Bright ideas and brilliant conversations: Advancing Precision Cancer Diagnostics at our Educational Seminar at VHIO.

Off stage, over coffee, conversations were buzzing - the pan European network in precision diagnostics is already here.

A Gathering of Europe’s Precision Diagnostics Community

Organised by EUnetCCC, the seminar brought together outstanding speakers from across Europe who shared their experience and insights into Molecular Tumour Board (MTB) operations. With more than 150 participants onsite and many more joining online, the event convened molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, pathologists, clinicians, data scientists, patient representatives and industry partners — both on and off stage. Sessions took a deep dive into best practices for implementing precision diagnostics, which are steadily becoming part of routine cancer care.

Increasingly, cancer treatments are biomarker-informed, meaning that molecular diagnostics are a crucial step to match patients to targeted therapies. By analysing specific biological features of the tumour, molecular biologists, pathologists and bioinformaticians can uncover therapeutic options that are later discussed within Molecular Tumour Boards.

The Joint Action EUnetCCC, funded by HaDEA, is one of several complementary initiatives launched under the European Beating Cancer Plan to drive quality and competence across Comprehensive Cancer Centres. Colleagues from other initiatives — including the Joint Action Precision Cancer Medicine — joined the seminar to present their workplans and highlight synergies across Europe’s precision oncology efforts.  

The programme covered a broad spectrum of topics: clinical workflows, biomarker assays, pre-analytical standards, bioinformatics, interpretation frameworks, and operational and legal considerations. Throughout, the message was clear — Europe needs stronger standardisation, validated decision-support tools, multidisciplinary decision-making and deeper collaboration between centres.

Barcelona seminar EUnetCCC 1-2 December 2025-144

Dr Arnaud Bayle opened the seminar with a foundational introduction to MTBs. Dr Luigi de Petris followed with a thought-provoking session on patient eligibility and ethical considerations, highlighting real-world dilemmas around fairness, informed consent and the responsible use of advanced molecular diagnostics.

 Prof Klaus Pantel (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) presented the exciting opportunities of liquid biopsy, while a live mock MTB — featuring experts Dr Loïc Verlingue, Professor Åsmund Flobak, Dr Tonje Gulbrandsen Lienand Dr Paul Roepman — gave participants a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the depth and complexity of MTB decision-making using real and synthetic cases.

Dr Ana Vivancos Prellezo (VHIO) showcased the operations of one of Europe’s leading precision diagnostics laboratories. In dialogue with Professor Albrecht Stenzinger, she highlighted the intensive time and resources required to validate new diagnostic methods — a moment that underscored the peer-to-peer recognition among professionals confronting shared challenges across European centres.

The patient advocacy session, moderated by Professor Jörg Haier, brought essential perspective from Elisabeth Wallerand Cristina Filipe Nogueira, who reminded attendees how eager patients are for information — and how limited clinicians’ time often is to fully explain the science. Patients are ready for conversations about molecular evidence, they argued, and clinicians must be equipped and supported to engage in them. The session also explored the link between professions like bioinformaticians and molecular biologist and the patients – an underexplored topic. 

We explored how new technologies are being adopted and began collectively imagining MTBs 2.0. Dive deeper into the full programme here 

Elizabeth Waller, patient representative

Example molecular tumour board

What seminars like this promote is a living, pan-European network, committed to precision cancer diagnostics. They help forge relationships in which diagnostic teams from different hospitals can openly discuss challenges, share expertise and sketch out solutions together. Within the EUnetCCC Joint Action, we are cultivating a culture of shared protocols, shared data and shared use cases — all aimed at creating more efficient workflows from lab to tumour board and back to the patient. Faced with complexity, coordinated action across institutions, professions and borders consistently yields better outcomes.
 The seminar also reaffirmed a collective commitment to improving equity in access to targeted therapies for patients, regardless of where they live in Europe.

Dr Arnaud Bayle from Gustave Roussy summarised it best:

“Every patient deserves a molecular portrait.”

Patients are hungry for information, and clinicians need continued education to interpret and communicate molecular data effectively. Molecular Tumour Boards transform that data into therapeutic options — enabling earlier access, biomarker-driven trials and in some cases compassionate or off-label treatment routes.

 Dr. Arnaud Bayle from Gustave Roussy

With this seminar, we have set the stage to explore Molecular Tumour Boards 2.0. We look forward to welcoming you to our Molecular Tumour Board Summit in September 2026. Together, we can move the needle for precision cancer diagnostics.

Thank you to our organiser extraordinaire, Divya Tallapragada and the rest of the scientific committee for curating a stellar program, to our patient advisory board for excellent program input before and during the conference, to our task-lead team Philippa Druce, Anders Edsjö, Ana Bosch and Ana Carneiro for all the great discussions to shape both the scientific and practical program, to the indefatigable team at VHIO who hosted us above Barcelona, to our host, the singular Live Fagereng and to our many supporters from across EUnetCCC who made this seminar a true success.

Barcelona seminar EUnetCCC 1-2 December 2025-144

Live Fagereng 

The Oslo delegation at the conference