Event at the European Parliament on in silico medicine and in silico oncology

The event was hosted by MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos, MD, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament and was organized by Avicenna Alliance – Association for Predictive Medicine.

The following four talks were delivered:

• 1. Opening talk by MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos
• 2. Presentation of the Avicenna Alliance by Thierry Marchal (Secretary General)
• 3. Introduction to In Silico Medicine by Prof. Liesbet Geris (VPH Institute, Executive Director)
• 4. In Silico Oncology by Research Prof. Georgios Stamatakos (National Technical University of Athens)
• Q&A Session and Discussion

It is pointed out that in silico oncology addresses the European Commission’s prioritized research area entitled “EU Mission Cancer”. Strongly supportive feedback was provided from individuals and entities residing in the European Union, the USA and China.

As an example of the positive and even enthusiastic feedback to the event, a message from Prof. Ravi Radhakrishnan, Chair and Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, who attended the info event online, has been copied here with the author’s permission.

Focusing on in silico oncology and bearing in mind the above mentioned developments, it appears that a new and very encouraging phase in the development and the clinical translation of the discipline is dawning. It might be enlightening to contrast the current status of in silico oncology as outlined through specific paradigms at the European Parliament info event on 21 February 2024 with the status and the visions of multiscale cancer modelling, including in silico oncology, as G. Stamatakos outlined them during his opening lecture at the First Transatlantic Workshop on Multiscale Cancer Modeling that took place in Brussels (Charlemagne building, European Commission) in 2008. The link to his (open access) opening lecture of the First Transatlantic Workshop on Multiscale Cancer Modelling (Brussels, 2008) is https://ecancer.org/en/video/105-fundamentals-of-multiscale-modelling (ecancer clinical platform).

It is noted that the 2008 highly successful event was scientifically co-organized by Thomas Deisboeck, MD, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Georgios Stamatakos, PhD, ICCS, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, whereas its scientific policy organizers were Ilias Iakovidis, PhD, European Commission, EU, and Daniel Gallahan, PhD, National Cancer Institute - National Institutes of Health, USA. One of the most important and tangible outcomes of the 2008 event was the creation and the publication of the globally and widely used academic transatlantic textbook entitled «Μultiscale Cancer Modeling”, edited by T. Deisboeck and G. Stamatakos, CRC Press, 2010/2011 (https://www.routledge.com/Multiscale-Cancer-Modeling/Deisboeck-Stamatakos/p/book/9781439814406). Interestingly, Dr Iakovidis, who was also strategically involved in the Virtual Physiological Human initiative of the European Commission, did also participate in the info event at the European Parliament.

For additional information:

• Link to the open access audio recording of the talks/lectures of Stelios Kympouropoulos,Thierry Marchal, Liesbet Geris and Georgios Stamatakos and the related discussions
• Link to an open access podcast of G. Stamatakos’s lecture on in silico oncology that was created by the Chinese and international technology community “The Yuan”, based in Shanghai, China, in collaboration with the media company “Delta Dialog” of their own accord
• Link to G. Stamatakos’s lecture ppt presentation slides