EMBO – Perspectives on Skin Cancer Prevention

8th – 11th April, 2018. EMBO – Perspectives on Skin Cancer Prevention being held in Les Diablerets, Switzerland. Organised by Prof. Dotto, Dr Özdemir, Prof. Wagner and Prof. Werner. For more information, follow this link to the EMBO event page: http://meetings.embo.org/event/18-skin-cancer

View conference poster here

The main goal of this conference is to establish a multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of recent advances in skin cancer prevention and the generation of novel ideas and approaches, with skin as a focus and a paradigm. Experts in basic cancer cell biology, genetics, epidemiology and physical/clinical sciences will be brought together to address the following themes:

Genetic and epigenetic predisposition to cancer
Environmental carcinogens and carcinogenic infections
Chronic inflammation and wound healing
Immune system and microbiome
Innovations in imaging and diagnostics
Novel pharmacological and light-based preventive approaches
Societal challenges and their impact

Skin has long been the benchmark of mammalian genetics as well as carcinogenesis. Mouse coat color mutation studies have led the way to the discovery of intricate signaling mechanisms involved in cell-cell communication and cell fate determination. The very notion of multistep carcinogenesis originated from the experimental mouse skin model, and skin is a leading platform for basic genetic research on early steps of tumor development as well as imaging efforts for detection and treatment. The three main types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, are also of major significance for human health worldwide.