Programme highlight: asthma and COPD
With over 100 sessions on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), this year's Congress in Amsterdam will offer cutting-edge research and expert knowledge to basic scientists, translational researchers, primary care professionals and clinical practitioners working in the field.
A key area this year will be advances in the phenotyping of asthma. The interdisciplinary collaborative U-BIOPRED project will be delivering its phenotypic fingerprints and handprints of severe asthma in the 'Fingerprinting severe asthma symposium'. The U-BIOPRED project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative and aims to speed up the development of better treatments for patients with severe asthma.
Additionally, a 'Hot topics' session on 'Severe asthma phenotyping' will cover a number of important areas, including looking at clinically relevant biomarkers. The session will share new insights into the treatment of asthma and the personalisation of asthma medicine.
In the field of translational research, a lunchtime session on 'Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS)', chaired by this year's Presidential Award winner Jeffrey Drazen, looks at the science underlying reversible and irreversible airway obstruction. The session also features talks on asthma with features of COPD and COPD with features of asthma: the two main phenotypes of ACOS.
To gain expertise on some of the most common lung diseases, early-career researchers can sign up to the postgraduate course on emphysema and register for the 'Meet the expert' session on asthma susceptibility. As with all the educational sessions, discounts apply if participants register by 15 July.
The primary care programme aimed at clinicians, GPs, family physicians, pulmonary specialists, allied respiratory professionals, and respiratory patient representatives, will cover new evidence and insights into diagnosing and managing respiratory diseases and symptoms in this setting. There will also be a fascinating multidisciplinary session on 'Motivational interviewing for smoking cessation in COPD smokers' which will bring expertise form psychologists and physicians.
Professor Ian Adcock, Chair of the ERS Airway Diseases Assembly, commented: "This is a vast field and one that is constantly changing. The /congress provides the opportunity for professionals working in the field of asthma and COPD to keep abreast of these developments through a range of scientific and educational sessions, designed to provide insights relevant for all experts from primary care professionals and clinicians to basic scientists and researchers. It is only by coming together to discuss the latest findings that we can take steps towards improving the lives of the wide population of people living with these conditions."
Below we have highlighted just some of the Congress sessions on asthma and COPD but there are many more. Browse the full programme online.
| Date | Time | Title |
| 26.09.2015 | 09:30 | *Postgraduate Course PG5 Treatment of emphysema |
| 26.09.2015 | 09:30 | Session Primary Care Programme |
| 27.09.2015 | 13:00 | Lunchtime Session Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) |
| 28.09.2015 | 10:45 | Symposium Differentiating COPD exacerbations from pneumonia in COPD patients |
| 28.09.2015 | 13:00 | Lunchtime Session Asthma: emerging risk factors and current management of the patient |
| 28.09.2015 | 13:00 | *Meet the expert ME4 Asthma susceptibility |
| 29.09.2015 | 10:40 | *Educational Skills Workshop EW21 Motivational interviewing for smoking cessation in COPD smokers |
| 29.09.2015 | 10:45 | Symposium Fingerprinting severe asthma |
| 30.09.2015 | 08:30 | Hot topics Severe asthma phenotyping |
*Registration for these courses is additional to the Congress registration fee. Junior members can register for sessions at a reduced rate.