Paris, France)













Program Committee:

Kenneth CHIEN (Professor, Karolinska Institutet), Gabriel LEUNG (Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong), Paul TAM (Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, The University of Hong Kong), Maria MASUCCI (Deputy Vice Chancellor for International Affairs, Karolinska Institutet)


Meeting Coordinators:

Megan DONOVAN-CHIEN (DMMGF), Thomas Yuk-yu LEON (The University of Hong Kong), Celine COLOMBIER-MAFFRE (Fondation IPSEN), Ms Vikkie CHAN (The University of Hong Kong), Professor Wai-Keung LEUNG (The University of Hong Kong)


Sponsors:

  • Croucher Foundation

  • Karolinska Institutet

  • Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

  • Bactiguard

  • Dr. Henry Chan


























Comments


bottom of page