2020 FORTRESS Meeting in Essen

On the 23rd and 24th of January, John and Ellie attended the second Fortress meeting in Essen. Fortress is a forum to discuss sarcoma research and was attended by over a 100 medical researchers and medical research practitioners, mainly from Europe and the USA. We had been invited to attend by the course organisers, Professor Dr Sebastian Bauer of Essen University and Professor Dr Patrick Schöffski of Leuven’s University, both sarcoma specialists with an interest in Clear Cell Sarcoma (CCS).

The forum was excellently organised and very useful in gaining an understanding of current sarcomas research and how it is progressing.

We did not anticipate the level of interest and the frisson in the atmosphere in the “break out” session on Clear Cell Sarcoma.

The session was led by Sebastian and the room was packed with contributions being made by many of the participants.

We now know of research into Clear Cell Sarcoma that is being undertaken in laboratories in Zurich, Stockholm, Essen, Leuven’s, Portland (Oregon) and in Japan.

As a result of the discussions further collaborations are being planned, which will likely lead to more understanding and eventually to some treatments.

It was commented by one of the leading figures that more progress had been made on Clear Cell Sarcoma research in the last 12 months than in the previous 12 years.