THE SECOND CONGRESS SDIR

2-3 October 2015, Belgrade, Serbia

president of SDIR-2 congress: principal research fellow dr sc. Zorica Juranić
co-president of SDIR-2 congress: principal research fellow dr sc. med. Siniša Radulović, professor of clinical pharmacology

The Second Congress of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research with international participation „Cancer research: perspectives and application“ took place at the AeroClub in Belgrade on 2nd and 3rd October 2015. The main goal of SDIR-2 was to enable scientists and clinicians from Serbia and foreign countries to learn about the latest achievements in the field of basic and translational cancer research, to exchange their ideas and research experience and to establish scientific collaborations.

SDIR-2 congress gathered eighty nine cancer researchers from ten countries. President of SDIR dr Zorica Juranić opened the scientific meeting. At the opening ceremony, short welcome speech was also given by assistant professor dr Marina Nikitović, assistant director general for science and education of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia. During this two-day congress, lectures were delivered by a thirty distinguished Serbian and international researchers throughout the following sessions: Immune response and its modulation in cancer, Molecular changes in cancer development and progression, Anticancer drugs investigation and Clinical oncology: era of molecular markers. It was a great honour and privilege to welcome eminent invited speakers: prof. Yona Keisari from the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel, prof. Eric Solary from the Institute Gustave Roussy, Paris, France, prof. Srđan Novaković and prof. Barbara Jezeršek Novaković from the Research Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia, as well as prof. Engin Ulukaya from the Medical School of Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey and prof. Konstantinos Dimas from the School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Greece.

Thirty three high-quality posters were presented by the young scientists at the poster session. Due to the financial support of EACR, three best poster presentations were awarded by the Awards Committee (prof. Siniša Radulović, prof. Gordana Konjević and senior research associate dr Radmila Janković). The first award won Nataša Stojanović (Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Germany) with the poster presentation entitled: “Histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 and 2 integrate the expression of p53 mutants in pancreatic cancer”. Aleksandra Nikolić from the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Serbia got the second award with the poster “SMAD4 gene promoter analysis in patients with solid tumors”. The winner of the third poster award was Merve Erkisa from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey with the poster: “Autophagy inhibition with chloroquine enhances cytotoxicity of palladium (II)-barbiturate complex in prostate cancer”.

Our meeting was supported by the Ministry of Science, Education and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, European Association for Cancer Research, Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Oncology Section of the Serbian Medical Society (SLD), Uni-chem, ProMedia, Alfa genetics d.o.o., Analysis d.o.o and Roche d.o.o.

We would like to thank all our generous sponsors for their financial support.

Many thanks to all SDIR-2 invited speakers and participants for their contributions that made the scientific meeting successful.

Prof. Yona Keisari (lecture sponsored by EACR) Prof. Eric Solary (lecture sponsored by EACR) Dr Mirjana Branković Magić (member of the Scientific Committee) and doc dr Marina Nikitović with invited speakers prof. dr Srđan Novaković and prof. dr Barbara Jezeršek Novaković
Ivana Matić (invited speaker and member of the Organising Committee), prof. Sonja Levanat (HDIR president and member of the Scientific Committee) and prof. Engin Ulukaya (MOKAD president, invited EACR sponsored speaker and member of the Scientific Committee) Prof. Konstantinos Dimas (invited speaker and member of the Scientific Committee) and dr Ivana Matić Dr Zorica Juranić gives the Best Poster Award to Nataša Stojanović; members of the Award Committee prof. dr Radmila Janković and prof. Gordana Konjević
EACR Best Poster Award winners Merve Erkisa, Nataša Stojanović, Siniša Radulović (co-president of SDIR-2 congress), Zorica Juranić (SDIR president) and Aleksandra Nikolić SDIR-2 participants and members of the Organising Committee Ana Damjanović Velićkovič, Marija Đorđić Crnogorac, dr Milena Čavić (invited speaker and member of the Organising Committee), dr Branka Kolundžija and dr Ivana Matić Dr Miljana Tanić (invited speaker and member of the Scientific Committee), dr Ana Krivokuća (invited speaker) and dr Lana Filipović