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Klinisk Biokemi i Norden · 1 2014
The XXXIVth Nordic Clinical Chemistry Congress
Göteborg, Sweden, September 16-19, 2014
Ola Hammarsten, Chairman of the Scientific Committee
One of the highlights of our Nordic
cooperation is the Nordic Clinical
Chemistry Congress. The Swedish
Society for Clinical Biochemistry
and Laboratory Medicine is hono-
red to host this congress in 2014.
The congress will take place on
September 16-19, 2014, in Göte-
borg, Sweden.
The Scientific Committee is now finalizing the
program with the overall theme
“Future opportunities
in clinical chemistry,”
that can be viewed in detail as it
develops on the official website, www. nfkk2014.se/.
The meeting will open with a healthy west coast-
inspired lunch, a seminar discussing the medical
implications of how we eat and the gut flora, followed
by a generous Welcome Reception hosted by the City
of Göteborg and the Region of Västra Götaland.
The themes for the second day are cardiology and
technology. The first speaker of the day will be profes-
sor Bertil Lindahl from Uppsala who summarizes the
latest in biomarkers for the diagnosis of myocardial
infarction. This is followed by a seminar on novel
biomarkers able to predict the likelihood of develo-
ping cardiac disease. In the afternoon we will learn
about new diagnostic cardiac biomarkers including a
novel application of copeptin/ADH and its use in the
emergency ward.
The technology theme involves morning seminars
on challenges in point-of-care testing and novel tech-
nologies with existing laboratory applications. The
diagnostic industry has been specially invited to pre-
sent their latest technology platforms. The scientific
committee will select the most novel and innovative
company contributions. Let’s hope for an interesting
and competitive event. In the afternoon, professor
Fredrik Höök fromChalmers University of Technology
will present his perspective of the technological fore-
front. The technology theme will close with a seminar
on how Next Generation Sequencing will change our
ability to diagnose and predict disease. This seminar
will also cover the quality control and ethical impli-
cations of next generation sequencing when applied
in the clinic. Should we always communicate disease-
linked mutations to the patient? Is there a need for
consensus on ethical principles?
The third day will have hematological and labora-
tory organization themes and opens with a plenary
session by professor Ebba Nexö, Aarhus, who once and
for all will teach us how to diagnose B12 deficiency.
Seminars in the morning and in the afternoon will
cover the diagnosis of disorders of iron metabolism
and myeloproliferative disorders. Neurochemistry in
Mölndal, one of the leading laboratories in the field,
will host a seminar where international experts will
discuss biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases.
As more and more medical decisions will be based
on biomarkers analyzed by increasingly advanced
technology, the future clinical laboratory is expected
to rely even more on collaborations between physici-
