Pre-congress Workshops

Molecular Pathology Outreach Course

Description: Join us for a comprehensive course designed to provide a general overview of Molecular Diagnostics. In this course, faculty members will present lectures topics that include an overview of various molecular methodologies and technologies, pre-analytic variables impacting molecular diagnosis and clinical applications. Emphasis will be placed on molecular testing in the areas of clinical genetics, solid tumors, hematopathology, and infectious diseases. The application of novel technologies, such as next generation sequencing and informatics, will also be highlighted.

Learning objectives:  

• Compare and contrast a number of commonly utilized “ready out of the box” platforms with regard to their non-template amplification methodology and their clinical utilization.
• Enumerate several pre-analytical factors that impact PCR, non-PCR based amplification and array platforms.
• Discuss the methodologic and clinical considerations of when to implement testing by NGS.
• Compare and contrast methods of single nucleotide variant detection, copy number detection, and structural variant (fusions) detection by NGS and other related platforms (for CNVs).

Journal of Molecular Diagnostics (JMD) Workshop: Keys to Successful Publishing in Scientific Journals

Description: Medical and scientific journals play important roles in the evaluation and dissemination of studies. Manuscript preparation, submission, evaluation, revision, and publication often demand as much time and attention as the investigation itself. The purpose of this workshop is to better acquaint authors with the production of high-quality manuscripts and promote better understanding of the editorial process roles of authors, reviewers, and editors. Examples will focus on experiences from the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics but will be broadly applicable to other scientific publications.   Topics to be emphasized will include assessing the scope and mission of the journal, what editors look for, how to objectively convey the message of your work to the journal audience, how to constructively respond to reviewers’ comments, and the most common errors that result in manuscript rejection.

Learning objectives:

• Describe the attributes of a well-developed manuscript that concisely conveys one’s work.
• Describe differences in Western and Mainland China manuscript preparation.
• Explain the common errors to avoid in manuscript submissions.
• Outline the editorial process
• Identify constructive approaches to revise and improve manuscripts.

Preliminary Agenda

Organizers:

• Association for Molecular Pathology
• Molecular Diagnosis Branch, Chinese Society for Laboratory Medicine
• Elsevier

Moderators

• Lei Zheng, PhD South Medical University, Guangzhou, China
• Victoria Pratt, PhD Association for Molecular Pathology, USA