Agenda - Cellular Plasticity in Cancer

Sunday evening is at the Le Meridien Hong Kong, Cyberport (Le Meridien Ballroom L3 and Southside Bistro L4)

3—8 pm: Conference Registration

4:30—5:15 pm: Keynote: Hans Clevers, F. Hoffmann - La Roche Ltd., Switzerland - "Organoids to model human disease"

5:15—6:05 pm: Opening Session 1: Oncofetal reprogramming in tumor development and progression
Chair: Vivian Li, Francis Crick Institute

5:15—5:40 pm: Ankur Sharma, Garvan Institute of Medical research, UNSW Sydney - "Understanding embryonic origins of tumours"
5:40—6:05 pm: Vivian Li, Francis Crick Institute, UK - "SOX2 drives fetal reprogramming and reversible dormancy in colorectal cancer"

6:15—7:15 pm: Welcome Reception

7:15—9:15 pm: Dinner

Breakfast is at the Le Meridien Hong Kong, Cyberport - the Conference is at The University of Hong Kong (Lecture Theatre 2, 1/F, 3 Sassoon Road)

7:30—9 am: Breakfast on own (available for purchase from hotel)

8 am—1 pm Registration

9 am—12:25 pm: Session 2: Mechanisms regulating cancer cell plasticity
Chair: Justin Lathia, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, US

9—9:25 am: Sendurai Mani, Brown University - "EMT-induced stem cell properties and cellular plasticity in cancer"
9:25—9:50 am: Anna Golebiewska, Luxembourg Institute of Health - "Tumor plasticity and microenvironment shaping heterogeneity and resistance to treatment in aggressive brain tumors"
9:50—10:15 am: Stephanie Ma, The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR - "Linking cancer stem cell plasticity to therapeutic resistance-mechanism and novel therapeutic strategies in hepatocellular carcinoma"

10:15—10:55 am: Refreshment Break

10:55—11:10 am: Alejandro Allo Anido, The Institute of Cancer Research - "KDM5B-mediated transcriptional noise enables phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution in paediatric cancers"
11:10—11:25 am: Horace Wing Hei Chan, Monash University - "Role of Clusterin (CLU) as a marker of regenerative stem cells and a mediator of chemoresistance in colorectal cancer"
11:25—11:40 am: Diana Drago-Garcia, The Francis Crick Institute - "SOX2-driven cellular plasticity induces drug resistance in colorectal cancer"
11:40 am—11:55 am: Helen Yan, The University of Hong Kong - "Divergent lineage trajectories and genetic landscapes in human gastric intestinal metaplasia organoids associated with early neoplastic progression"
11:55 am—12:10 pm: Ming Liu, Guangzhou Medical University - "Identification of tumor plasticity-induced developmental heterogeneity and potential therapeutic targets in HCC"

12:30—1:30 pm: Lunch and Meet the Expert Session (Hans Clevers, F. Hoffmann - La Roche Ltd.)

1:30—2:30 pm: Industry Spotlight Session 1 - Miltenyi Biotec - From Whole Organs to Spatial Biology – Total Tissue Characterization using Miltenyi Biotec Imaging Techniques
Dr. Bernd Müller-Zülow, Executive Senior Expert – Imaging & Microscopy, Business Development, Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG

2:30—4:30 pm: Poster Session 1 (with refreshments) - odd numbers

6—9 pm: Dinner (dinner on own)

Breakfast is at the Le Meridien Hong Kong, Cyberport - the Conference is at The University of Hong Kong (Lecture Theatre 2, 1/F, 3 Sassoon Road)

7:30—9 am: Breakfast on own (available for purchase from hotel)

8:30 am—1 pm: Conference Registration

9:30 am—12 pm: Session 3: Metabolic reprogramming, plasticity, and tumor progression
Chair: Axel Behrens, Institute of Cancer Research

9:30—9:55 am: Axel Behrens, Institute of Cancer Research - "Paracrine control of pancreatic cancer cell fates"
9:55—10:20 am: Wai-Leong Tam, National University of Singapore - "Exploiting metabolic vulnerability for therapeutic intervention in cancer"

10:20—11 am: Refreshment Break and Group Photo

11—11:25 am: Loic Deleyrolle, Mayo Clinic - "Macrophage-mediated lipid transfer supporting treatment-resistant persister cells in glioblastoma"
11:25—11:40 am: Saskia Freytag, WEHI - "Perioperative clinical trial reveals cell state plasticity and metabolic adaptation in glioma following Idh1 inhibition"

11:40 am—12:40 pm: Industry Spotlight Session 2 - MGI - Decipher cancer heterogeneity and clinical signatures through multi-omics big data
Dr. Kui Wu, Research Scientist and Director, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human Disease Genomics, BGI Group

12:40—1:40 pm: Lunch

1:40—2:40 pm: Career Development Workshop Session: – Careers in Academia and Industry
Justin Lathia, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic
Vivian Li, Francis Crick Institute
Stephanie Ma, The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR

2:40—4:40 pm: Poster Session 2 (with refreshments) - even numbers

6—9 pm: Dinner (dinner on own)

Breakfast is at the Le Meridien Hong Kong, Cyberport - the Conference is at The University of Hong Kong (Lecture Theatre 2, 1/F, 3 Sassoon Road)

7:30—9 am: Breakfast on own (available for purchase from hotel)

9 am—1 pm: Conference Registration

9 —11 am: Session 4: Cancer cell plasticity during metastasis
Chair: Karuna Ganesh, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, US

9—9:25 am: Huiping Liu, Northwestern University - "Plasticity of circulating tumor cell clusters in metastasis"
9:25—9:50 am: Karuna Ganesh, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

9:50—10:30 am: Refreshment Break

10:30—10:45 am: Sally Kit Yan To, Laboratory for Synthetic Chemistry and Chemical Biology Limited - "Dynamin 1 as a master regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition through N-cadherin endocytic recycling"
10:45—11 am: Graham MacLeod, University of Toronto - "Functional genomic characterization of glioblastoma stem cell heterogeneity and plasticity"

11 am—12 pm: Industry Spotlight Session 3 - PacBio: Precise characterization of complex variations in cancer using HiFi sequencing
Dr. Khi Pin Chua, Bioinformatics Scientists, PacBio and Ms. Jennifer Hsu, Associate Sales Director, PacBio

12—12:30 pm: Business Meeting

12:30—1:30 pm: Lunch

1:30—4 pm: Free Time

3:45—4:30 pm: Refreshment Break

4—5:45 pm: Session 5: Cancer stemness and the tumor microenvironment
Chair: Stephanie Ma, The University of Hong Kong

4—4:25 pm: Walid T. Khaled, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute - "Tumour initiation at the single cell level – lessons from normal development"
4:25—4:50 pm: Shaheen Sikandar, University of California Santa Cruz - "Decoding the mechanisms regulating cellular plasticity in breast cancer and during aging"
4:50—5:15 pm: Terence Lee, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKSAR - "Targeting tumor plasticity to combat immune evasion in liver cancer"
5:15—5:30 pm: Thierry Jarde, Monash University - "Pro-oncogenic reprogramming of fibroblasts by Apc mutant epithelial cells supports intestinal tumour initiation and growth"
5:30—5:45 pm: Daqi Deng, The Francis Crick Institute - "Dissecting tumour heterogeneity and driver functions in patient-derived kidney cancer organoids"

6—7 pm: Dinner (dinner on own)

Breakfast is at the Le Meridien Hong Kong, Cyberport - the Conference is at The University of Hong Kong (Lecture Theatre 2, 1/F, 3 Sassoon Road)

7:30—9 am: Breakfast on own (available for purchase from hotel)

9 am—1 pm: Conference Registration

9:30 am—12 pm: Session 6: Tumor plasticity and immune evasion
Chair: Loic Deleyrolle, Mayo Clinic, US

9:30—9:55 am: Justin Lathia, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic - "Testosterone functions as a tumor suppressor in the brain via aberrant activation of the Hpa axis, driving immune suppression and cellular plasticity in a brain specific manner"
9:55—10:20 am: Tyler Miller, Case Western Reserve University - "Manipulating myeloid cell plasticity in glioma to enhance immunotherapy"

10:20—10:55 am: Refreshment Break

10:55—11:10 am: Carol Man Tong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong - "Tumoral HDAC9 exacerbates neutrophil extracellular trap formation and promotes immunotherapy resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma"
11:10—11:25 am: Prajwal Rajappa, Nationwide Children's Hospital - "CD74/MIF signaling axis disruption in bone marrow-derived myeloid cells delays glioma malignant progression"
11:25—11:40 am: Yvonne Ngar Woon Kam, The University of Hong Kong - "Cell-associated galectin 9 interacts with cytotoxic T cells confers resistance to tumor killing in nasopharyngeal carcinoma through autophagy activation"
11:40—11:55 am: Huajian Yu, The University of Hong Kong - "THBS1+ monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells trigger CD8+ T cell exclusion and dysfunction in CTNNB1-mutated HCC"

12—1 pm: Lunch and Meet the Editor Session (Dr. Zhe Wang, Senior Editor, Nature Cell Biology)

1—2:45 pm: Scientific Session 7: Novel therapy in stem cells and cancer
Chair: Dean Tang, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, US

1—1:25 pm: Dean Tang, Roswell Park Cancer Institute - "Cellular heterogeneity and plasticity in normal prostate and prostate cancer"
1:25—1:50 pm: Sheila Singh, McMaster University - "Targeting cancer-selective metabolic vulnerabilities in MYC-amplified medulloblastoma"
1:50—2:15 pm: Wenxue Ma, University of Californa San Diego - "Targeting cancer stem cells via ADAR1 inhibition with Rebecsinib"
2:15—2:30 pm: Alejandra Bruna, The Institute for Cancer Research - "Phenotypic plasticity in neuroblastoma: A heritable trait driving adaptive evolution through epigenetic memory"
2:30—2:45 pm: Gregory Kenneth Muliawan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - "Transcobalamin 1 (TCN1) induces cell plasticity and drives hypoxia-driven therapeutic resistance via ITGA3-mediated notch signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma"

Departures