Cell Competition: Fitness, Diversity, and Adaptation Across Scales and Species (Q8)
January 1-4, 2027  | Location to be Determined
Laura A. Johnston
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of September 12, 2025 4 PM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Friday, January 1, 2027
4:00–8:00 PM Registration
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer
Saturday, January 2, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast
8:00–9:00 AM Welcome and Keynote Address (Joint)
  Benjamin L. Ebert †, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Clonal Expansions in the Hematopoetic System in Health and Disease
 
9:00–11:15 AM Joint Session
  Laura A. Johnston, Columbia University
Cell Competition as a Framework for Diverse Areas of Biology
 
  Nuria Lopez-Bigas, IRB Barcelona
Somatic Mosaicism and its Association to Cancer Risk
 
  Short Talk(s) Chosen from Abstracts
 
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break
11:15–1:00 PM Poster Setup
11:15–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1: Late-breaking research presentations selected from abstract submissions
  Short Talks Chosen from Abstracts
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available
5:00–7:00 PM Cell Competition as Quality Control I: Genome Integrity and Cellular Fitness
  Yukiko M. Yamashita †, Whitehead Institute
Challenges to Genome Integrity in Spermiogenesis
 
  Marco Milán †, IRB Barcelona
Aneuploidy and Cell Competition
 
  Sarah Bowling †, Stanford University
Mutation of p53 Increases the Competitive Ability of Pluripotent Stem Cells
 
  Short Talks Chosen from Abstracts
 
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner
7:30–10:00 PM Posters
Sunday, January 3, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast
8:00–11:00 AM Cell Competition as Quality Control II: Metabolism and Stress Surveillance
  Marianthi Kiparaki †, Alexander Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center
Ribosomal Protein Mutations and Cell Competition: Autonomous and Nonautonomous Effects on a Stress Response
 
  Jean-Paul B. Vincent †, Francis Crick Institute
Ribosomopathy-Associated Mutations cause Proteotoxic Stress that is Alleviated by TOR Inhibition
 
  Tristan A Rodriguez, Imperial College London
Sensing of Extracellular L-Proline by the Integrated Stress Response in Cell Competition
 
  Miguel Torres †, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares
P53 and BCL-2 Family Proteins Define Competitive Fitness in Pluripotent Cell Competition
 
  Short Talk(s) Chosen from Abstracts
 
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing
3:00–4:30 PM Career Roundtable
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available
5:00–5:45 PM Keynote Address
  Harmit S. Malik †, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Conflicts, Conflicts Everywhere
 
5:45–7:00 PM Cell Competition in Tissue Formation
  Leonard I. Zon †, HHMI/Boston Children's Hospital
Modeling Clonal Dynamics in Disease in Zebrafish
 
  Stephanie Ellis †, Max Perutz Labs Vienna
Modes of Cell Competition in Skin Formation
 
  Qingfeng Wu †, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Neural Cell Competition Sculpts the Brain
 
  Romain Levayer †, Institut Pasteur
Interfacial Tension and Growth both Contribute to Mechanical Cell Competition
 
  Short Talk(s) Chosen from Abstracts
 
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner
7:30–10:00 PM Posters
Monday, January 4, 2027
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast
8:00–11:00 AM Homeostasis, Aging and Disease
  Eugenia Piddini †, University of Bristol
Cell Competition and p53 in Epithelial Repair
 
  Jun Wu †, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Interspecies Chimerism and Cell Competition
 
  Thomas P. Zwaka, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Bats as Instructive Animal Models for Cell Competition, Longevity and Aging
 
  Coraline Mlynarczyk †, Yale University
Competitive Fitness in Germinal Center B Cells
 
  Short Talk(s) Chosen from Abstracts
 
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 2: Late-breaking research presentations selected from abstract submissions
  Short Talks Chosen from Abstracts
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available
5:00–6:45 PM Integrating Old and New Models and Cellular Contexts
  Kevin Foster †, University of Oxford
The Evolution of Short- and Long-Range Weapons for Bacterial Competition
 
  Gillian Stanfield †, University of Utah
Migration-mediated Cell Competition
 
  Ivana Barbaric †, University of Sheffield
Genetically Variant Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Eliminate WT cells through Yap-Mediated Cell Competition
 
  Short Talk(s) Chosen from Abstracts
 
6:45–7:00 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers)
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Dinner
8:00–11:00 PM Cash Bar
8:00–11:00 PM Entertainment
Tuesday, January 5, 2027
12:00–11:59 PM Departure