*Registration has now closed for Stem Cells & Cancer Conference. However, a few final places remain, subject to hotel availability. If you wish to join us in Malta, please email Amy to enquire about availability*

The organising commitee is a continuation of the GRC 'Stem Cells & Cancer' conference series.

Stem cells are the building blocks during development and are essential for tissue maintenance throughout life. However, cells with stem cell properties can also serve as cells of origin for tumor initiation, growth and metastasis. In addition, tumors arising from both stem cell and non-stem cell origins can hijack molecular pathways of stem cell self-renewal, genomic maintenance and metabolic control to enable their deregulated growth. Thus, knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that regulate proper stem cell function and tissue homeostasis under normal conditions directly informs understanding of how cancer starts and spreads throughout the body. Conversely, knowledge of the mutations and environmental signals that can trigger and maintain tumor cell renewal can suggest novel avenues to boost stem cell function and facilitate organogenesis and repair through regenerative medicine. This conference will provide a platform for scientists and clinicians working on topics such as organogenesis, tumorigenesis, stem cell function, regenerative medicine, and anti-cancer therapies to catalyze collaboration and cross-fertilize ideas.

Key Sessions

•    Metabolism
•    Developmental signaling pathways in cancer
•    Heterogeneity and tumor evolution
•    Mechanical cues in growth and metastasis
•    Models for development and cancer (organoids, organs on a chip, bio-engineering and emerging technologies)
•    Regulation of self-renewal (intrinsic and extrinsic cues)
•    Plasticity and mutant cell competition
•    Novel therapies in regenerative medicine and cancer therapy
•    Mutant clonal landscape
•    Cell fate reprogramming

Confirmed Plenary Speakers

Catriona Jamieson (UCSD)
STEM CELL PATHWAYS AGING AND CANCER EVOLUTION (SPACE)
Peter Dirks (The Hospital for Sick Children)
DISSECTING THE HIERARCHY AND ORIGINS OF BRAIN TUMORS

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Helen Abud (Monash University)
DEFINING INTRINSIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNALS THAT IMPACT CELLULAR PLASTICITY IN TISSUE REPAIR AND COLORECTAL CANCER 
Cedric Blanpain (Universite Libre de Bruxelles)
MECHANISMS REGULATING STEM CELL PLASTICITY DURING TUMOR INITIATION
Anwesha Dey (Genentech)
TARGETING THE HIPPO PATHWAY IN CANCERS
Hiro Fujiwara (Riken Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research)
ECM DYNAMICS IN SKIN MORPHOGENESIS
Nikolche Gjorevski (Roche)
FROM ORGANOIDS TO ORGANS: MODELING INFLAMMATION IN ENGINEERED INTESTINAL TISSUES
Joo-Hyeon Lee (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
FROM REGENERATION TO TUMORIGENESIS: LESSONS IN CELL FATE AND PLASTICITY
Scott Lowe (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
VISUALIZING THE BENIGN TO MALIGNANT SWITCH
Miguel Ramalho-Santos (Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute)
HYPERTRANSCRIPTION IN DEVELOPMENT, STEM CELLS AND CANCER
Tannishtha Reya (Columbia University)
TRACING THE ORIGINS OF CANCER: A STEM CELL PERSPECTIVE
Wolf Reik (Altos Cambridge)
SINGLE CELL MULTI-OMICS LANDSCAPE OF DEVELOPMENT AND AGEING?
Ataman Sendoel (University of Zurich)
SINGLE-CELL APPROACHES FOR MONITORING STEM CELLS IN CLONAL EXPANSION AND TUMORIGENESIS
Quinton Smith (University of California, Irvine)
COAXING VASCULATURE IN ENGINEERED STEM CELL MODELS
Andrea Sottoriva (Human Technopole)
QUANTIFYING EPIGENETIC EVOLUTION AND PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN COLORECTAL CANCER
Amy Wagers (Harvard Medical School)
REVERSING AGING-ASSOCIATED DYSFUNCTION BY MANIPULATING BLOOD-BORNE FACTORS
Valerie Weaver (UCSF)
FORCING TUMOR INITIATION AND PROGRESSION
Len Zon (Harvard University)
STEM CELL CLONALITY AND THE NICHE

Target Audience

This meeting will be useful for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, academic and industry scientists and clinicians who wish to learn about the ways in which features of stem cells, development and tissue homeostasis can be applied to understanding tumour initiation, growth and metastasis. This will serve as a platform to build a network across two complementary disciplines/fields that do not traditionally intersect in other meetings. This emerging community will pave the way to advancing towards a new era of cancer cell biology, aiming at cancer prevention and early detection by focusing on the causes of early tumour formation and transitions between benign and malignant stages.  

Educational Need

Although meetings exist that focus broadly on stem cells or cancer and more specifically on different organ systems, few meetings are held that are geared toward the overlap of areas that are shared between the two. This meeting will serve to bridge that gap. 

Learning Objectives

This meeting will provide opportunities to learn the newest findings related to how stem cell behavior is regulated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, how these factors also influence cancer cell growth and strategies for enhancing stem cell activity or blocking cancer cell growth. 

Please note, the below programme is subject to change.