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
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of February 25, 2026 2 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Monday, February 23, 2026
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Longs Peak Foyer
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Longs Peak Foyer
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Quandary Peak
8:00–8:10 AM Welcome Remarks Longs Peak
8:10–9:00 AM Keynote Address Longs Peak
  * Charlotte L. Scott, University of Ghent & VIB
Session Chair		  
  Florent Ginhoux, Gustave Roussy
DC Heterogeneity in Disease		  
9:00–11:30 AM Myeloid Cell Development, Recruitment and Fate Longs Peak
  * Stefani Spranger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Session Chair		  
  * Shalin H. Naik, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute
Next-generation CAR-DC1 Immunotherapy		  
  Ting Zhou, Westlake University
Rescuing Dendritic Cell Interstitial Motility Sustains Cancer Immunity Cycle		  
  Deborah R. Winter, Northwestern University
Myeloid Heterogeneity in the Aged and Inflamed Joint		  
  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		  
  Jichang Han, Washington University in St Louis
Short Talk: Two Differentiation Pathways to Large Peritoneal Macrophages Illuminate Mouse-human Divergence and Mesothelial Macrophage Replenishment		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Longs Peak Foyer
11:30–1:00 PM Poster Setup Quandary Peak
11:30–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Quandary Peak
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Novel Insights into Myeloid Cell Functional Heterogneity Longs Peak
  * David Sancho, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, CNIC
Session Chair		  
  * Deborah R. Winter, Northwestern University
Session Chair		  
  Noelia Alonso Gonzalez, University of Muenster
Organ-specific Efferocytosis is Temporally Regulated through the Cooperation of MARCO and TIM4		  
  Annelies Van Hemelryk, University of Ghent & VIB-IRC
Cross-species Spatial Proteogenomic Mapping of Macrophage Niches in MYCN-Amplified Neuroblastoma		  
  Bram Verstappe, IRC/VIB/UGent
Zeb1 Expression by cDC1s Is Crucial for Maintenance of Splenic cDC1s and Macrophages		  
  Silvia Pires, Weill cornell medicine
Innate lymphoid Cells Activated by TL1A Link Colitis with Emergency Granulopoiesis and Drive Tumor Promoting Colonic Neutrophils		  
  Wyatt Schug, University of Virginia
Expansion of Basophil Heterogeneity in Cardiometabolic Disease Depends on Hematopoietic Organ of Origin		  
  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		  
  Nidhi Jalan-Sakrikar, Mayo Clinic
Neutrophil Heterogeneity in Cholestatic Liver Disease		  
  Joanna Bandola-Simon, National Cancer Institute
Defective MHC-II Peptide Editing in Dendritic Cells Impairs CD4⁺ T Cell Priming and Promotes Tumor Immune Evasion		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Longs Peak Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Myeloid Cells in Tumors Longs Peak
  * Kristen Radford, University of Queensland
Session Chair		  
  Ariel Munitz, Tel Aviv University
Eosinophils in the Tumor Microenvironment		  
  Stefani Spranger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Role of Dendritic Cells in Shaping Anti-Tumor Immunity		  
  Jennifer Guerriero, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Myeloid Cells as Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer		  
  Samarth Hegde, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Short Talk: Myeloid Progenitor Dysregulation Fuels Immunosuppressive Macrophages in Tumors		  
  Xiaolei Su, Yale School of Medicine
Short Talk: Engineering Mast Cells to Kill Solid Tumors		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner Quandary Peak
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 1 Quandary Peak
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Quandary Peak
8:00–11:00 AM Myeloid Cell Functions in Disease Contexts Longs Peak
  * Thomas Fabre, Pfizer
Session Chair		  
  * Calum C. Bain, University of Glasgow
Session Chair		  
  Charlotte L. Scott, University of Ghent & VIB
Hepatic Macrophage Heterogeneity in MASLD and MASLD-associated HCC		  
  Lai Guan Ng, Westlake University
Harnessing Neutrophil Heterogeneity for Biomarker Development and Targeted Treatment		  
  Hawa Racine Thiam, Stanford University
Engineering NETosis in Disease		  
  Daniel Puleston, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Metabolic Governance of Resident Tissue Macrophages during Aging		  
  Thu (Autumn) Doan, University of Colorado Anschutz
Short Talk: Islet Macrophages Modulate Antigen Presentation during Type 1 Diabetes		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Longs Peak Foyer
9:20–9:25 AM Award Recipient Acknowledgement Longs Peak
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup Quandary Peak
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Quandary Peak
1:30–2:45 PM Career Roundtable (Joint) Longs Peak
  Lidia Bosurgi, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Group Leader, Professor		  
  Dale Starkie, DJS Antibodies - AbbVie
Director		  
  Christina M Termini, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Assistant Professor		  
  Stella J Berendam, Astrazeneca
Discovery Safety Science Specialist, Immunotoxicology		  
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 Longs Peak
  Charlotte L. Scott, University of Ghent & VIB
Panelist		  
  Thomas Fabre, Pfizer
Panelist		  
  Filipe Pereira, Lund University and Asgard Therapeutics
Panelist		  
  Isabelle C Arnold, University of Zurich
Panelist		  
  Shalin H. Naik, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute
Panelist		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Longs Peak Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Functional Heterogeneity of Myeloid Cells Across Tissues Longs Peak
  * Daniel Puleston, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Session Chair		  
  Kurt Zimmerman, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Functional Heterogeneity of Kidney Macrophages in Health and Disease		  
  Isabelle C Arnold, University of Zurich
Eosinophil Heterogeneity in the Gastrointestinal Tract		  
  David Sancho, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, CNIC
Metabolic Control of Myeloid Cell Function		  
  Andri L Lemarquis, City of Hope (COH)
Short Talk: Apoptotic HSPA5 Engages Macrophage TLR4 to Scale T Cell Production		  
  Xiangyue Zhang, Stanford University
Short Talk: Erythropoietin Receptor on cDC1s Dictates Immune Tolerance		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner Quandary Peak
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Quandary Peak
Thursday, February 26, 2026
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast Quandary Peak
8:00–11:00 AM Myeloid Cells in Infection Longs Peak
  * Kurt Zimmerman, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Session Chair		  
  * Nan Zhang, Wistar Institute
Session Chair		  
  Calum C. Bain, University of Glasgow
Diversity, Dynamics, and Differentiation of Macrophages in Respiratory Infection		  
  Lidia Bosurgi, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Harnessing Macrophage Efferocytosis to Promote Tissue Repair and Remodeling		  
  Bryan D. Bryson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reprogramming Myeloid Cells to Improve Bacterial control		  
  Ruoqiong Cao, Baylor College of Medicine
Short Talk: Infection Activated Hematopoietic Stem Cells (IA-HSCs) Mediate Central Trained Immunity		  
  Mimi Kostoska, NYU Langone Health
Short Talk: Splenic Sentinels: Marginal Zone Macrophages Restrain Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence and Enable Effective Neutrophil Mediated Clearance		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Longs Peak Foyer
11:00–2:30 PM On Own for Lunch
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: Going from scRNA-seq to Meaningful Biology Longs Peak
  * Noelia Alonso Gonzalez, University of Muenster
Session Chair		  
  Aimée Bugler-Lamb, VIB
Combining In Vivo CRISPR Screens with Computational Modeling to Identify the Causal Circuits Driving KC Identity and Function.		  
  Glenn De Lange, University of Zurich
Eosinophil Subset Dynamics and Transcriptional Signatures in Colorectal Cancer Progression		  
  Christopher J Molina, University of California San Francisco
Macrophage Heterogeneity and TGF-β-Independent Fibroblast Crosstalk in Pulmonary Fibrosis		  
  Chinyere Iweka, Case Western Reserve University
NAD⁺ Decline Reprograms Monocyte Metabolism to Drive Age-Related Neuroinflammation after Stroke		  
  Preethy Parthiban, Stanford
Role of Neutrophil–Macrophage Crosstalk in Abnormal Saccular Stage Lung Development		  
  Megan M Hanlon, BWH, Harvard Medical School
Pathogenic Role of SPP1+ Macrophages in Rheumatoid Arthritis		  
  Alexander Moshensky, University of California, Irvine
Trajectories and Kinetics of Tumor-associated Macrophage Plasticity in vivo		  
  Marc Wadsworth, Pfizer
Mapping the Myeloid Mosaic: Building a Multi-Organ Atlas to Decipher Macrophage Diversity in Fibrosis and Inflammation		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Longs Peak Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Targeting Myeloid Cells in Disease Longs Peak
  * Charlotte L. Scott, University of Ghent & VIB
Session Chair		  
  * Ting Zhou, Westlake University
Session Chair		  
  Thomas Fabre, Pfizer
Utilizing Macrophages to Treat Fibrosis		  
  Filipe Pereira, Lund University and Asgard Therapeutics
Conversion of Cancer Cells into Dendritic Cells to Reinstate Cancer Immunity		  
  Adam Freund, Arda Therapeutics
Contrasting the Effects of Myeloid and Stromal Cell Depletion in Lung and Liver Fibrosis		  
  Kristen Radford, University of Queensland
Human DCs in Cancer Models		  
7:00–7:15 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions Longs Peak
7:15–8:15 PM Social Hour with Dinner Quandary Peak
8:15–9:15 PM Entertainment Quandary Peak
8:15–9:15 PM Cash Bar Quandary Peak
Friday, February 27, 2026
12:00–11:59 PM Departure