Innate Immunity: Molecular Mechanisms, Diseases & Therapeutics (J1)
January 11-14, 2027  | Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Lingyin Li, Carina Cristina de Oliveira Mann and Michael Crackower
Scholarship Deadline: Sep. 16, 2026 | Abstract Deadline: Dec. 22, 2026 | Early Registration Deadline: Nov. 13, 2026
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of October 26, 2026 10 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Monday, January 11, 2027
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Van Horne Foyer
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Van Horne Foyer
Tuesday, January 12, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–8:10 AM Welcome Remarks (Joint) Van Horne A/B
8:10–9:00 AM Keynote Address (Joint) Van Horne A/B
  Catherine J Wu, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Personalizing Medicine through Cancer Vaccines		  
9:00–11:00 AM T Cells and Innate Allies: Partners in Vaccination (Joint) Van Horne A/B
  Robert A. Seder, NIAID, National Institutes of Health
Vax-Innate		  
  Peter C DeMuth, Elicio Therapeutics
Targeting mKRAS Immunotherapy to the Lymph Nodes to Promote Anti-Tumor Immunity		  
  Gloryn Chia, National University of Singapore
Short Talk: Targeting an NK Cell Checkpoint to Overcome Immune Escape in MHC I Deficient Tumours		  
  Cameron Manes †, University of Colorado Anschutz
Short Talk: CD138+ B Cells Promote CD8 T Cell Responses to Vaccine Via IL-27		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
9:50–9:55 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Van Horne A/B
11:00–11:05 AM Jessica Langer, Helmsley Trust Introduction Van Horne A/B
11:10–12:10 PM Meet the Editors Van Horne A/B
12:10–1:00 PM Poster Setup Van Horne C
12:10–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Van Horne C
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Advances in Nucleic Acid Sensing Pathways Van Horne B
  James Evans, The Francis Crick Institute
Short Talk: IFI16 Transcript Switching Enables Self-DNA Sensing to Drive Glial Neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s Disease		  
  Martin R Jakobsen, Aarhus University
Short Talk: Targeted Protein Degradation of Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) in vivo Impairs Systemic Inflammation – and Inhibit Fibrosis in Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease		  
  Lihua Li, University of Strasbourg
Short Talk: Cyclic Dinucleotide-Mediated Systemic Antiviral Immunity in Drosophila		  
  Yu Meng, EPFL
Short Talk: The Mutational Landscape of STING-induced Immunity		  
  Jordan A Powers, University of Utah
Short Talk: UBL5 Coordinates IRF3 Isoform Expression and Is Required for Type I Interferon Signaling		  
  Xujun Cao, Arc Institute
Short Talk: Lysosomal Regulation of STING Signaling Via an Evolutionarily Conserved Transporter		  
  Niklas A. Schmacke, Helmholtz Munich
Short Talk: Image-Based Genetic Screening with SPARCS Identifies Regulators of STING		  
  Erik S. Van Dis, University of Washington
Short Talk: Genome-wide CRISPR Screens Reveal MBNL1 as a Context-Specific STING Regulator		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM dsDNA Sensing Van Horne B
  Zhijian James Chen, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
cGAS-STING Signaling in Aging		  
  Lingyin Li, Stanford University and Arc Institute
Extracellular cGAMP, the Immunotransmitter that Bridges Innate and Adaptive Immunity		  
  Daniel B. Stetson, University of Washington
How STING Activation Kill Cells		  
  Li Gan, Weill Cornell Medicine
The Role of cGAS/STING in Neurodegeneration		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner President's Hall
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 1 Van Horne C
Wednesday, January 13, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–11:00 AM ssDNA and RNA Sensing Van Horne B
  Carina Cristina de Oliveira Mann, Technical University of Munich
Remote Presenter: Regulation of Nucleic Acid Receptors		  
  Hao Wu, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
Mitochondrial GSDMD		  
  Russell E Vance, University of California, Berkeley
Effector-Triggered Immune Detection of Pathogens		  
  Benjamin Morehouse, University of California, Irvine
Evolutionary Conservation of Cyclic Dinucleotide Recognition in Immunity		  
  Jie Chen, University of Pennsylvania
Short Talk: rDNA Breaks Activate dsRNA Pattern Recognition through Sense-Antisense Transcription		  
  Wanwan Huai †, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Short Talk: Microbiota-Driven Endogenous Viral Mimicry Activates OAS-RNase L to Amplify Intestinal Inflammation		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
11:10–12:10 PM Panel Discussion 1: Mouse Human Differences from Pathways to Molecules to Atomic Level Details Van Horne B
12:10–1:00 PM Poster Setup Van Horne C
12:10–2:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Van Horne C
2:00–3:00 PM Career Roundtable (Joint) Van Horne B
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Innate Signals in T Cells (Joint) Van Horne A/B
  Eduardo Davila, University of Colorado
Rewiring T Cell Fate to Increase Anti-tumor Activity and Persistence While Reducing Exhaustion Resistance		  
  Nicolas Manel, Institut Curie
Activation of Intracellular Innate Immune Sensors		  
  Jelena Bezbradica Mirkovic, University of Oxford
Cytosolic Innate Sensing and Lytic Cell Death in Autoinflammation		  
  Junko Sawada, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
Short Talk: Tumor Heterogeneity Shapes Tertiary Lymphoid Structure Formation Following STING and LTβR Activation		  
  Shirley Le †, The University of Melbourne
Short Talk: γδ T Cell-Derived Signals Initiate T Cell Immunity to Plasmodium		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner President's Hall
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Van Horne C
Thursday, January 14, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–11:00 AM Innate Immunity in Cardiovascular/Metabolic/Autoimmune Diseases Van Horne B
  Min Ae Lee-Kirsch, Technische Universität Dresden
TLR Signaling in Interferonopathy		  
  Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Targeting Innate Immune Cell Death, PANoptosis, in Disease		  
  Rayk Behrendt, University of Bonn
Molecular Mechanisms and Therapy of Nucleic Acid Driven Inflammation		  
  Michael Crackower, Ventus Therapeutics
Targeting cGAS in Rheumatology and Beyond		  
  Rithika Behera, AstraZeneca
Short Talk: Identification of a Novel Non-Canonical STING–IL1β Axis Activated by Lupus Patient Serum		  
  Samuel J Magaziner, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Short Talk: Cell-autonomous Inflammation in VEXAS is Mediated by ERAD Failure and cGAS-STING		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
11:10–12:10 PM Panel Discussion 2: Drug Development Challenges and VC Takes Van Horne B
12:10–1:00 PM Poster Setup Van Horne C
12:10–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Van Horne C
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: Inflammasomes, Cell Death and Beyond Van Horne B
  Channing Chi, Vanderbilt University
Short Talk: Chronic Wnt3a Exposure Induces a Reversible Tolerant Phenotype in Macrophages		  
  Austin Fajfer, University of South Florida
Short Talk: RUBCN Gene Dosage Modulates Disease Progression in a Genetic Mouse Model of Synucleinopathy		  
  Jada Lauren N Garzon †, Stanford University School of Medicine
Short Talk: DNA:RNA Hybrid Homeostasis Controls Myeloid Cell Fate		  
  Venkat G Magupalli, Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute / New York Blood Center
Short Talk: Inflammasome Adaptor Protein ASC is a Mechanistic Checkpoint in IL-1β Maturation		  
  Ayaz Najafov, UT Southwestern
Short Talk: Mechanisms of Plasma Membrane Rupture During Necroptotic Cell Death		  
  Chen Shen, Washington University in St. Louis
Short Talk: Structural Mechanisms for ATP-mediated Inhibition of Human NLRP6 Inflammasome		  
  Laura Rosenberg, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Short Talk: Chemotherapies Mobilize Transposable Elements And RNA Sensing To Drive Antitumor Immunity		  
  Ying Zhang †, Peking University
Short Talk: Spatial Organization of Innate Immune Signaling by Gasdermin E Drives Antitumor Immunity		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–6:00 PM Innate Immunity in Neuroinflammation Van Horne B
  Michael T Heneka, University of Luxembourg
The Role of NLRP3 in Microglial Phagocytosis in Alzheimer's Disease		  
  Marina Romero-Ramos, Aarhus University
The Role of the Immune System in Parkinson's Disease		  
6:00–6:50 PM Closing Keynote Address Van Horne B
  Speaker to be Announced
  
6:50–7:00 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) Van Horne B
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner President's Hall
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 3 Van Horne C
Friday, January 15, 2027
12:00–11:59 PM Departure