ImMunichTherapy of Cancer

CERFA Cancer Immunotherapy Day

Symposium

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine recognized Cancer Immunotherapy as a therapeutic breakthrough among existing cancer treatments.

CERFA offers the scientific community a forum to learn and actively discuss with renowned Junior Group Leaders from Munich area and other renowned institutions in Germany, Spain and UK, about cutting-edge approaches uncovering ways to gear up the immune system in the war against cancer.

Join the #ImMunichTherapy Revolution!

Confirmed Speakers

	Dr Juan Rodríguez Vita obtained his PhD at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid (Spain), and after postdoctoral periods at the CIML in Marseille (France) and the IDIBAPS in Barcelona (Barcelona), he is currently a Project leader in the Vascular Signaling and Cancer Division at the DKFZ in Heidelberg (Germany). His research focuses on understanding the role of the tumor endothelium in the recruitment of immune cells and their polarization to a tumor-promoting phenotype. Juan Rodriguez-Vita on PubMed.
	Prof. Dr Kathrin Schumann obtained her PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried (Germany). After a research stay at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Basel (Switzerland), she continued her research at the UCSF in San Francisco (USA), where she developed CRISPR technologies for the engineering of primary human T cells. Her lab is focused on human immune cell engineering to characterize their role in cellular function and stability. Kathrin Schumann Laboratory.
	Dr Asís Palazón obtained his PhD at the CIMA in Pamplona (Spain). After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Cambridge (UK) studying the role of hypoxia on immune responses in cancer, he joined Medimmune in Cambridge (UK) as a Principal Scientist. Since 2019 he is a Principal Investigator at CICbiogune in Bilbao (Spain), where he leads the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy lab supported by an ERC Starting grant, to exploit several opportunities that the hypoxia pathway in T cells offers for the treatment of cancer. Asís Palazón on Pubmed.
	Dr Inmaculada Martinez-Reyes received her PhD at the University Autónoma of Madrid (Spain). She then performed her postdoctoral training at Northwestern University in Chicago (USA). She recently joined the MDC Berlin (Germany). Moving forward, her laboratory will aim to uncover the metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer stem cells by dissecting the role of different mitochondrial functions in regulating stemness, tumor initiation capacity and modulation of the immune response. Inmaculada Martinez-Reyes on Pubmed.
	Dr Alena Gros received her PhD at the University of Barcelona (Spain). She then performed her postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda (USA). At the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona (Spain), her work focuses on developing personalized T-cell-based cancer immunotherapies for patients with solid cancers. Besides, she is also studying whether the presence or specific T-cell qualities of mutation-specific lymphocytes influence antitumor T-cell responses and clinical outcomes in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Alena Gros Lab.
	Dr Suman Mitra completed his degree in Microbiology and received his PhD in Human Immunology. He then performed his postdoctoral training at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda (USA). After several years at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg (Sweden), he established his lab at the Jean-Pierre Aubert Research Center from the University of Lille (France). His work focuses on studying how cytokine signalling pathways can be fine-tuned to refine current immunotherapy drugs, including checkpoint blockade, CAR-T therapy as well as cancer vaccines. Suman Mitra on Pubmed.

Dates

Monday, October 14th 2019, from 8:30 to 16:00

Agenda

8:30 – 9:00	Welcome & Coffee
9:00 – 9:45	Harnessing the personalized T-cell response to treat cancer – Alena Gros
9:45 – 10:30	Fine-tuning IL-2-induced signaling and genomic networks to modulate T cell activity: Implication for immunotherapy – Suman Mitra
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee break
11:00 – 11:45	Influence of Hypoxia on anti-tumor T cell responses – Asís Palazón
11:45 – 12:30	CRISPR engineering human (regulatory) T cells – Kathrin Schumann
12:30 – 13:30	Lunch break
13:30 – 14:15	Feeding the troll – Juan Rodríguez-Vita
14:15 – 15:00	Mitochondrial metabolism and cancer – Inmaculada Martínez Reyes
15:00 – 16:00	Wrap up