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Hematopathology Subdivision Report
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By
Kojo S. J. Elenitoba-Johnson, MD
Chair, Hematopathology Subdivision
e-mail: kojoelen@umich.edu |
Happy New
Year from Ann Arbor, the land of Blue and Maize and the home
of the Michigan Wolverines!
I am
excited to serve as the Chair of the Hematopathology
Subdivision after having learned the ropes under the
exemplary mentorship of the outgoing Chair, Dan Jones.
I also thank the members of the Program Committee led by
Jeff Kant. My thanks also go out to the other 2008
Hematopathology Subdivision officers, namely: Dan Sabath
(Clinical Practice Committee), Lynn Wang (Nominating
Committee), and Charles Hill (Training and Education
Committee). They put together an outstanding program for
our 2008 Annual Meeting in Grapevine Texas.
A new
special one-day symposium on Clonality Assessment in
Hematopathology was featured this year. This highlight was
moderated by Iris Schrijver and James Zehnder.
The symposium covered technical, practical and
interpretational issues in antigen receptor-based clonality
testing and was very well received by the participants. Our
Plenary Session at the 2008 Meeting featured speakers who
provided us with insights on the role of epigenetics in
hematopoietic malignancies. Jay Hesss discussion focused
around the mechanisms epigenetic regulation by modification
of histone tails focusing on the example of the mixed
lineage leukemia (MLL) gene and acute myeloid
leukemia (AML). Guido Marcucci discussed the
implications of structural and epigenetic profiles on the
prognosis of AML. Both speakers were well-received and
highly informative in their seminars.
Ramon Tiu
and Harvey Greissman delivered excellent seminars on the
role of array comparative genomic hybridization in the
assessment of cancers with an emphasis on hematopoietic
malignancies.
Our
Workshop featured platform presentations from six speakers (Hunter
Best, Alka Dwivedi, Frederico Monzon, Rana Saad,
Janice Spence and Bryan Coffing). The topics varied from
methodologic considerations and diagnostic applications of
array-based analysis to immunohistochemical analysis of
phosphoproteins in the context of myeloproliferative
disorders. The group uniformly presented high quality work
and stimulated vigorous discussions and audience
participation.
During
the Hematopathology Subdivision Business Meeting, we
received a number of suggestions for interesting topics for
our upcoming 2009 Annual Meeting. Tim Greiner and I
have started putting together a program for this meeting and
would encourage everyone to forward their ideas for plenary
sessions or workshop topics. Please contact me or Tim
Greiner at (tgreiner@unmc.edu)
with your contributions in this regard.
We look
forward to your participation and are excited about the
upcoming activities in the next year! |