The annual British Neuro-oncology Society meeting was hosted in Glasgow 23-25 June 2010 with a BNS sponsored session during the meeting. A report of the meeting has been compiled by Dr. Aditya Shivane.

The annual meeting of the British Neuro-Oncology Society was held recently in Glasgow. The meeting themed ‘Collaboration & Teamwork’ lived up to its expectations and was well attended by more than 200 delegates from various neuroscience disciplines, patient carer groups and brain tumour charities all across the UK and the world.

The meeting kicked off on Wednesday morning with a postgraduate symposium themed ‘Succeeding in Neuro-oncology Research’ wherein young neuroscience scientists from Portsmouth and Cambridge described their experience during the early stages of their postgraduate studies highlighting the ups and downs in a research career and gave tips on how to succeed. A talk from neurosurgery registrar from Edinburgh highlighted the practical difficulties in combining clinical and research work and alluded to some regional differences in the current training system. Overall, this was an excellent start to the meeting and was extremely useful for juniors starting their research career. The afternoon symposium was dedicated to the retirement of Prof. Roy Rampling and was chaired by Dr. V Papanastassiou (Cyprus). Dr. M van den Bent (Rotterdam, Netherlands) discussed the pseudo progression in malignant glioma and highlighted the difficulties faced in the outcome assessment and randomisation in clinical trials. This was followed by a presentation by Mr. M Westphal (Hamburg, Germany), a renowned neurosurgeon, on developing new therapies and emphasised various local therapies for malignant glioma. Prof. D Ellison (Memphis, USA) discussed his pioneering research on clinical subgroups of medulloblastoma defined by pathological and molecular analysis. The symposium finished with an interesting neurologist’s perspective of how to tackle medical problems in glioma by Dr. R Grant (Edinburgh, UK). Throughout the symposium the speakers praised the achievements and contributions made by Prof. R Rampling to the neurooncology specialty. With a busy day listening to interesting talks from eminent speakers it was finally time for some relaxation and social activity. I couldn’t have hoped anything better than spending the evening on a cruise down the river Clyde on the Waverley paddle steamer. Although the weather was a bit off, the atmosphere was excellent and it gave an opportunity to have an informal chat with seniors and juniors alike. The catering and the services on the boat were excellent.

Thursday began with a breakfast symposium chaired by Dr. J Darling (Wolverhampton, UK) themed ‘Achieving greater access to tissue in Neuro-oncology research’. The speakers highlighted the difficulties in procuring tissue for neuro oncology research. Issues about HTA licensing and consent were discussed. Dr. T Dawson (Preston, UK) provided the neuropathologist’s perspective and their pivotal role in banking tissue for research. He also shared the difficulties he faced while he was setting up a research tissue bank and tips on how to tackle them.  It was good to know that this area was developing and scientists were able to access tissue from these banks for their research. Throughout the meeting there were regular coffee breaks and time for poster discussions. The next two scientific sessions included presentations on the medical, surgical as well as pathological aspects of glioma.  This was followed by a lunchtime symposium sponsored by Archimedes Pharma Ltd. Neurosurgeons from Cambridge (Dr. C Watts) and USA (Dr. T Ryken) described their experience with a new fluorescence-assisted technique using 5-ALA for resection of malignant glioma. This was soon followed by an excellent symposium sponsored by the British Neuropathological Society. Dr. B Scheithauer (Mayo Clinic, USA) in his talk made us aware of the common pitfalls in surgical neuropathology. Dr. J Kros (Rotterdam, Netherlands) spoke on the difficulties in grading glioma using the WHO criteria. Dr. A von Deimling (Heidelberg, Germany) spoke about the new IDH1 marker and its impact on diagnosis and therapy of brain tumours. The programme ended with a third scientific session which included interesting papers on genetics, signalling pathways, novel therapies and stem cells in glioma. Like any other scientific meeting the schedule was quite hectic. The evening was fantastic with a grand banquet at the most beautiful venue the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens. The banquet was preceded by poetry recitals from the organisers, including Prof. Rampling, which was soon followed by a Ceilidh. Delegate enjoyed taking part in set dances and couple dances to the tune of a group of musicians who entertained the crowd with live music for the whole evening. It was indeed a mesmerising experience not encountered in any of the meetings I have attended so far.  

The last day of the meeting included two scientific sessions with presentations on clinical and radiological aspects of brain tumours. A ‘British Neuro-Oncology Society Young Investigator Award’ was presented to Dr. S Piccirillo, a post doc from Cambridge, for her excellent research on stem cells and glioma. The meeting was finally coming to an end with Prof. R Rampling giving an excellent presentation and convincing everyone that Glioblastoma is actually in retreat. He emphasised the advances in glioblastoma treatment over the decades, new therapies and what the future holds for this devastating tumour. He gave hope to everyone that glioblastoma will be conquered in the near future and this should be the ultimate goal of every neurooncology researcher.

Many brain tumour charities and patient carer groups took active part with excellent exhibits at the meeting.  The posters presented at the meeting were also of high quality and thought provoking. The most important aspect of this meeting from a personal perspective was the multi-disciplinary approach and interaction with people from various other neuroscience disciplines thereby developing network, exchanging ideas and engaging in debates which is difficult to achieve if we restrict to our own specialty. I strongly encourage all neuropathologists, especially the trainees to experience and make contributions to this wonderful meeting in the future. Finally, I couldn’t end this report without mentioning and congratulating the organisers especially Dr. W Stewart for all their efforts in making this meeting a grand success. Cambridge will be hosting the next meeting and I am certain it will be as exciting as this one!  


Dr. Aditya Shivane
Consultant Neuropathologist
The Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Plymouth, UK.