Clinical Cancer Genomics 2025: a cheerful boost for this rapidly emerging field 

The atmosphere is buzzing, the excitement is almost tangible. This first Clinical Cancer Genomics Congress feels like an event that people have been eagerly awaiting. Attendees share one common goal: making whole genome sequencing accessible to all cancer patients, enabling better clinical decisions. 

By Laura Nederveen  

Six leading (cancer) genomics centers in Europe have joined forces to organize this inaugural Clinical Cancer Genomics 2025 congress on March 20-21 in Amsterdam. Hartwig Medical Foundation from the Netherlands had the honor to host this first edition, coinciding with their 10^th anniversary as a non-profit organization. Hartwig aims to stimulate and facilitate whole genome sequencing-based diagnostics in the clinic while simultaneously enabling research to improve care for future cancer patients.  

With 370 participants from all across Europe and beyond, the mission of the organizing partners to bring people together has definitely succeeded. “It is like Christmas for a cancer WGS nerd”, posted Richard Rosenquist Brandell (Genomic Medicine Sweden) on LinkedIn.  

During the deliberately long breaks, old connections were strengthened and new connections formed. Giovanni Tonon from Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, Italy, is enthusiastic: “The conference is really a great chance to meet people you don’t usually meet, and to encounter new friends devoted to the same topics,” he says. 

A melting pot for international collaboration 

“It’s great to see all the major players from Europe and around the world coming together at this conference to discuss how we can better use complete genomic testing to improve patient care,” Joris van de Haar (Netherlands Cancer Institute) adds. It is a frequently heard statement at this conference: international collaboration is key to bring cancer genomics to a higher level.

“Different centers have complementary expertise so this will create significant synergies,” says Stefan Fröhling (DKFZ/NCT, Germany). Moreover, at the molecular level almost all cancers are rare. “It is important to join forces and combine patient cohorts to have better statistics,” Fröhling explains. 

Challenges for data sharing 

During the panel discussion with representatives of the six organizing partners, some challenges of data sharing were discussed. Every country has its own emotions and regulations about data sharing. And not only the genomic data are important: the clinical data are indispensable to draw any conclusions about the effect of interventions in certain cancer subtypes. Developing a uniform, automated data sharing system that is safe and trusted is key combining the data in a meaningful and efficient way, the panel agreed. 

Different perspectives 

Having all sessions in one plenary room gave a sense of unity among the participants. The program was packed with a great variety of talks, from research to clinical implementation and future perspectives of clinical whole genome sequencing (WGS) and other omics technologies. While most talks focused on WGS for clinical decision making, WGS could also be part of the therapy itself, as Alena Gros explained in her talk about WGS-based selection in personalized T-cell therapy.  

Keynote speaker on the first day Charles Swanton (Crick Institute, UK) gave an impressive presentation combining almost the complete molecular biology toolbox and genomics data analysis approaches to dissect the complexity of lung cancer.  His work opened up an interesting perspective: many carcinogens, like pollution, are in fact not mutagenic, but their role in causing systemic inflammation may be crucial to initiate tumor formation.  

The meeting was concluded with a keynote from Nuria Lopez-Bigas demonstrating the power of big-data research and the value of publicly available cancer whole genome sequencing dataset such as made available by Hartwig Medical Foundation, for improving somatic mutation interpretation and cancer diagnostics. 

Looking ahead 

When asked about the future, many participants anticipate that cancer genomics will become a standard part of clinical practice, allowing for precise identification of cancer subtypes. However, in addition to improved diagnostics, there is a need for better treatment options that can enhance patient outcomes, as well as more knowledge about which treatments are most effective for specific cancer subtypes. The ultimate goal: harmonized and standardized clinical decision-making based on the molecular profile of the cancer. 

To achieve this, there is a long way to go, but the atmosphere at the congress was optimistic.  “This conference has shown that the field is on a rapidly accelerating developmental course,” says Matthew Brown from Genomics England, who will be hosting next year’s conference. “We could not have held this conference five years ago, but now it would seem a miss not to have it every year, given the pace of developments. So I really look forward to welcoming everyone to next year’s conference in England.”