“The goals of such a meeting are many, and so success will be defined differently by all. However, I think that progress towards actual international collaboration is essential. In my view, this meeting will succeed if it is a working meeting to further ongoing collaborations. I hope that we can bring together the right set of people who are interested in pooling our resources and expertise towards this goal.”

The vision of international networking has incredible power. Although the last meeting of our group in 1998 may be considered history and despite some drawbacks, the concept - and more important to all participants, the spirit - of that meeting never died. The credit for this goes largely to the organizers of the Barcelona meetings who managed to gather a group virtually committed to this idea.

Last year, a preparatory meeting was held in Ancona, Italy, and, because of a very positive response, we started to plan for a new meeting. To keep costs down to a minimum, we developed the idea to link the meeting of the IBCN to an existing research meeting. For several reasons, we finally decided to choose the meeting of the European Society for Urological Research (ESUR) in Trento, Italy as the “partner” for the IBCN. Professore Luciani, host and president of the 16th Congress of the ESUR kindly offered to assist in the local organization of the meeting.

Therefore, we would like to announce the

3^rd official meeting of the IBCN taking place

from October 23-24, 2002 in Trento, Italy

The goals of this meeting is multifold, as already outlined by Fred Waldman. First, we would like to revive the great spirit of the “Barcelona” group. We feel that this initiative is worthwhile although some restructuring is certainly required. We will take the opportunity of the meeting to display the achievements of our efforts since the last meeting. However, most of the time should be dedicated to the working groups, thoroughly prepared by the speakers, and the time should be spent on the development and initiation of concrete projects. Since funding of international activities will remain key problem, we have invited people from NCI and EU to join us and openly discuss potential solutions.

Taking these measures, the meeting should function as a platform for scientists worldwide to develop international collaborations.

Looking forward to seeing you in Trento. We are sure that we will spend an unforgettable time together. Please find the putative program attached. Everybody, who would like to attend, should give 2 preferences on those working groups that he/she would like to participate in.
 

for the IBCN:
 

PierFrancesco Bassi
Yves Fradet
H. Barton Grossman
Bernd J. Schmitz-Dräger

P.S.: For planning purposes, we would request to contact the secretary general of the ESUR, Bernd Schmitz-Dräger through bsd@euromed.de until the end of April. You will receive further information from here.

Bernd J. Schmitz-Dräger
Department of Urology
EuromedClinic
Europa-Allee 1
D-90763 Fürth, Germany
bsd@euromed.de

Wednesday, 23.10.2002

Time          Topic                                                                     Presentation

09:00          Welcome                                                            Luciani, Bassi
09:10          The IBCN – Past, presence, future                    Grossman

Session I: Achievements
Chair: Fradet, Algaba

09:30          The ISBC trial – final results                               Schmitz-Dräger
10:00          Technical aspects of marker research               N.N.
10:30           I – Assessment:
                    Lessons from the p53 standardization trial         McShane
11:00           II - Technical issues                                            Goebell
11:30           III – GCP in marker research:
                    The variability index                                           Groshen
12:00           Epidemiology                                                     Malats

12:30-13:30 Buffet lunch

Session II: Ongoing Activities
Chair: Cote, Busch

13:30           Introductional overview:
                    The EORTC experience with clinical networks   Sylvester
14:00           International bladder cancer bank                       Goebell
14:15           Bladder cancer arrays                                         Sauter
14:30           Bladder cancer arrays - International                  Waldman
14:45           The Mund - Study                                               Björnson

15:00-15:30 Coffee break

Session III: IBCN – Network within networks: putative partners
Chair: Grossman, Bassi

15:30           EORTC                                                              Busch
15:45           EAU                                                                                     N.N.
16:00           ESUR                                                                 Bassi
16:15           NCI                                                                     Gomez
16:30           EU                                                                      N.N.
16:45           Defining the goals                                              Chairmen working groups
17:30           First meeting of working groups,
                    Introduction by the speakers                              (see Thursday program)

19:30           Dinner
 

Thursday, 24.10.2002

Time          Topic                                                                     Presentation

08:30         Working groups

                   I.  Technical innovations                                      Busch, Cordon-Cardo,
                            (models, arrays etc.)                                                  Waldman

                   II.  Statistical needs & GCP                                  Groshen, Montironi,
                                                                                                Sylvester

                   III.  Prognostic markers                                         Bassi, Chopin,
                                                                                                                        Cote

                   IV. Diagnostic markers                                          Fradet, Getzenberg,
                                                                                                                         Grossman

                    V. Epidemiology                                                               Malats, Schmitz-Dräger
 

13:00           Lunch

14:00           Presentation and report from the working groups speakers
14:00           I.   Technical innovations (models, arrays etc.)
14:30           II.   Statistical needs & GCP
15:00           III.  Prognostic markers
15:30           IV. Diagnostic markers
16:00           V.  Epidemiology
16:30           Summary and outline on the future of the IBCN

17:00           Joining the official Opening of the 16th Congress of the ESUR