Date: Tuesday 08 July 2025
Time: 16:00 (CEST) / 15:00 (BST)
Topic: Diagnostics

Webinar Schedule (all times are CEST):

16:00 Welcome and introduction – Professor Anne Rochtus (Leuven, Belgium) – ESPE Connect Webinar Convenor
16:05 Variability of growth hormone testing – Professor Peter Bang (Linköping, Sweden)
16:25 Assay interference – Professor Annemieke C Heijboer (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
16:45 Pituitary gland imaging – Professor Mohamad Maghnie (Genova, Italy)
17:05 Panel Discussion and Q&A for all talks – All faculty
17:30 Webinar Close – Professor Anne Rochtus

Our ESPE Connect webinars are free to attend, but on-demand replays are only available to ESPE Members. If you’re not a member you can join here.

Find out more about our ESPE Connect Webinar series here.

Speakers

Professor Peter Bang
Peter Bang is Professor of Pediatrics and Academic Head of Pediatrics as well as Head of the Section of Children’s and Women’s Health, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden. He is senior consultant and is heading the Pediatric Endocrinology team. He has more than 30 year’s research experience in the GH-IGF-field and has a publication list of more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed Journals. He holds a MSc in Biochemical Engineering from the Technical University of Copenhagen and a MD from the University of Copenhagen Medical School, Denmark. He did his PhD with Professor Kerstin Hall, a pioneer in the IGF research field, at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. After Postdoctoral training with Professor Ron Rosenfeld, Stanford University, CA, USA, he did his Pediatric Endocrine training at the Karolinska University Hospital. Peter has a long-lasting interest in the regulation of IGF-I bioactivity with focus on growth disorders and has been intimately involved in the development of recombinant IGF-1 and its use in the management of short stature.

Short talk description:
The presentation focuses on assay interference in hormone quantification, a critical topic in pediatric endocrinology. It highlights the challenges and limitations of immunoassays, such as cross-reactivity and other interferences, and contrasts these with the advantages of LC-MS/MS, which offers high specificity. The presentation discusses real-world cases, such as interference in FT4 assays and the impact of cross-reactivity, emphasizing the importance of accurate diagnostic methods. The session concludes with practical advice on consulting clinical chemists to address assay interference and improve diagnostic accuracy.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the limitations of immunoassays in hormone quantification, including assay interference, and their impact on diagnostic accuracy.
• Explore the advantages of LC-MS/MS as a method for hormone analysis, particularly in overcoming cross-reactivity.
• Analyze real-world cases of assay interference and learn strategies to mitigate its effects in clinical practice.

Professor Annemieke C Heijboer
Annemieke is Professor of Endocrine Laboratory Medicine and head of the Endocrine Laboratory of the Amsterdam UMC in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Annemieke obtained her PhD at the Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2006 and went to Amsterdam (VU University medical center) to be trained as clinical chemist with later on a specialization in endocrinology. Since 2010 she is heading the Endocrine Laboratory of the VU University medical center which she merged with the Laboratory of Endocrinology of the Amsterdam Medical Center, being the Endocrine Laboratory of the Amsterdam UMC since 2018. From 2015 until 2019 she was the president of the Dutch Society for Endocrinology. She is member of the Postanalytical committee of the EFLM and chair of Endocrine committee of the Dutch Society for Clinical Chemistry. Her interests are clinical chemistry and hormones, with a special interest in steroid and thyroid hormones. Professor Annemieke Heijboer published more than 250 scientific papers and has a h-index of 42.

Professor Mohamad Maghnie
Professor Maghnie is a professor of Pediatrics and PhD In Pediatric Endocrinology, Head of the Pediatric Clinic, Clinical Service in Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Giannina Gaslini Institute, and Director of the Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophtalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health – DINOGMI, University of Genoa, Italy. He is currently a Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at the University of Genoa, Italy, and the supervisor of several postgraduate research students and postdoctoral fellows working in his research group. Professor Maghnie is a former President of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology (ISPED, 2011-2015), former Chair of the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) SPE website (2004–2008), a co-author of Yearbook of Pediatric Endocrinology (2004–2009), and former member of the ESPE Summer School Steering Committee (2010–2013). Professor Maghnie is currently the President of the European Achondroplasia/EAF (Now International Achondroplasia Forum/IAF) Forum and the Coordinator of the Corporate Liaison Board of the ESPE 2023-2026.

Professor Maghnie received national and international award of excellence in Pediatric Endocrinology including “Rina Balducci” Award of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, “Georgio Kalaitzoglou Award of Excellence in Pediatric Endocrinology” from the Hellenic Society For Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Athens 2019 and “Premio Cacciari” Award of Excellence in Pediatric Endocrinology” from the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology SIEDP/ISPED, Bologna 2023. Professor Maghnie’s major research interests include growth disorders and their treatment and the management of pediatric pituitary disorders.

He has authored over 325 original articles, textbook chapters and scholarly reviews in a number of high impact journals, as well as numerous book chapters. He sits on numerous advisory boards and editorial boards of journals and have PUBMED H-Index 63.