Cancer Immunotherapy: Basic Mechanisms Informing Clinical Applications & Combinations (C3)
March 15-18, 2026
| Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Québec, QC, Canada
Jennifer Guerriero, Thomas Marron, Ira Mellman and Solange Peters
Scholarship Deadline: Nov. 12, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Feb. 20, 2026 | Early Registration Deadline: Jan. 14, 2026
| 4:00–8:00 PM |
Registration |
Vercheres |
| 6:00–8:00 PM |
Welcome Mixer |
Frontenac |
| 7:30–8:30 AM |
Breakfast |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 8:00–8:30 AM |
Poster Setup |
Bellevue |
| 8:15–5:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
Bellevue |
| 8:30–8:40 AM |
Welcome Remarks |
Grand Ballroom |
| 8:40–9:30 AM |
Keynote Address |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Jennifer Guerriero, Brigham and Women's Hospital
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* Ira Mellman, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
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Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Johns Hopkins University
Priming the Immune System to Provoke Checkpoints: One Path to Maintaining the Immunotherapy Momentum |
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| 9:30–11:45 AM |
The Failures, Successes and Future of Cancer Immunotherapy |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Thomas Marron, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Session Chair |
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Solange Peters, CHUV
Postmortem of Failed Immunotherapy Approaches |
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James P. Allison, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Immunotherapy: Mechanistic Insights Provide New Therapeutic Opportunities |
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Ira Mellman, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
The Future of Cancer Immunotherapy |
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Melissa Reeves, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Short Talk: Tumor-produced CX3CL1 Shapes the Local Immune Microenvironment and Impedes Efficacy of Immunotherapy |
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| 10:00–10:20 AM |
Coffee Break |
Vercheres |
| 11:45–12:15 PM |
Panel Discussion 1: Accelerating Development and Overcoming Regulatory Challenges of Drug Approvals |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Thomas Marron, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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James P. Allison, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
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Ira Mellman, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
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| 12:15–1:15 PM |
Lunch |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 1:00–3:00 PM |
Poster Session 1 |
Bellevue |
| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Vercheres |
| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Probing Omics and Big Data to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets and Biomarkers |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Ira Mellman, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Session Chair |
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Arielle Elkrief, Université de Montréal
The Gut Microbiome as a Therapeutic Target in Immuno-Oncology: From Fecal Microbiota Transplantation to Next-Generation Microbiome Agents |
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Padmanee Sharma, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
From the Clinic to the Lab: Investigating Mechanisms of Response and Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Therapy |
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Özlem Türeci, BioNTech
Learnings from mRNA Cancer Vaccines |
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Yan Qu, Genentech
Short Talk: Tracking Immune and Non-Immune Infiltrate Dynamics to Improve Tumor Model Selection and Translational Relevance |
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Fadi Sheban, ETH Zurich
Short Talk: ZEB2 is a Master Switch Controlling the Tumor-associated Macrophage Program |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
On Own for Dinner |
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| 7:30–8:30 AM |
Breakfast |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 8:00–8:30 AM |
Poster Setup |
Bellevue |
| 8:15–5:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
Bellevue |
| 8:30–11:30 AM |
Advances and Challenges of Combination Immunotherapy of Cancer |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Solange Peters, CHUV
Session Chair |
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Sandra Demaria, Weill Cornell Medical College
Challenges and Opportunities to Improve Responses to Radiation and Immunotherapy Combinations |
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Thomas Marron, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Neoadjuvant Combination Immunotherapy Approaches: Improving Outcomes and Propelling the Science |
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Kai W. Wucherpfennig, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Spatial Organization of T cell-mediated Immunity in Human Cancer |
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Dimitris Skokos, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Unlocking the Immune System: Advanced Combination Strategies for Cancer Immunotherapy |
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Andrea Imle, BioNTech SE
Short Talk: DuoBody-EpCAMx4-1BB: From Monotherapy to Combination with PD-(L)1 Blocking Agents to Enhance Immune Effector Functions and Antitumor Efficacy |
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W. Sam Nutt, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Short Talk: Competition for Dendritic Cells Limits Engineered TCR-T cell Activation in Tumor-draining Lymph Nodes and Impairs Synergy with PD-L1 Blockade |
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| 9:30–9:50 AM |
Coffee Break |
Vercheres |
| 9:50–9:55 AM |
Award Recipient Acknowledgement |
Grand Ballroom |
| 11:30–12:00 PM |
Panel Discussion 2: “Lessons Learned” from Combination Therapy: What can be Learned from the Failures to Improve Future Successes in Combination Treatment |
Grand Ballroom |
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Sandra Demaria, Weill Cornell Medical College
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Thomas Marron, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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Kai W. Wucherpfennig, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
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Dimitris Skokos, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
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| 12:00–1:00 PM |
Lunch |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 1:00–3:00 PM |
Poster Session 2 |
Bellevue |
| 3:30–4:30 PM |
Career Roundtable |
Grand Ballroom |
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John R Teijaro, The Scripps Research Institute
Professor |
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Filipe Almeida, Nature Biomedical Engineering
Senior Editor |
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Yifat Geffen, Moderna
Principal Scientist |
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Jessica Waibl Polania, AbbVie
Senior Scientist I |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Vercheres |
| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Novel Approaches for Targeting Myeloid and Stromal Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Tullia C. Bruno, University of Pittsburgh
Session Chair |
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Hélène Salmon, Institut Curie
Factors of TME Resistance |
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Karin E. de Visser, Netherlands Cancer Institute
Crosstalk between Eosinophils and Adaptive Immune Cells: A New Avenue for Immune Checkpoint Blockade |
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Jennifer Guerriero, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harnessing Macrophages for Anti-Cancer Therapy |
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Jesse Boumelha, Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Short Talk: Targeting Suppressive Macrophages Overcomes Immunotherapy Resistance in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer |
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Eric Chung, Pfizer
Short Talk: Investigating the Potential of UBR5 Ablation to Overcome ICB Resistance in LKB1/STK11-Deficient Tumors |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
On Own for Dinner |
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Wednesday, March 18, 2026
| 7:30–8:30 AM |
Breakfast |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 8:30–11:30 AM |
Novel Insights into Tumor Recognition by Lymphocytes |
Grand Ballroom |
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Tullia C. Bruno, University of Pittsburgh
Harnessing B Cells Inside and Outside of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures for Improved Anti-tumor Immunity |
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Miriam Merad, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Novel Insights into the Organization of TLS |
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E. John Wherry, University of Pennsylvania
Novel T Cell Checkpoints |
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Carl H June, University of Pennsylvania
Cellular Therapies |
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Emily B Derrick, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Short Talk: Enhancing Responses to Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy by Improving T Cell Infiltration through CXCL9 Signalling |
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Sean T Hyslop, Baylor College of Medicine
Short Talk: CD7 Regulates Persistence of Terminally Exhausted CD8 T Cells |
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| 9:30–9:50 AM |
Coffee Break |
Vercheres |
| 11:30–12:30 PM |
Lunch |
Frontenac / Petit Frontenac |
| 12:45–2:00 PM |
Panel 3: Perspectives: Personalized Medicine & Patient-Centered Strategies |
Grand Ballroom |
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* Thomas Marron, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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Miriam Merad, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
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Thomas Powles, Barts Cancer Institute
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Carl H June, University of Pennsylvania
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Arielle Elkrief, Université de Montréal
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| 2:30–4:30 PM |
Workshop: Novel Platforms to Understand Mechanisms of Action and Resistance |
Grand Ballroom |
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Allison N Casey, University of Pittsburgh
B Cell Activity is Modulated by Tumor Microenvironmental Cues |
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Jonas Ibn-Salem, TRON
K4neo: Rapid Tumor-Specificity Assessment of Novel T-cell Antigen Candidates via Efficient K-mer Indexing of Healthy Tissue Transcriptomes |
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Merve Kahraman, Genome Institute of Singapore
Spatial Profiling Reveals Molecular Determinants of CD8+ Dynamics during Chemo-Immunotherapy in MSS Colon Cancer |
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S. Chakra S. Chennubhotla, PredxBio
Distilling Highly-accurate, Clinical-plex Prognostic Signatures from Ultra-high-plex Spatial Data for Predicting Response to Immunotherapy |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Vercheres |
| 5:00–6:45 PM |
Cancer Immunotherapy: Overcoming Resistance |
Grand Ballroom |
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Thomas Powles, Barts Cancer Institute
How to Optimally Combine Chemotherapies and Targeted Therapies with Immunotherapy |
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* Andy Minn, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Chronic Interferon and Inflammatory Memory in Acquired Resistance to Cancer Immunotherapy |
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John R Teijaro, The Scripps Research Institute
Beyond Suppression: Understanding the Paradox of JAK Inhibitors as Amplifiers of Cancer Immunotherapy |
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Adam Getzler, DFCI
Short Talk: The Darkside of Immunotherapy: How Primary Therapy Resistance May Fuel Metastasis |
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| 6:45–7:00 PM |
Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) |
Grand Ballroom |
| 7:00–8:00 PM |
On Own for Dinner |
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