VILLEJUIF, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This major event, entitled Worldwide Innovative Networking in Personalized Cancer Medicine 2010 (WIN 2010), will present breakthrough scientific technologies and achievements in personalized cancer medicine, with a special focus on individualized treatment and early diagnosis of cancer. The symposium, to be held in the Palais des Congrès, Paris, on July 7-9^th 2010, will offer an interactive forum to discuss new approaches, tools and challenges in cancer medicine. Registered attendees are invited to submit questions at www.mfcongres.com.

“The WIN Consortium’s aim is the rapid translation of ground-breaking personalized cancer medicine discoveries from the bench to the bedside,” explained Dr Vladimir Lazar, Co-ordinator of the WIN Consortium and Head of Functional Genomics at the Institut Gustave Roussy. Professor Leroy Hood, Chairman of the Consortium’s Scientific and Strategy Advisory Board (SAB) and President of the Institute for Systems Biology, added: “Cancer institutes worldwide are, for the first time, exploring new concepts in interactive networking, combining their expertise to address the most important unmet needs in oncology; early diagnosis and individualized, rational selection of treatments for patients.”

“Co-ordinated interaction between academic institutions and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will allow rapid validation of breakthrough concepts and technologies, helping to standardize cancer care,” said Professor Richard Schilsky, Co-chair of the SAB, and former President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

“Early diagnosis and personalized treatments are the most efficient approaches to improving the outcome of cancer and significantly decreasing global mortality rates,” said Professor John Mendelsohn, President of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “International co-operations, such as those encouraged by this symposium, are crucial to achieving these goals within the next 5, rather than 20, years,” concluded Professor Thomas Tursz, Director of the Institut Gustave Roussy.

Founders of the WIN Consortium:

Academic founders

• Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR), Villejuif (France)
• The UT-MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Houston (USA)
• National Cancer Institute, Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR/NCI), Bethesda, Maryland, (USA)
• Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC), Philadelphia (USA)
• Duke University, Durham (USA)
• Segal Cancer Center, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal (Canada)
• Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM), University of Helsinki (Finland)
• Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), Munich (Germany)
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, University Hospitals, Leuven (Belgium)
• Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan (Italy)
• Shanghai Cancer Center, FUDAN University, Shanghai (China)
• RuiJin Hospital and University Medical School, Shanghai (China)
• Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologica (CNIO), Madrid (Spain)
• The Christie and Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Manchester (United Kingdom)
• Hadassah Medical Centre, Sharret Institut of Oncology, Jerusalem (Israel)
• The Semmelweis University, Faculty of Medicine, Budapest (Hungary)
• The National Cancer Centre, Singapore (Singapore)
• Fundeni Clinical Institute for Digestive Diseases and Liver Transplantation, Bucharest (Romania)
• The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheeva (Israel)
• Fundació Privada Institut d'Investigació Oncològica de Vall Hebron (VHIO), Barcelona, (Spain)
• Erasmus Medical Centre, Rótterdam, (The Netherlands)
• Royal Institute for Technology (KTH), Stockholm (Sweden)
• Kuwait Cancer Control Centre, Shiekha Badriya Al-Ahmad Medical Oncology Centre, (KCCC) Kuwait City, (Kuwait)
• Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, (India)

Associate technology corporation founders

• Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara (USA)
• Life Technologies, Foster City (USA)
• GE Healthcare, Chalfont St Giles (United Kingdom)

Scientific and Strategic Advisory Board (SAB)

• Leroy Hood (chairman)
• Richard Schilsky (co-chair)
• John Mendelsohn
• Julio E Celis
• Thomas Tursz
• Stephen Friend
• Soo Khee Chee
• Jean Pierre Armand
• Manfred Schmitt
• Guido Kroemer
• Lisa Hutchinson
• Yusuke Nakamura
• Edison Liu
• Thomas Hudson
• Stephen Quake
• Rolf Lewensohn
• Neil Cook
• Kimberlee Caple
• Bengt Nielsen

About WIN Consortium

The WIN Consortium is a joint initiative of the Institut Gustave Roussy and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in association with several other leading cancer care institutions in Europe, the United States of America, Canada, and Asia. The Consortium aims to build new strategic alliances in oncology, creating innovative drug development programs and accelerating clinical trials and validation of new drugs for personalized cancer care. Its SITED program (standards in individualized treatment and early diagnosis) brings together academia and industry, undertaking a range of research and clinical projects to improve early diagnosis of cancer and to establish new treatment strategies.

About Institut Gustave Roussy

The Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR, Villejuif, France), European leading Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a non profit academic entity belonging to the French public hospital service and that is authorized to receive donations and legacies. IGR is a center wholly patient-oriented with a global expertise and the mission to fight cancer. Located South of Paris on a single site, IGR employs 2,300 professionals working in care, research and teaching. Some IGR figures: 385 beds and places for day-cases, 207 certified physicians, 887 professional caregivers, 151,000 consultations and 43,000 patients cared per year, 14 basic research units, 300 research scientists, and 2800 students, researchers and physicians trained per year. www.igr.fr

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About M. D. Anderson

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. M. D. Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For four of the past six years, including 2008, M. D. Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in “America's Best Hospitals,” a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.

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