In this publication, you'll find the abstracts of the presentations held at the Congress of the International Association for Breast Cancer Research. This international Congress brings together basic and clinical researchers from around the globe who are investigating the molecular basis of breast cancer. The theme for this meeting was 'Personalized Breast Cancer Therapy'. Given the rapid advances that are being made in basic and applied breast cancer research, this theme is particularly topical and covers a number of areas of general interest to breast cancer researchers including sessions on pathology and molecular profiling of breast tumors, signal transduction, receptors and hormones, tumor microenvironment, cancer stem cells and clinical therapeutics. The publication is of interest to scientists, clinical oncologists, regulators, breast cancer advocates, and representatives of the biotechnology and health care industries.