By Emma Wabel
Recent years have borne monumental advances in the battle against cancer, which has been at the forefront of modern medicine for decades. This progress has brought more effective treatments, longer remissions, and healthier years of life for millions of patients. Despite enormous progress, there is still work to do. Resistant tumors remain a main contributor to mortality, and scientists will not rest knowing more can be done in the fight against cancer.
From developments in early detection to the advent of immune-based therapies and precision medicine approaches, advances in cancer treatment reflect a growing strategy to attack cancer at every stage in the patient journey: from prevention to detection, treatment, and remission. To do so requires understanding cancer from all angles, and a commitment to understanding the disease across all levels, from intracellular mutations all the way to systemic impacts.
Keystone Symposia has organized a series of four meetings in 2026 dedicated to bringing leaders in cancer research and treatment together to collaboratively examine the disease from all angles.
Starting with a focused lens on the cancer cell itself, and gradually broadening the scope of investigation, these conferences will cover the breadth of cancer research and treatment strategies including:
These four meetings are designed not as individual conferences, but as chapters in the cutting-edge story of cancer targets, mechanisms, and treatments, as each meeting builds from the others to produce a deep understanding of the current state of the field.
We invite researchers, clinicians, and industry representatives alike to attend one or all of these meetings to experience and contribute to this journey through cancer origins, progression, and therapeutics. The series is designed to bring together experts across different expertise, fields and sectors, to integrate their findings and inspire interdisciplinary insight and innovation towards revolutionizing cancer therapy. The intimate settings of Keystone Symposia conferences create a unique atmosphere where crosstalk and collaboration abound, and great minds come together to solve long-standing questions and therapeutic hurdles.
Keystone Symposia conferences foster meaningful relationships between people of all career stages, allowing great minds from different backgrounds to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and approaches to long-standing questions and therapeutic hurdles. Participate in-person to become part of community and forge collaborations that will drive the field forward or partake in the On-Demand option to discover all the scientific insights at your leisure, from the comfort of your own home. On-Demand viewing provides a flexible and cost-effective way to access meeting content for those experiencing funding limitations and travel restrictions. During this very challenging time for scientists, Keystone Symposia is committed to democratizing access to science and ensuring nobody has to forgo the knowledge that is essential to drive their research forward. Viewers can watch sessions in one sitting or pace them out up to 90 days after the conclusion of the in-person meeting.
Join us, either in person or virtually via On Demand, for an impactful series of meetings centered around understanding cancer at every scope to redefine the future of cancer medicine.
View meeting homepages for scholarship, abstract and early-registration deadlines!
Spotlight on the Cancer Cell: Intrinsic Properties and Vulnerabilities for Therapeutics
January 26-29, 2026 | Embassy Suites by Hilton Raleigh Durham Research Triangle, Cary, NC, USA (In Person & On Demand available)
In recent years, cancer research has turned its attention beyond the cell, to the microenvironment in an effort to better understand how external factors influence tumorigenesis and cancer growth. While this novel approach has provided many insights, we cannot overlook the importance of the cell itself in the origins of cancer. In parallel to investigating the cancer microenvironment, we must also understand the fundamental changes that occur within the cell to make it cancerous.
The first chapter of the Keystone Symposia cancer series dives into this question, applying a laser focus to the intracellular mechanisms of oncogenesis. Dr. Anwesha Dey, Dr. Laura D. Attardi, and Dr. Mariam Jamal-Hanjani host Spotlight on the Cancer Cell: Intrinsic Properties and Vulnerabilities for Therapeutics. This meeting will provide a firm foundation on the cellular basis of cancer origins and progression and shed light on potential new targets for intervention. Attendees will learn about cancer evolution and metastasis at the genetic level, phenotypic and metabolic changes in cancer cells, and intrinsic molecular targets for novel cancer therapies that get at the root of the problem.
This meeting sets the stage for understanding where the seeds of cancer originate and highlights the tireless efforts of the researchers working to identify new mechanisms and potential interventions for cancer development at the cellular level.
Watch meeting highlights video!
Tumor Microenvironment: Identifying Drivers of Progression and Resistance
May 17–20, 2026 | Whistler Conference Centre, BC, Canada (In Person & On Demand available)
After investigating how individual changes at the cellular level can drive cancer progression, the Keystone Symposia 2026 series expands the scope to investigate how interactions between the tumor and its microenvironment facilitate cancer growth. Building on the foundation “Spotlight on the Cancer Cell” provides, Dr. Lisa M. Coussens, Dr. Sandra S. McAllister, and Dr. Laura Kiessling host Tumor Microenvironment: Identifying Drivers of Progression and Resistance.
Here we delve into the multicellular network that surrounds tumors and allows them to thrive undetected in the body. Understanding how cancer cells siphon resources from healthy cells and silence signals to avoid detection is vital to discover how to reverse these mechanisms and drive cancer cell destruction instead. As many cell types make up the tumor microenvironment, this meeting brings a host of experts across microbiology, metabolism, nutrition, immunology, and aging to unravel the complex interactions between the tumor with its microenvironment.
Given that inflammation plays a significant role in the development and progression of many cancer types, “Tumor Microenvironment” is partnering with Inflammation Resolution: Emerging Concepts, Mechanisms and Disease Insights in a joint-meeting format. Here, researchers from both cancer and immunology backgrounds can collaborate to cross-examine inflammation as a key player in cancer progression in a two-for-one meeting experience.
Take a look at our speaker line-up!
Tumor Metabolism: New Frontiers in Diet, Microbiome and Beyond
June 8–11, 2026 | INEC Killarney Convention Centre, Ireland (In Person & On Demand available)
Transitioning from the tumor microenvironment to its macroenvironment, the next meeting in the Keystone Symposia series broadens the scope of cancer research to consider large-scale, systemic metabolism influences disease progression. Lead by organizers Dr. Karen Vousden, Dr. Cynthia L. Sears, and Dr. Eileen P. White, Tumor Metabolism: New Frontiers in Diet, Microbiome and Beyond will meet in Killarney, Ireland. This meeting takes a uniquely wholistic approach to understanding how whole-body physiology influences cancer progression from an undetected mutant to a dominating force in the body.
It is well-known that metabolic disease and cancer are closely intertwined, but the mechanisms that underlie this relationship remain mysterious. How can we better understand the interplay between these diseases, and leverage metabolic interventions to thwart tumor growth? This is an untapped therapeutic angle with potential for powerful and swift impacts to shift the relationship in the patient’s favor, rather than the tumor’s. “Tumor Metabolism” aims to uncover this relationship by bringing together experts in several forms of metabolic disease with cancer researchers to compare notes and identify common pathways for synergistic interventions.
Cancer Immunotherapy: Basic Mechanisms Informing Clinical Applications & Combinations
March 15–18, 2026 | Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Québec, QC, Canada (In Person & On Demand available)
Cancer immunotherapy approaches have revolutionized cancer treatment, and outcomes, by targeting key immunoregulatory pathways to leverage the body’s natural immune response to recognize and destroy cancer cells. These treatments have risen as a powerful pillar of cancer treatment, but we still have much to learn about cancer immunity and how to optimize these approaches, as failure to respond and treatment resistance are still major issues for many patients.
The flagship Cancer Immunotherapy conference addresses these challenges, as the most clinically applied and translational research focused conference in the series. Dr. Jennifer Guerriero, Dr. Thomas Marron, Dr. Ira Mellman, and Dr. Solange Peters host Cancer Immunotherapy: Basic Mechanisms Informing Clinical Applications & Combinations at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec, Canada. This program will highlight the failures and successes of current cancer immunotherapies, explore novel immunological targets within the context of host immunity, and discuss challenges of current combination immunotherapy approaches. Alongside a discussion of recent advances, and barriers, this program will highlight emerging approaches targeting novel cell types that are yet untapped but play large roles in cancer control and progression, including stroma, myeloid cells and multiple lymphoid lineages.
The program will also feature promising spatial imaging and AI technologies that are helping to unravel the complexity of interactions between cancer and immunity to guide immunotherapy strategies. Attendees will come together to explore emerging techniques and innovate the field, from identifying novel immune targets, to developing powerful bioengineering approaches to guiding clinical trial combination therapies.
This highly interdisciplinary meeting brings together basic researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders to share insights into transformative immunotherapy approaches. By catalyzing collaborations across different fields, the goal is to accelerate therapeutic advances from discovery to the clinic.
This impactful conference will consider immunotherapy from a broad scope and inspire new research directions towards overcoming treatment resistance to ensure better outcomes for all cancer patients.
Watch meeting highlights video!
Together, this series of meetings unravels the mysteries of cancer from four unique viewpoints. From the isolated cancer cell all the way up to patient populations, these meetings synergistically provide a thorough account of progress in cancer research today.
Join us on this journey examining cancer through the micro to the macro lens, to gain an integrated and holistic understanding of this complex and evasive disease. Drive your research in new and innovative directions with insights derived from these multifaceted perspectives on cancer development, progression, and treatment. Form new connections with researchers across multiple disciplines and professional fields and contribute to the interdisciplinary scientific community that will revolutionize our understanding and treatment of cancer and impact patients worldwide.
View all Keystone Symposia Cancer Meetings
All of the meetings in this series also feature a Career Roundtable discussion. Trainees and early-career investigators will have a chance to meet and speak with leaders in the fields in both academia and science industry about career paths in the cancer field. These discussions provide early-stage investigators with essential career development advice and networking opportunities to launch their career paths.
Read more about Keystone Symposia’s Career Roundtables here!
Meet the Author
Emma Wabel