Sidra Medicine will host Qatar’s first “Engineered Immune Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy” (EICCI) workshop from February 15 to 16 at its auditorium. 
The workshop theme ‘From Discovery to Off-the-shelf development’ is aimed at bringing the rapidly evolving field of immune cell-based cancer therapies to the forefront in Qatar and making them accessible to paediatric and adult cancer patients in the country. 
Dr Cristina Maccalli, staff scientist at Sidra Medicine and EICCI workshop’s chair, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming some of the leading experts in this field to Qatar and to Sidra Medicine. It is the right platform for us to share case studies, best practice methodologies and knowledge that will ultimately benefit collaboration and patient care in the field of cell-based cancer immunotherapy.” 
EICCI will bring together local and worldwide experts in immunology, oncology, hematology, gene and cell therapy while unveiling breakthrough clinical successes and technologies to help implement the efficacy and manufacturing of cell therapies. 
“As an academic medical centre, Sidra Medicine, is prioritising several research programmes that will help us embark on the path to personalised and precision medicine. We are currently developing immune cell-based cancer therapies for our paediatric cancer patients as a matter of research priority, whereby we would look to reprogramme a patient’s immune cells to fight the cancer cells in their body. We are also hopeful it will also contribute to achieve the unmet need of providing innovative and highly efficacious treatments to patients affected with advanced neoplastic diseases in Qatar and in the Mena region,” Dr Maccalli added.
The EICCI workshop is a collaboration between Sidra Medicine and the National Center for Cancer Care and Research - Hamad Medical Corporation and the Qatar Cancer Society. This event has been awarded a sponsorship under the Conference Workshop Sponsorship Programme -15th Cycle by the Qatar National Research Fund.
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