Cancer Immunotherapy: Bridging Basic Research and Clinical Translation (A1)
January 24-27, 2027  | Beaver Run Conference Center, Breckenridge, CO, United States
Ana Carrizosa Anderson, Drew M. Pardoll, Neta Erez and Ivan Diaz-Padilla
Scholarship Deadline: Sep. 30, 2026 | Abstract Deadline: Jan. 5, 2027 | Early Registration Deadline: Nov. 24, 2026
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of October 26, 2026 12 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Sunday, January 24, 2027
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Colorado Ballroom Foyer
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Colorado Ballroom Foyer
Monday, January 25, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Summit Gallery
8:00–8:10 AM Welcome Remarks Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
8:10–9:00 AM Keynote Address Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Antoni Ribas, University of California, Los Angeles
How Tumors Enable Immunotherapy		  
9:00–11:15 AM Reimagining Checkpoint Targeted Therapies Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Ivan Diaz-Padilla, Ipsen, Oncology Global Research & Development
Lessons from Checkpoint Blockade Trials		  
  Andrea Cercek, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Neoadjuvant Checkpoint Blockade in MMRd Cancer		  
  Drew M. Pardoll, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Understanding Resistance to Checkpoint Inhibition based on Neoadjuvant Clinical Trials		  
  Aamir M Suhail, Brigham and Women's Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Short Talk: TIGIT-CD155 Signaling Reprograms Tumor Cells to Tumor Growth and Immune Evasion		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Colorado Ballroom Foyer
11:25–12:25 PM Panel Discussion: Circadian Control of Immunotherapy Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
12:25–1:00 PM Poster Setup Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
12:25–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Cancer-Neuroimmunology Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Nicole Carter, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Short Talk: Investigating the Role of Opioid Signaling in Shaping Anti-Tumor Immunity		  
  Brielle Patlin, Washington University in St. Louis
Short Talk: Neuroimmune Interactions Impact Tumor Progression in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma		  
  Claire Conarroe, University of Virginia
Short Talk: From Cold to Controlled: Dual CD40 and TLR3 Agonism Improves CNS Immune Surveillance to Confer a Durable Survival Benefit Through Activation of the cDC1/CD8+ T cell axis in a Murine Model of Glioblastoma		  
  Michal Polonsky, Caltech
Short Talk: Novel Methodology to Explore Glioma Malignant Transformation with Spatial Multi-Omics		  
  Opeyemi Iwaloye, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Short Talk: Tumor Collagen-Binding IL-12 Redirects Radiation-Induced Immune Remodeling Toward Antitumor Immunity In Glioblastoma		  
  Sharmila Nair †, University of Louisville
Short Talk: Defining Critical Signals Required For Durable Checkpoint Immunity In Glioblastoma (GBM)		  
  Huazhen Xu, Johns Hopkins University
Short Talk: Targeting Tyrosine Hydroxylase to Enhance CAR T-Cell Therapy in Solid Tumors		  
  Lewis Barr, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Short Talk: Tumor-Collagen Binding Anti-CTLA4 Therapy For Recurrent Glioblastoma		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Colorado Ballroom Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Biological Insights from Systems that Model Human Cancer Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Daniela Thommen, Netherlands Cancer Institute
Rewiring T Cells in PD1 Resistant Tumors		  
  Neta Erez, Weizmann Institute of Science
Stromal and Immune Plasticity Shape the Metastatic Niche		  
  Raza Ali, University of Cambridge
Systems Cancer Pathology		  
  Charu Arora, University of Pittsburgh
Short Talk: Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Regimens Differentially Regulate Intratumoral and Systemic B Cell Activation in Patients with Pancreatic Ductal		  
  Camiel Göbel, University Medical Center Utrecht
Short Talk: Decoupling Tumor Entry from Antigen Recognition Reveals Distinct Phases of T Cell Infiltration		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner Summit Gallery
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 1 Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
Tuesday, January 26, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Summit Gallery
8:00–11:00 AM Harnessing Innate Cells for Cancer Therapy Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Adelheid Cerwenka, University of Heidelberg
Checkpoints Controlling Natural Killer Cell Anti-Tumor Reactivity		  
  Seth B Coffelt, University of Glasgow
gamma delta T Cells as Architects of the Tumor Microenvironment		  
  Judith A. Varner, University of California, San Diego
Macrophage Directed Immunotherapies		  
  Marco Colonna, Harvard Medical School/MGH
Trem2 based Therapies in Cancer		  
  Sheera Rosenbaum, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Short Talk: PITPα-Mediated Tumor Signaling Shapes NK cell Phenotypes and Promotes Breast Cancer Metastasis		  
  Theodore Giavridis †, OverT Bio
Short Talk: αβ Τ Cells Engineered to Express Novel Vδ1-type γδ TCRs for HLA-Unrestricted Treatment Of Solid Tumors		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Colorado Ballroom Foyer
9:20–9:25 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
11:00–3:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
3:00–4:30 PM Career Roundtable Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Colorado Ballroom Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Mechanisms Shaping T Cell Differentiation in Cancer Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Mary Philip, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Early CD8+ T Cell Fate Commitment in Cancer		  
  Ana Carrizosa Anderson, Harvard Medical School
Transcriptional Control of CD8+ T Cell State Transitions		  
  Jean-Christophe Beltra, University of Basel
Cytokine-Directed Gene Programs Shaping CD8+ T Cell Differentiation in Cancer		  
  Sydnye Shuttleworth, UAMS
Short Talk: Proteostasis Remodeling Shapes CD8+ T Cell Persistence During Exhaustion And Reveals RNF166 as a Functional Regulator		  
  Robert Letchworth, University of Utah
Short Talk: Effector CD8+ T Cells Exhibit Spatially Defined, Clonotype-Specific Exhaustion Trajectories In Heterogeneous Tumors		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner Summit Gallery
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Colorado Ballroom Peak 1-3
Wednesday, January 27, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Summit Gallery
8:00–11:00 AM Applying Engineering and Materials Science to Cancer Immunotherapy Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  David J. Mooney, Harvard University
Engineering T Cell Cancer Therapies		  
  Jason Luke, Strand Therapeutics
Cell-Type Specific Delivery and Regulation of mRNA Therapeutics and in vivo Cell Therapy		  
  Peter Benedict Kirk, Immunocore
T Cell Engagers for Solid Tumor Indications		  
  Jamie Spangler, Johns Hopkins University
Engineering Proteins for Immunotherapy		  
  Sarah Jewell, University of Florida
Short Talk: BEACON CAR T cells: Next-Generation Theranostic CAR T Cells with Built-In MRI Visibility for Brain Tumors		  
  Neil Chada †, Vanderbilt University
Short Talk: Coiled-Coil Self-Assembly Enables Cleavable Nanobody-STING Agonist Conjugates That Improve Adoptive Cell Therapy in Solid Tumors		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Colorado Ballroom Foyer
11:10–12:10 PM Panel: Health Equity Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
12:10–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: The Double-Edged Sword of Immunity: Antitumor Responses and Treatment Toxicity Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Christopher A Pennell, University of Minnesota
Short Talk: Neurotoxicity Induced by Human CD19-Specific CAR T-cells: CAR T-cells Accumulate in the Subarachnoid Space Prior to Trafficking into the Brain and Altering Spontaneous Neuronal Signaling in Human CD19 Transgenic Mice		  
  Junhong Du, University of Utah
Short Talk: The Transcription Co-regulator OCA-B/Pou2af1 Differentially Controls Autoimmunity and Tumor Immunity		  
  Claire Fritz, Case Western Reserve University
Short Talk: B-cell Activating Factor Contributes to CAR-T Cell-Associated Cytokine Release Syndrome		  
  Matan Hofree †, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Short Talk: Predicting Patient-Specific Cardiac CD8⁺ T-Cell States From Blood In Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor–Associated Myocarditis		  
  Disha Vadgama †, Erasmus MC
Short Talk: Neutralization of IL12/IL23 p40 Subunit Mitigates Immune Checkpoint Blockade-Induced Toxicity While Preserving Antitumor Efficacy		  
  Nina O Ineza, University of Minnesota
Short Talk: A Mouse Model to Detect Astrocytosis Noninvasively and Longitudinally as a Proxy for Neuroinflammation		  
  Manpreet Kaur †, Rondo Therapeutics
Short Talk: Advancing Cancer Immunotherapy with CD28-Engaging Bispecific Antibodies		  
  Luis Castillo Cantero †, University of Geneva
Short Talk: Nanobody-derived TREM2 CAR T Cells Target Suppressive Myeloid Cells And Malignant Cells In Hematologic Cancers		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Colorado Ballroom Foyer
5:00–6:15 PM Pushing the Envelope in Cancer Vaccines: Generation and Application Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Anna Morena D'Alise, Nouscom Srl
Talk Title to be Announced		  
  Lélia Delamarre, Medici Therapeutics
Individualized Neoantigen RNA Vaccines		  
  Isabella Evavold, MIT
Short Talk: KRAS Inhibition Creates a Therapeutic Window for Durable Vaccine-Induced Immunity in Pancreatic Cancer		  
6:15–7:05 PM Closing Keynote Address Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
  Yardena Samuels, Weizmann Institute of Science
Novel Mechanisms Producing Targetable Tumor Antigens		  
7:05–7:15 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) Colorado Ballroom Peak 4-5
7:15–8:15 PM Social Hour with Dinner Summit Gallery
8:00–9:00 PM Entertainment
8:00–9:00 PM Cash Bar
Thursday, January 28, 2027
12:00–11:59 PM Departure