EACR 2024: Euro-BioImaging meets with the preclinical and translational cancer research community in Rotterdam

The 2024 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR 2024) took place in Rotterdam from June 10 to 13, 2024. The event is a meeting point for all actors dedicated to advancing cancer research, including stakeholders from the global scientific community and charities involved in research activities to beat Cancer. Euro-BioImaging had a booth at the event where a four-member delegation actively engaged with an audience curious to learn more about imaging potentialities, funding opportunities and future collaborations.

For EuroBioImaging, the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research is a fantastic occasion to catch up with the latest trends and advances of the community in basic, preclinical and translational cancer research. "As a previous cancer researcher, EACR 2024 is a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with my former colleagues, check on their latest work and see how they can benefit from the infrastructure", reveals Daniela Aviles Huerta, Euro-BioImaging Scientific Project Manager. Among the imaging trends at this year's edition of EACR, "the use of spatial omics for addressing TME interactions is becoming increasingly popular for several types of solid tumours," explains Daniela Aviles Huerta, "and in this regard, the 10x Visum for Spatial transcriptomics seems to be the gold standard at the moment."

EACR 2024 was also an excellent opportunity to highlight Euro-BioImaging activities supporting Europe's fight against cancer, a crucial and pressing societal issue. "Not all the researchers attending the event knew about our services," says Erika Cerutti, Euro-BioImaging Scientific Project Manager. "EACR 2024 had the perfect audience to raise awareness about the canSERV challenge-driven calls and the Cancer Image EU platform (EUCAIM) ." canSERV, a Horizon Europe-funded project where Euro-BioImaging is a participating partner, has two challenge-driven calls that are open: the 2nd challenge driven-call on "Reaching an Understanding of Cancer” aiming to accelerate research and enhance knowledge on the understanding of cancer (deadline on July 23rd 2024) and the 3rd challenge driven call on "Revolutionising Cancer Patient Care” aiming at improving treatment and patients’ outcome through innovative ways (deadline on August 28th 2024). An example of Euro-BioImaging's Nodes concrete engagement in cancer research was featured during a workshop at EACR 2024. Martijn Starmans, from the Erasmus MC-Population Imaging Flagship Node Rotterdam, part of the Euro-BioImaging network, together with Maciej Bobowicz, from the Medical University of Gdansk, gave a hands-on workshop featuring the EC-funded project EuCanImage and its database platform, including a tutorial on how to use XNAT-based Euro-BioImaging Medical Imaging Archive to store and share clinical data. EuCanImage is building a highly secure, federated and large-scale cancer imaging platform with AI capabilities that greatly enhance oncology. EuCanImage is part of the “AI for Health Imaging” (AI4HI) Network that is contributing to jointly build the Cancer Image EU platform (EUCAIM). At the workshop, participants could experience first-hand the ease of use of the database, the fluidity of its interface and the diversity of the data presented. 

EACR 2024 also invited promising contacts with industry actors, both from its Industry Board as well as representatives with whom Euro-BioImaging hadn't previously engaged. "The qualified leads that we can develop with industry representatives at EACR are highly relevant for us," explains Claudia Pfander, Euro-BioImaging External Relations Manager for Industry and the coordinator of the Euro-BioImaging Industry Board. "As a landmark imaging infrastructure, we need to have a constant dialogue with imaging companies, large and small, to have first-hand insights into the cutting-edge technological trends in imaging." Keeping up with the latest innovations is reflected directly in the Euro-BioImaging technology portfolio and is at the heart of what makes Euro-Bioimaging so attractive to recurrent and new users. 

Meeting those potential future users is paramount for any research infrastructure and is one of the keys to steady growth. "We were delighted by this year's edition of EACR because we could meet many researchers who were not imaging specialists but were keen on learning more about how imaging technology and services can move their work forward," says Linda Chaabane, Euro-BioImaging Med-Hub Section Director. "Our booth was buzzing all the time. We had great encounters and many promising leads from all over the world. We were so thrilled by the event that we will apply for a dedicated talk next year and maybe invite speakers from our network to share their research and discoveries in understanding cancer through imaging technologies.

See you on June 16-19, 2025, in Lisbon, Portugal, at the Euro-BioImaging booth for the EACR 2025!