In 1997 an international group of scientists organized a meeting in Barcelona, Spain, to discuss the use of biomarkers in the management of patients with bladder cancer. This meeting was the offspring of an - initially informal - group that finally resulted in the foundation and incorporation of the International Bladder Cancer Network (IBCN) e. V. in 2005. Over the years the group has supported several research initiatives and generated several recommendations on the use of biomarkers in the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer. Meeting quality was generated by inviting experts presenting state-of-the-art lectures or work in progress reports, interdisciplinarity and the limited number of participants supporting an open and personal exchange resulted in a format increasingly attracting participants from all over the world. The recent limitations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic were partially met by organizing several well attended webinars. The future challenge is to maintain the IBCN meeting spirit despite an increasing interest of the scientific community and industrial partners to participate. However, the integration of and interaction between increasingly more specialized disciplines is a challenge that can be better catalyzed by an international multidisciplinary network than mostly national professional associations.
Urologic oncology. 2022 Nov 24 [Epub ahead of print]
Lars Dyrskjøt, Antonia Vlahou, Peter C Black, Michael Droller, H Barton Grossmann, Peter J Goebell, Ashish M Kamat, Roman Nawroth, Roland Seiler, Tilman Todenhöfer, Stephen B Williams, Bernd J Schmitz-Dräger
Department of Clinical Medicine - Department of Molecular Medicine (MOMA), University of Aarhus, Denmark., Proteomics Research Unit, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy Athens, Athens, Greece., Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada., Department of Urology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY., Department of Urology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX., Department of Urology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany., Department of Urology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany., Department of Urology, Spitalzentrum Biel, Biel, Switzerland., Studienpraxis Urologie, Tübingen, Germany., The Department of Surgery, Division of Urology, The University of Texas, Medical Branch, Galveston, TX., Department of Urology, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, Germany; Urologie 24, Nürnberg, Germany. Electronic address: .