Conference detail

Conference Officer: Chris Iliffe (christopher.iliffe@eacr.org)

This conference will explore a seemingly paradoxical approach to cancer therapy: the deliberate hyper-activation of cancer-relevant signalling pathways.

Accumulating evidence suggests that this leads to cell death caused by a further activation of cellular stress responses. Such an approach could revolutionise treatment strategies, which often cannot abate the return of resistance in advanced cancers caused by secondary mutations reactivating previously inhibited pathways.

Join us on 20 and 21 January 2026 to learn the latest science in this field from our panel of globally renowned experts. They will teach you about ways to hyperactivate oncogenic signalling and how the vulnerabilities associated with this state can be identified. In doing so, you’ll gain a fundamentally different perspective on ways to treat cancer.

If you work in this field, send us an abstract before 17 November 2025 for a chance to have your work featured as a Proffered Paper or in a Flash Talk presentation! Registration closes on 15 December 2025.

Speakers: Benoit Bilanges (UCL Cancer Institute, UK) | Eunice Cho (The Broad Institute, USA) | Vesselina Cooke (Novartis, USA) | Matheus Dias (NKI, Netherlands) | Andrew Intlekofer (MSKCC, USA) | Markus Muschen (Yale School of Medicine, USA) | Kimberly Stegmaier (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA) | Arun Unni (Weill Cornell Medicine, USA)

Chaired by René Bernards (NKI, Netherlands), Kimberly Stegmaier (Dana-Farber Institute, USA), and Bart Vanhaesebroeck (UCL Cancer Institute, USA)

Keywords: cancer research, oncology, inhibiting oncogenic signalling, cancer therapy resistance mechanisms, secondary mutations in cancer, novel cancer therapy approaches, hyperactivation of signalling pathways, vulnerabilities within hyperactivated cancer cells, drug application, novel target identification