The 2022 NCARD Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) was held on the 27th of September in the McCusker Auditorium at the Perkins Institute of Medical Research. The convenors were Dr Wen-Shuz Yeow and Dr Kofi Stevens. Although we had to cancel our original event at the last minute due to the recently announced public holiday, the meeting was quickly rescheduled thanks to the extensive efforts of our Program Manager, Dr Tanya Ward.

We had a full day of speakers, both in-person and online. Our thanks goes especially to Dr Meera Agar from the University of Technology Sydney, Dr Elham Beheshti from the University of Sydney, and Associate Professor Sonja Klebe and Dr Ben Johnson from ADRI in Sydney, for joining us online – we were privileged to listen to them presenting their research and for their participation in the panels.

The ASM was full of lively discussion as participants shared their work from all areas of mesothelioma research, diagnosis and treatment. Some of the exciting directions for future mesothelioma research included combining therapies for treatment, finding less invasive ways to detect and monitor mesothelioma, and personalising medicine based on individual patients’ responses. The high potential for future projects and collaboration was noted.

Other exciting developments mentioned during the ASM include the expansion of the Western Australian National Imaging Facility, due to finish in 2023. Access to a state-of-the-art imaging technologies will allow our researchers to undertake novel mesothelioma imaging projects that were previously impossible.

Thank you to everyone who participated for making this year’s NCARD ASM a success!