Who has not have the chills when told that a person they know or a relative suffers from cancer? In 2015, almost 250,000 new cases were diagnosed in Spain. One in two men and almost one in three women will have cancer throughout their lives.In this context, the initiative http://alcancerdonemlirecerca.org/" Al càncer donem-li recerca!http://alcancerdonemlirecerca.org/" , ("For cancer, research," in English) with the aim of making the scientific research that is carried out in the fight against cancer in centres of scientific excellence more visible, and to disseminate the latest achievements to defeat cancer.The seminar, which is celebrated on February 15 on the occasion of the International Children's Cancer Day, will include four workshops for teenagers in the morning session and a round table in the evening session, where five researchers will present and will discuss some of the latest diagnostic and therapeutic trends that are currently being investigated in centres and hospitals in Catalonia.Round TableIn the round table will participate Dr. Soledad Gallego, Head of the Paediatric Oncohematology Service of Vall d'Hebron and principal investigator of the Translational Research Group of Cancer in Children and Adolescents of the VHIR who will talk about precision paediatric cancer medicine. Cancer in children and adolescents has a very low incidence but is one of the most important causes of mortality at these ages. Despite notable advances in the treatment of these diseases in the last decades, around 80% in our environment, there is still a significant number of children with cancer who cannot be cured with the current treatments. "In tumours with a more unfavorable prognosis and in those patients who doesn't respond to the treatment or have recurrences, new therapeutic approaches are required between those that find the investigation in new drugs and the early incorporation of the results of the investigations in the laboratory for the individual treatment of each patient ", advances Dr. Gallego.For its part, Dr. Alena Gros, Head of the Tumour Immunology and Immunotherapy Group (VHIO) will talk about one of the approaches that is most promising in recent years in the treatment of cancer, immunotherapy. This is to take advantage of the patient's own immune system to fight the tumour. "This approach has already yielded promising results in the treatment of patients with melanoma and cancer of the lung, and is studying its possible application in other types," said Dr. Gros .In this sense, it is essential to identify biomarkers which are able to predict that patients will respond better to this therapy, in order to customize treatment in the best possible way.Dr. Ana Vivancos, Head of the Genomic Cancer Group (VHIO) will focus on another of the great advances that has taken place in recent years in relation to personalized medicine, the incorporation of the liquid biopsy. It is a faster and much less invasive method than the classical biopsy of tissues, which detects DNA derived from the tumour circulating in the blood and helps to decide the most specific and targeted treatment for each patient. To perform the techniques of liquid biopsia is based on a simple extraction of blood."It must be borne in mind that the genotype of tumours is a fundamental information, and this can change after its diagnosis and after different treatments. In this sense, the liquid biopsy allows to detect significant mutations of the tumours that are not detectable in the primary tumours (although a traditional biopsy is performed), which also allows to detect the mutations during different moments of the evolution of the disease, monitoring the patient," says Dr. Vivancos. These aspects of the liquid biopsy make it one of the tools with the greatest potential for the treatment of patients in recent years.The other participants in the round table are Prof. Dr. Romain Quidant, Head of the Group of Nano-optics of Plasmons (ICFO), and Dr. òscar Martínez, Head of the Sarcomes Research Group (IDIBELL).The workshopsDuring the morning session the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), the Institute for research in Biomedicine (IRB), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) will offer workshops addressed to young people of the second cycle of secondary school the Tecla Sala School of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat where they will learn how to extract DNA, how to understand the mutations, as encapsulated in a medicine of the future and how the light and nanoparticles can be used to cure cancer. An initiative promoted by a researcher who is also a patientDaniel Infante, promoter of Al càncer donem-li recerca!http://alcancerdonemlirecerca.org/ , knows firsthand what is cancer. When diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bone cancer, an Ewing sarcoma, he had to postpone many dreams: including finishing his doctorate. However, the remission of the disease, after a hard year of treatments has given him enough motivation for organizing this event and to demonstrate the relevance of the research of diseases such as cancer.