Myeloid Cells: Functional Heterogeneity with Therapeutic Promise (K8)
February 23-26, 2026
| Keystone Resort, Keystone, CO, United States
Charlotte L. Scott, Shalin H. Naik and Thomas Fabre
Scholarship Deadline: Oct. 30, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Feb. 4, 2026 | Early Registration Deadline: Dec. 31, 2025
Monday, February 23, 2026
| 4:00–8:00 PM |
Registration |
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| 6:00–8:00 PM |
Welcome Mixer |
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Tuesday, February 24, 2026
| 8:00–8:10 AM |
Welcome Remarks (Joint) |
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| 8:10–9:00 AM |
Keynote Address (Joint) |
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Shannon J Turley, Amgen Inc.
Manipulating Stromal-Myeloid Cell Crosstalk for Therapeutic Purposes |
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| 9:00–11:30 AM |
Myeloid Cell Development, Recruitment and Fate |
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Shalin H. Naik, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute
Next-generation CAR-DC1 Immunotherapy |
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Florent Ginhoux, Gustave Roussy
DC Heterogeneity in Disease |
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Heping Xu, Westlake University
Airway Neutrophil Recruitment by Alarmin-Loaded Extracellular Lipid Droplets |
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Cindy Audiger †, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Short Talk: Emergency Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cells - eDC1s - A Novel Hybrid Cell State with Progenitor-like and DC1-like Features |
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Shiba Prasad Dash †, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India
Short Talk: The CEBPD Transcription Factor Regulates Granulocyte Lineage Commitment and Mature Neutrophil Functions |
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Jichang Han, Washington University in St Louis
Short Talk: Inter-Relationship of Peritoneal Fluid and Mesothelial Border Macrophages and Two Different Pathways Exist in Their Maintenance and Repopulation |
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| 9:30–9:50 AM |
Coffee Break |
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| 11:30–1:00 PM |
Poster Setup |
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| 11:30–2:30 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
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| 1:00–10:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
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| 2:30–4:30 PM |
Symposia Spotlight 1: Novel Insights into Myeloid Cell Functional Heterogneity |
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Noelia Alonso Gonzalez †, University of Muenster
Organ-specific Efferocytosis is Temporally Regulated through the Cooperation of MARCO and TIM4 |
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Megan M Hanlon †, BWH, Harvard Medical School
Pathogenic Role of SPP1+ Macrophages in Rheumatoid Arthritis |
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Bram Verstappe †, IRC/VIB/UGent
Zeb1 Expression by cDC1s Is Crucial for Maintenance of Splenic cDC1s and Macrophages |
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Silvia Pires †, Weill cornell medicine
Innate lymphoid Cells Activated by TL1A Link Colitis with Emergency Granulopoiesis and Drive Tumor Promoting Colonic Neutrophils |
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Wyatt Schug †, University of Virginia
Expansion of Basophil Heterogeneity in Cardiometabolic Disease Depends on Hematopoietic Organ of Origin |
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Pieter Adriaan Louwe †, VIB Center for Inflammation Research
MASLD-induced Ceroid-laden Macrophage Aggregates Persist following Recovery and Underpin a Prolonged State of Heightened Hepatic Sensitivity |
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Nidhi Jalan-Sakrikar †, Mayo Clinic
Neutrophil Heterogeneity in Cholestatic Liver Disease |
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Joanna M Bandola-Simon †, National Cancer Institute
Defective MHC-II Peptide Editing in Dendritic Cells Impairs CD4⁺ T Cell Priming and Promotes Tumor Immune Evasion |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
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| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Myeloid Cells in Tumors |
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Ariel Munitz, Tel Aviv University
Eosinophils in the Tumor Microenvironment |
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Stefani Spranger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Role of Dendritic Cells in Shaping Anti-Tumor Immunity |
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Jennifer Guerriero, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Myeloid Cells as Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer |
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Samarth Hegde †, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Short Talk: Myeloid Progenitor Dysregulation Fuels Immunosuppressive Macrophages in Tumors |
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Xiaolei Su, Yale School of Medicine
Short Talk: Engineering Mast Cells to Kill Solid Tumors |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
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| 7:30–10:00 PM |
Poster Session 1 |
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Wednesday, February 25, 2026
| 8:00–11:00 AM |
Myeloid Cell Functions in Disease Contexts |
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Charlotte L. Scott, University of Ghent & VIB
Hepatic Macrophage Heterogeneity in MASLD and MASLD-associated HCC |
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Lai Guan Ng, Shanghai Immune Therapy Institute
Harnessing Neutrophil Heterogeneity for Biomarker Development and Targeted Treatment |
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Hawa Racine Thiam, Stanford University
Engineering NETosis in Disease |
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Elizabeth Wayne, University of Washington
Engineering Monocyte Cell Fate in Disease |
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Thu (Autumn) Doan †, University of Colorado Anschutz
Short Talk: Islet Macrophages Modulate Antigen Presentation during Type 1 Diabetes |
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Daniel Puleston †, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Short Talk: Impaired Serine Metabolism Drives Age-Related Decline in Resident Tissue Macrophage Maintenance and Function |
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| 9:00–9:20 AM |
Coffee Break |
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| 11:00–1:00 PM |
Poster Setup |
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| 11:00–5:00 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
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| 1:00–10:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
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| 1:45–2:45 PM |
Career Roundtable (Joint) |
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| 3:00–4:30 PM |
Panel Discussion: Making Sense of the Mess: How to Bring Together the Different Subsets Identified using scRNA-Seq in Different Studies |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
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| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Functional Heterogeneity of Myeloid Cells Across Tissues |
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Kurt Zimmerman, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Functional Heterogeneity of Kidney Macrophages |
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Isabelle C Arnold, University of Zurich
Eosinophils in the Gastrointestinal Tract |
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David Sancho, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, CNIC
Metabolic Control of Myeloid Cell Function |
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Andri Leo Lemarquis †, City of Hope (COH)
Short Talk: Apoptotic HSPA5 Engages Macrophage TLR4 to Scale T Cell Production |
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Xiangyue Zhang †, Stanford University
Short Talk: Erythropoietin Receptor on cDC1s Dictates Immune Tolerance |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
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| 7:30–10:00 PM |
Poster Session 2 |
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Thursday, February 26, 2026
| 8:00–11:00 AM |
Myeloid Cells in Infection |
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Calum C. Bain, University of Edinburgh
Role of Macrophages in Pulmonary Infections |
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Lidia Bosurgi, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Harnessing Macrophage Efferocytosis to Promote Tissue Repair and Remodeling |
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Bryan D. Bryson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reprogramming Myeloid Cells to Improve Bacterial control |
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Ruoqiong Cao †, Baylor College of Medicine
Short Talk: Infection Activated Hematopoietic Stem Cells (IA-HSCs) Mediate Central Trained Immunity |
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Mimi Kostska †, NYU Langone Health
Short Talk: Splenic Sentinels: Marginal Zone Macrophages Restrain Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence and Enable Effective Neutrophil Mediated Clearance |
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| 9:00–9:20 AM |
Coffee Break |
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| 11:00–2:30 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
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| 2:30–4:30 PM |
Symposia Spotlight 2: Going from scRNA-seq to Meaningful Biology |
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Aimée Bugler-Lamb †, VIB
Combining In Vivo CRISPR Screens with Computational Modeling to Identify the Causal Circuits Driving KC Identity and Function. |
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Glenn De Lange †, University of Zurich
Eosinophil Subset Dynamics and Transcriptional Signatures in Colorectal Cancer Progression |
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Christopher J Molina †, University of California San Francisco
Macrophage Heterogeneity and TGF-β-Independent Fibroblast Crosstalk in Pulmonary Fibrosis |
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Chinyere Iweka †, Case Western Reserve University
NAD⁺ Decline Reprograms Monocyte Metabolism to Drive Age-Related Neuroinflammation after Stroke |
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Preethy Parthiban †, Stanford
Role of Neutrophil–Macrophage Crosstalk in Abnormal Saccular Stage Lung Development |
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Stijn Verwaerde †, Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Ghent University
Innate Type-2 Lymphocytes Trigger an Inflammatory Switch in Alveolar Macrophages |
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Alexander Moshensky †, University of California, Irvine
Trajectories and Kinetics of Tumor-associated Macrophage Plasticity in vivo |
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Marc Wadsworth †, Pfizer
Mapping the Myeloid Mosaic: Building a Multi-Organ Atlas to Decipher Macrophage Diversity in Fibrosis and Inflammation |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
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| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Targeting Myeloid Cells in Disease |
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Thomas Fabre, Pfizer
Utilizing Macrophages to Treat Fibrosis |
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Filipe Pereira, Lund University and Asgard Therapeutics
Conversion of Cancer Cells into Dendritic Cells to Reinstate Cancer Immunity |
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Adam Freund, Arda Therapeutics
Evaluating the Consequences of Antibody-Drug Conjugate-Mediated Depletion of Myeloid Cells in Liver Fibrosis |
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Kristen Radford, University of Queensland
Human DCs in Cancer Models |
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| 7:00–7:15 PM |
Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions |
|
| 7:15–8:15 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
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| 8:00–11:00 PM |
Entertainment |
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Friday, February 27, 2026
