AACR Chat on Breakthroughs in Cancer Research

For those willing to venture onto Twitter, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and ABC's Dr. Richard Besser will conducting a tweetchat on Tuesday 4/21 at 1 PM ET from the AACR Annual Meeting (AACR 2015). The topic is "Breakthroughs in Cancer Research."

Many top cancer researchers and their institutions participated in last year’s chat from AACR 2014. With nearly 350 participants and over 2000 tweets, the chat moved fast and didn't have time to answer many questions. However, it did offer lots of info about cutting edge cancer basic research and treatments--this is one of the big conferences at which major discoveries are announced. Chat topics will possibly include new genetic targets for drugs, biomarkers that can indicate what type of treatment might work best (as well as whether a treatment is working), and developments regarding immunotherapy, which harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

If you haven’t followed a tweetchat before, below is a tweetchat primer (adapted with permission from #LCSM Chat. Hope to see you in the chat!

How do I join the chat on Twitter?

You will need a Twitter account to view or participate in the tweetchat.

Although you can follow this chat using just Twitter, you'll find it much easier to keep up if you use a tweetchat tool. Both methods are described below.

If you just want to watch the tweetchat, you can let other in the chat know you are watching by tweeting "#abcDRBchat" to announce your presence.

The moderator Dr. Besser (@abcDrBchat) will presents topics for discussion and assign each topic a number (T1, T2,T3, etc.). Once he tweets a topic, people respond to it with comments and questions. It helps others track the conversation if you put the topic number at the beginning of your tweet.

To participate in a tweetchat using Twitter:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.

2. To see ONLY the tweets in the tweetchat (which makes following the conversation much easier), filter your Twitter feed to show only tweets containing the hashtag "#abcDRBchat". To filter your Twitter feed, enter "#abcDRBchat" in the gray box containing the magnifying glass at the top of your Twitter feed--the box is outlined in red for emphasis in the example below. Be sure to click on "All" below the words "Results for #abcDRBchat " -- if you don't click on All, your feed will only show you some (not all) of the tweets containing #abcDRBchat.

3. To add your tweets to the chat, include the designated hashtag (in this case "#abcDRBchat") in every tweet you want to be seen in the chat.

To participate in the chat using a tweetchat tool:

You'll find it much easier to follow and participate in the chat by using a tweetchat tool like tchat.io. To do this:

1. Sign in to Twitter. Be sure your Twitter privacy settings allow anyone to see your tweets.

2. Enter the URL "tchat.io" in your browser (or click here to be taken to that URL).

3. Enter "#abcDRBchat" in the box on the screen, and click "Start Chatting"

4. Click on "Sign in to get an in-page tweet box" just below the white box, then click "Authorize App" on the next screen to login to Twitter. You'll then be redirected back to the tchat.io page. This will allow you to type your tweets in the textbox at the top of the page. Tchat.io will automatically add the #abcDRBchat hashtag at the end of your tweet so it will be seen in the chat.

5. Click on "hide retweets" (just below the blue "Tweet" bar). Hiding retweets will make it easier to follow the conversation.