ICTS

Dates: i) Leukemia Meeting- Aug 2-3, 2010
           ii) Year long lecture Program- schedule of lectures will be posted soon

Leukemia Meeting: Hematological malignancies: a basic science and clinical initiative 
The study of leukemias has provided deep insights into the molecular basis of disease and general specific molecular targets for therapies now in widespread use. More recently, the elucidation of the cancer stem cell paradigm in leukemias has provided us with an entirely new way of approaching the study of solid tumors in humans. The progress in this field has essentially been possible due to the close integration of clinicians and basic scientists whose skill sets span both experimental and theoretical aspects. This meeting aims to closely link further courses with research and integration into the clinic. The design of the meeting essentially lays the foundation for a continuing close involvement of both clinicians and scientists on day to day basis in this programme.

Leukemia - a Disease Paradigm: The haematopoeitic system is well studied relative to other systems and has been used as a prototype for research. Thus Leukemia, Cancer of the blood, offers a disease paradigm that is useful to study in trying to understand other types of cancers. To this end we are conducting a year long program at an advanced level in Bangalore. This is a joint effort between the National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR, St. John's Medical Hospital and the Centre for Applicable Mathematics-TIFR. The program will consist of lectures from experts in India and abroad, laboratory assays, mathematical modeling and plenty of opportunity for discussions between students and teachers. The contents of this course may be divided into three main components:

1. Clinical component 

2. Basic biology theory component  

3. Maths / theory component

The year long program will start with a meeting - 'Hematological malignancies: a basic science and clinical initiative' described above. The Lectures following the meeting, to be held during the better part of the academic year 2010-2011, will be in theoretical and mathematical biology accompanied with modeling exercises. We aim to establish a niche in expertise in this area in Bangalore through this effort.