One in eight cases of cancer in the world derives from blood cells, the lymphatic system, and the bone marrow. The so-called malignant hemopathies, such as leukaemia and lymphomas, are divided into more than a hundred different subtypes that are characterizing at the cellular and molecular level. Among them, there are subgroups with a survival close to 90% while in others it is mortality that approaches 90%. What differentiates one from the other?

These and other questions were the subject of debate during the Opening Symposium of the IJC headquarters of Can Ruti: Genetics and Epigenetics of Leukaemia and Lymphoma, from knowledge to applications.

The meeting has brought together more than 200 researchers. Including them, the best professionals in the most cutting-edge fields of hemato-oncology: Stem cells, immunotherapy, personalized therapy, genetics, and epigenetics.

The program included 20 keynote presentations, nine short talks, and 30 posters, gathering the status quo of current research in genetics and epigenetics of malignant hemopathies such as leukemia or lymphomas.

The most outstanding plenary lectures were those of Dr. Louis Staudt, Director of the National Cancer Center in the United States field of Genomics, a world expert in lymphoma-causing mutations; and the closing of the event by Dr. Michel Sadelain, Director of the Center for Cellular Engineering of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, one of the pioneers in the development of cell therapies, which modifying the immune cells of a person can attack cancer that patient is suffering.