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Turning cold tumours hot: oncolytic virotherapy gets up close and personal with other therapeutics at the 11th Oncolytic Virus Conference

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 26, pages 59–73 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The 11th International Oncolytic Virus Conference (IOVC) was held from April 9–12, 2018 in Oxford, UK. This is part of the high-profile academic-led series of meetings that was started back in 2002 by Steve Russell and John Bell, with most of the previous meetings being held in North America (often in Banff). The conference brought together many of the major players in oncolytic virotherapy from all over the world, addressing all stages of research and development—from aspects of basic science and cellular immunology all the way through to early- and late-phase clinical trials. The meeting welcomed 352 delegates from 24 countries. The top seven delegate countries, namely, the UK, US, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan and South Korea, contributed 291 delegates while smaller numbers coming from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Finland, France, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Academics comprised about half of the attendees, industry 30% and students 20%. The next IOVC is scheduled to be held on Vancouver Island in autumn 2019. Here we share brief summaries of the oral presentations from invited speakers and proffered papers in the different subtopics presented at IOVC 2018.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to our sponsors: PsiOxus Therapeutics, Amgen, Oxford Genetics, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, Sillajen, the American Society Gene and Cell Therapy, Cancer Research UK, Replimune, StemImmune, Turnstone Biologics, Vyriad, AstraZeneca, Ignite Immunotherapy, Novasep, Tocagen, The Brain Tumour Charity, Cancer Research UK Oxford Centre, Imanis Life Science, MedImmune, Merck, Viralytics, DNAtrix, and VCN Biosciences. Sponsors played no role in programme design or abstract selection. All decisions were made by the IOVC organising committee.

Funding

The authors are supported by Cancer Research UK grant C552/A17720, Newton-Ungku Omar Fund grant MR/P012795/1, the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Centre in Synthetic Biology, Medical Research Council (MRC) Doctoral Training Partnership, The Brain Tumour Charity, Oxford Institute of Radiation Oncology and Linacre College, Oxford.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Richard Baugh, Suet Lin Chia, Sally Frost, Iris, Egon J. Jacobus, Hena Khalique, Tzveta D. Pokrovska, Eleanor M. Scott, William K. Taverner.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus Research Building, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7DQ, UK

    Arthur Dyer, Richard Baugh, Sally Frost,  Iris, Egon J. Jacobus, Hena Khalique, Tzveta D. Pokrovska, Eleanor M. Scott, William K. Taverner, Len W. Seymour & Janet Lei

  2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Suet Lin Chia

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Dyer, A., Baugh, R., Chia, S.L. et al. Turning cold tumours hot: oncolytic virotherapy gets up close and personal with other therapeutics at the 11th Oncolytic Virus Conference. Cancer Gene Ther 26, 59–73 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-018-0042-1

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