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| 1 | 2012
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
Scientific Symposia at the XXXIIIth Nordic
Congress in Clinical Chemistry in Reykjavík,
Iceland June 12-15
th
, 2012
Jón Jóhannes Jónsson
Chairman of the Scientific Committee
I will focus on symposia in this
third article in Klinisk Biokemi
í Norden (KBN) on the Nordic
Congress in Clinical Chemistry in
Reykjavík in 2012. Other aspects of
the scientific program were descri-
bed in the two last issues of KBN.
The symposia are designed to cover
selected topics of special interest in current clinical
biochemistry and laboratory medicine. As in previous
congresses we will have the Astrup and Eldjarn sym-
posia. They witness some of the best of vibrant clinical
biochemistry in the Nordic countries.
A symposium on systems biology will help us clini-
cal biochemists become better acquainted with this
emerging field. We need comprehensive models to
make sense of all the data from high throughput tech-
nologies. This is where systems biology comes in play.
Ines Thiele (Reykjavik) will discuss the systems biology
of inborn errors of metabolism, Jens Nielssen (Goth-
enburg) will talk about establishment of the human
metabolic atlas, and Rudi Ballin (Luxembourg) will
talk on systems biology of neurodegenerative disease.
A symposium on aging will address how new
insights in biology are changing diagnostics in elderly
individuals. Börge Nordestgaard (Copenhagen) will
discuss cardiovascular risk assessment, non-fasting
remnant cholesterol and lipoprotein(a), Henrik Zet-
terberg (Gothenburg) will talk about the new clinical
criteria that allow for biomarker-assisted diagnosis of
Alzheimer disease and Gunnar Sigurdsson (Reykjavik)
will discuss abnormal bone structure and metabolism
in elderly persons.
Biomarkers and proteomics are part of a fast gro-
wing field. Three active researchers in this area Hans
Lilja (New York), Paul Tempest (New York) and
Gyorgy Marko-Varga (Lund) will describe recent deve-
lopments and how they relate to clinical biochemistry.
Peptide hormones and prohormones have many
important applications as diagnostic markers. Jens
Peter Goetze (Copenhagen) will cover natriuretic
peptides in cardiovascular diseases, Jens-Ulrik Jensen
(
Copenhagen) will talk about procalcitonin use in
infections in different settings and Jens Fr. Rehfeld
(
Copenhagen) will talk about gastrin and CCK pepti-
des in neoplastic diseases.
Highly sensitive troponins continue to be in the
limelight. Paul Collinson (London) will discuss ana-
lytical and clinical issues related to the high sensitive
troponin assays, Ola Hammarsten (Gothenburg) will
tell us about hTnT in early detection of acute myocar-
dial infarction and Kristin Moberg Aakre (Bergen) will
give a talk on troponins in kidney failure.
The new oral anticoagulants are exciting new
pharmaceuticals with promises and caveats. Tomas L.
Lindahl (Linköping) will describe the direct thrombin
inhibitor dabigatran, its effects on coagulation assays
and in vitro results on reversal of drug effects, Peter
Svensson (Malmö) will review the new oral anticoa-
gulants and whether the end of warfarin treatment is
in sight. Andreas Hillarp (Malmö) will describe the
effects of the direct factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban
on coagulation assays both clinical utility and as a
source of error.
Therapeutic drug monitoring always has hot topics.
Michael Oellerich (Göttingen) will describe the use
of endogenous biomarkers to achieve personalized
immunosuppression and Marilyn Huestis (Baltimore)
will talk about the many advances in oral fluid drug
testing including for the workplace, pain management,
drug treatment and driving under the influence of
drugs programs.
Inborn errors of metabolism are collectively more
frequent then we used to think and can present in
