The 2018 International BNCT Development Forum was held in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu province, on June 14, 2018. Organized by Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and University of Pavia (UP) and undertaken by the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, NUAA, and Neuboron Medtech Ltd, the forum was attended by authoritative experts from the International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy (ISNCT) and research institutions in countries that are doubling down on BNCT technologies (including China, the US, Italy, Japan, Argentina, and Finland). They delivered keynote speeches and held seminars on research fronts, clinical research experience, and development trends regarding BNCT.
The forum was divided into two parts: The first part is an opening ceremony and a lecture on clinical applications of BNCT. The opening ceremony kicked off at 9:00 a.m. and was attended by 200 odd participants including over 30 experts and scholars from a dozen countries and regions as well as journalists from 10+ mainstream media.
Prof. Liu Yuanhao, founder of Neuboron, member of the Executive Board of ISNCT, and head of the National Key Research Program on BNCT of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Xiong Ke, vice president of NUAA, Prof. Saverio Altieri from UP, and Ms. Silva Bortolussi, secretary-general of ISNCT delivered opening speeches extending their best wishes for a great success of the forum.
At the lecture on clinical applications of BNCT, Prof. Liu, Prof. Yoshiaki Kiyanagi from Nagoya University, Doctor Chen Yiwei and Doctor Lin Kehan from Taipei Veterans General Hospital elaborated on the status quo and prospect of BNCT. China’s first accelerator-based BNCT center is expected to be completed in Xiamen, a major city in southwest China's Fujian province, in the fall of 2019. This is good news for patients with malignant tumors. Prof. Liu expounded on the design criteria for China’s first accelerator-based BNCT facility being developed by Neuboron, key parameters of neutron beams, important indicators of beam shapers, and breakthroughs in China's self-developed systems or drugs including dose monitoring systems, barrier shields, and boron-containing drugs such as BPA and 18F-BPA.
The burgeoning BNCT is heralded as one of the most cutting-edge targeted techniques for cancer treatment in the world. In the second part of the forum, the organizers arranged 11 seminars on BNCT, going into details about its principles, accelerator-based facility, clinical experience, boron-containing drug research, and the status quo and prospect of BNCT development in and outside China.
