Since the beginning of the EuroPMP COST Action about 1.5 years ago, the Action has included researchers from many countries, not just in Europe, but around the world. The number of countries now taking part in the action has doubled in the past year alone, and now includes partners from over 23 countries including  Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Croatia, North Macedonia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Montenegro, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The EuroPMP COST Action aims to increase cooperation between researchers across Europe and around the world to improve research into the cause, detection and treatment of Pseudomyxoma…

Prof Kjersti Flatmark’s research group in Oslo have been awarded a NORD ACPMP Research Grant (ID: 19010) to look into the identification of biomarkers in the blood stream of patients. The title of the study is “ctDNA for monitoring patients with pseudomyxoma peritonei”. Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare abdominal cancer that exhibits specific DNA mutations. After treatment by surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy, radiological follow-up has low sensitivity and specificity for detecting disease recurrence. Mutations may be detectible in blood samples, and in this project we will establish and test a method for analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from patients with PMP before and after surgery. If successful, this method…

Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) are exchange visits between researchers involved in a COST Action, allowing scientists to visit an institution or laboratory in another COST Member state. STSMs are institutional visits aimed at supporting individual mobility, fostering collaboration between individuals. These scientific missions may last from 5 days to up to 6 months. Their aim is to promote collaboration in excellent research infrastructures and share new techniques that may not be available in a participant’s home institution or laboratory. The deadline for the call is 29 February 2020. The STSM itself must take place prior to the end of April 2020. For more information about applying for an STSM,…

  The EuroPMP COST Action held a workshop for its Early Career Investigator members in Cordoba on Friday, 4th October. In attendance were members from across Europe, including Spain, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Many interesting talks were given on subjects ranging from the diagnosis and treatment of PMP to novel research going on in the field. Session 1 saw talks by Dr Norman Carr (UK) and Dr Martin (Spain) around the pathology and radiology of PMP. Much work is ongoing around diagnostic techniques and classifications, including the standardisation of methods in these two diverse fields. Dr Andrew Thrower (UK) gave an informative presentation on the evaluation…

The EuroPMP COST Action attended the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Congress from 16-19 June 2019 at the ExCel Centre in London, UK. Core Committee member Dawn presented posters educating doctors about current best practice, what to look out for during surgeries, what to do if they spot signs of PMP, and who they can contact in their country to get help with diagnosis and treatment planning. Several hundred physicians stopped to learn a bit more about PMP and Dawn and handed out even more take-home flyers. The importance of creating good ties with the Ob/Gyn community cannot be understated. The people most likely to run across unexpected cases…

The first call for 2019-2020 Short-Term Scientific Missions has been released. More information can be found on the News page for the Action, located here. Short-term scientific missions (STSM) are exchange visits between researchers involved in a COST Action, allowing scientists to visit an institution or laboratory in another COST Member state. The deadline for the call is 30 April 2019, so act quickly!

The first Short-Term Scientific Mission participant for the EuroPMP project has completed their residential training at Oslo University Hospital’s Institute for Cancer Research. Researcher Antonio Romero Ruiz from the University of Córdoba (IMIBIC-University Of Córdoba, Spain) visited the Institute to learn how to work with mouse models of PMP. Antonio will take his new-found knowledge back to his lab to begin working on characterising the genomic profile of PMP, including working on the proteomic profile of the disease using SWATH technology. He will also be looking to use these new techniques to work on identifying physiological pathways (including splicing, oxidative stress and inflammatory marker pathways) involved in the disease process…

The EuroPMP COST Action Management Committee met on 10th February 2019 for their first official meeting since the kick-off of the Action in Brussels last year. The following day, the working Groups met to discuss how to move forward with the coordination of efforts around research and treatment of PMP across Europe. Immediately after the Working Group meeting, a workshop discussing basic science research into Pseudomyxoma peritonei was held for interested scientists and researchers. Topics included molecular targets in PMP, as well as current work being undertaken across Europe.