ECTH meeting report

ECTH 2021

Meeting report

The European Congress on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ECTH) ran their 2021 meeting on the 14th and 15th October in Ghent, Belgium.

During the meeting, scientists from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Norway, and the UK, finally gathered in the first in person conference meeting related to thrombosis and haemostasis after COVID-19 pandemic.

During the meeting there were four keynote sessions spread over the two days of the conference. The first day of the conference we learnt from Kathleen Freson, Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium how genomic studies have contributed to the identification of inherited platelet disorders. Then, in the afternoon session, Prof. Paul Shiels from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom showed how the exposome and difference in the neighbourhood can impact the trajectory of age-related health and disease, and life expectancy.

The second day of the meeting, Prof. Cedric Hermans, University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, explained how gene therapies are promising tools for haemophilia treatment, and finally, Prof John-Bjarne Hansen from The Arctic University of Norway demonstrated how population studies can contribute to the understanding of biological process during venous thrombosis when science is driven by multidisciplinary efforts.

Other communication sessions were divided into Poster presentations, oral communications and the exciting Science: Fast and Furious format, where scientists presented their work in an interactive TEDx style. Platelet Society members Hilaire Cheung, Luis Moran and Martina Colicchia had the opportunity to present their research in these sections, respectively. This was a great experience for them and they all took the chance to discuss their work with the community – something which has been difficult to do over the previous 18 months.

ECTH2021 was an exciting meeting, facing the challenges of having one of the first in-person meeting after COVID-19 pandemic, it achieved more than 300 attendants. We look forward to attending the next ECTH which will be held in Barcelona in 2023.

Luis Moran & Marticna Colicchia