Successful Participation by MLL in the ASH Conference in Orlando

This year as well, several MLL scientists took advantage of the ASH (American Society of Hematology) in Orlando to get an overview of the current research emphases and future developments. They also gave a number of lectures there and presented a large number of posters. Moreover, MLL was a key player in a project that was selected as a late breaking abstract and presented there.

MLL’s main contributions this year involved optimizing the diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma by means of new methods such as whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-transcriptome sequencing (WTS). In addition, the very extensive data plus the outstanding cooperation with the referring doctors forms the basis for developing important prognostic parameters and correlating them with the response to therapy.

A new focal point of MLL’s research activities is the use of artificial intelligence, both for assisting with diagnostics (especially in cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and immunophenotyping) as well as for detecting new patterns in the existing data of conventional diagnostics and genome-wide data. Observing the data from current standard diagnostics and genome sequencing together makes it possible to evaluate the potential of the new methods for diagnostics and leads to important scientific findings.

What is more, MLL is involved in numerous collaborative research projects and supports the development of laboratories and the establishment of workflows in other countries, something that was able to be promoted in various accompanying forums at the ASH. The goal is to expand the international networking further on a scientific and diagnostic level.  Multiple pilot projects are being established with the aid of algorithms and the use of artificial intelligence with strict scientific criteria and according to ISO 15189-compliant rules.