Please join us for our new webinar series focusing on the use of precision medicine techniques in rare cancers like fibrolamellar. Traditionally, medical treatments were designed for the “average patient” in a one-size-fits-all-approach, which may be successful for some patients but not for others. Precision medicine, also known as “personalized medicine”, tailors disease treatments to the specific differences in the genes, proteins and other substances in peoples’ bodies. The goal of precision medicine is to give the right treatments to the right patients at the right time and therefore improve the patients’ chances of survival and reduce exposure to adverse effects.

The idea of precision medicine isn’t new, but recent advances have accelerated the pace of research in this area. In this series of four webinars hosted by The Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation in collaboration with TargetCancer Foundation and Angiosarcoma Awareness, we explore how precision cancer medicine is being applied to rare cancers. The webinars in the series include:

• Webinar 1:  Gene Mutations and Precision Cancer Medicine, June 27, 8-9 PM (EDT)
  This webinar explores the application of gene sequence-based precision medicine to rare cancers, and the special challenges that must be overcome to improve treatment efficacy for these diseases. Click here to view a recording of the event.

• Webinar 2:  Functional Precision Cancer Medicine, September 29, 8-9 PM (EDT)
  Despite having similar genetic profiles, individual patients’ sensitivity to drugs can often be dramatically different. Functional precision medicine is an approach that analyzes how a patient’s individual tumor cells respond to different treatments to provide additional information on the particular vulnerabilities of that patient’s tumors. In this webinar we will discuss emerging technologies for functional precision medicine, as well as the limitations and challenges to using these assays to improve patient outcomes and having them become a standard tool in clinical oncology. Click here to view a recording of the event.

• Webinar 3:  Precision Tracking of Cancer Progression & Prognosis, exact date TBD
  Precision medicine relies on validated biomarkers to predict and monitor a patient’s response to therapies.  This webinar will explore the science behind cancer biomarkers and discuss the potential of such biomarkers to track “tumor burden”, guide therapy and help determine a patient’s prognosis. Click here for more information, or to register for the event.

• Webinar 4:  Precision Therapies for Rare Cancers, exact date TBD
  Precision medicine looks at the genetic and molecular characteristics of a patient’s unique tumor to identify the tumor’s specific weaknesses.  Once that level of identification is possible, custom-selected treatments that attack those specific vulnerabilities have great potential to improve patient outcomes.  This webinar will discuss the science and challenges behind the development of different types of targeted therapy and immunotherapy.