Authors: Georg F. Weber, Jeremy Warren, Hitoshi Shoma, Tao Chen, Abdel Halim and Geetika Chakravarty

Georg F. Weber

College of Pharmacy; University of Cincinnati and MetaMol Theranostics; Cincinnati, OH USA

Jeremy Warren

NanoSight Ltd; Amesbury, UK

Hitoshi Shoma

Department of Educational Development; Sapporo Medical University Center for Medical Education; Sapporo, Japan

Tao Chen

National Center for Toxicological Research; US FDA; Jefferson, AR USA

Abdel Halim

Daiichi Sankyo Pharma Development; Edison, NJ USA

Geetika Chakravarty

Corresponding author: geetikac@tulane.edu
Department of Pharmacology; Tulane University; New Orleans, LA USA

Abstract:
Biomarkers are biological agents used as indicators of biological states. In clinical applications, biomarkers reflect the presence, severity, or progression of disease states. They may also predict risk or responsiveness of a disease to a given treatment. There has been increasingly intense research interest in biomarkers, yet their translation into routine clinical use is lagging. To stimulate communication and cross-fertilization, the 2nd World Congress on Biomarkers & Clinical Research was held in Baltimore, MD, USA in 2011. The symposium covered a broad range of basic and applied biomarker research with the intent to facilitate bench-to-bedside developments. Sessions discussed DNA-based, proteomic, and blood-borne markers. The presentations covered biomarkers for cancer, other various diseases, and toxicological agents. Other topics included biomarker data assimilation, validation, standardization and quality control, as well as molecular imaging and informatics. New high-throughput assays, model systems and emerging technologies give reasons to hope for further rapid progress in the field.

Received: April 12, 2012; Accepted: May 22, 2012

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