In This Section

Program

Please note that this meeting will take place as an in-person event in Toronto and will not live-stream content for virtual participation. The meeting content will be recorded and made available as an on-demand program after the conference. Please see the Registration page for details.

CME credit is available for in-person attendance for the designated sessions. On-demand presentations are not eligible for CME.

All presentations are scheduled to be live, in-person presentations at the date and time specified below unless noted otherwise. Program in progress.

* Short talk from proffered abstract

Thursday, September 5

Friday, September 6

Saturday, September 7

Sunday, September 8

Thursday, September 5

Opening Plenary Session

5-7 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

  • 5 p.m. | Keynote Speaker
    Navigating the pediatric cancer genomic frontier: From terrain mapping to targeted therapy
    Kimberly Stegmaier, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 6 p.m. | AACR-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Pediatric Cancer Research Fellowship Award Lecture:
    Clinical implementation of molecular tumor profiling for children with cancer
    Alanna J. Church, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 

OPENING RECEPTION

7-8:30 p.m. | Sheraton Hall D

Friday, September 6

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

7-8 a.m. | Sheraton Hall C

plenary Session 1: Cancer Predisposition and the Causes of Cancer 

8-10 a.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Uri Y. Tabori, SickKids, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  • 8 a.m. | Insights from replication repair deficient cancers on cancer initiation and vulnerability
    Uri Y. Tabori
  • 8:30 a.m. | Genetic predisposition to pediatric cancer: the long way from discovery to surveillance guidelines
    Franck Bourdeaut, Institut Curie, Paris, France 
  • 9 a.m. | Risk of therapy-related subsequent cancers in individuals with germline TP53 variants
    Anita Villani, SickKids, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 
  • 9:30 a.m. | Inherited genetic variants in known cancer predisposition genes: A survey of the largest European cohort of patients under the age of 25 with whole genome sequencing data*
    Aditi Vedi, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 9:45 a.m. | Somatic genetic development of Wilms tumor via normal kidneys in predisposed children*
    Anna Wenger, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom

BREAK

10-10:30 p.m. | Sheraton Hall C Foyer

Plenary Session 2: Precision Medicine for Pediatric Cancer: Beyond Sequencing 

10:30-12:30 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Jean-Pierre Bourquin, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

  • 10:30 a.m. | RNA-based platform as a diagnostic aid for childhood cancer
    Adam Shlien, SickKids, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 11 a.m. | Epigenetic mechanisms controlling human leukemia stem cells and therapy resistance
    Alex Kentsis, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
  • 11:30 a.m. | A federated functional precision initiative for relapsed refractory ALL
    Jean-Pierre Bourquin
  • 12 p.m. | Canada’s path towards proteome guided therapies and advanced molecular pathology in pediatric precision oncology*
    Philipp F. Lange, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • 12:15 p.m. | Next generation pediatric precision oncology: Functional profiling of patient-derived viable tumor material to link genotype and phenotype*
    Eleonora J. Looze, Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, Netherlands

Lunch Break (lunch on your own) 

12:30-2:30 p.m.

Plenary Session 3: Overcoming Barriers in Pediatric Cancer Therapeutic Discovery

Organized by Cancer Research Horizons and LifeArc

2:30-4:30 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Poster Session A

4:30-6:30 p.m. | Sheraton Hall D & E

Saturday, September 7

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

7-8 a.m. | Sheraton Hall C

Plenary Session 4: Circulating DNA and Other Novel Early Relapse Detection Tools

8-10 a.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Cynthia E. Hawkins, SickKids, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

  • 8 a.m.- 8:20 a.m. | A methodical journey towards clinical application of ctDNA and new liquid biopsy adventures
    Brian D. Crompton, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 8:30 a.m. | Liquid biopsy for pediatric cancer
    Cynthia E. Hawkins
  • 9 a.m. | Opportunities and challenges for liquid biopsies in pediatric oncology 
    Gudrun Schleiermacher, Institut Curie, Paris, France 
  • 9:30 a.m. | A toolbox for the use of cfDNA in pediatric cancer patients*
    Godelieve Tytgat, Prinses Maxima Center, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • 9:45 a.m. | Liquid biopsy enables identification of mechanisms of tumor evolution in patients with newly diagnosed high-risk neuroblastoma: A report from the Children’s Oncology Group*
    Gabriela Virdzekova, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts

BREAK

10-10:30 a.m. | Sheraton Hall C Foyer

Plenary Session 5: Pediatric Cancer Disparities

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Lena Winestone, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California

  • 10:30 a.m. | Disparities in access to pediatric cancer care
    Lena Winestone
  • 11 a.m. | Disparities in childhood cancer outcomes: Can we move from describing to intervening?
    Sumit Gupta, SickKids, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 11:30 a.m.| Increasing diversity in pediatric cancer clinical trials: Challenges and opportunities
    Paula Aristizabal, University of California, San Diego, California
  • 12 p.m. | Persistent poverty is associated with risk of early mortality among children with cancer: An analysis of SEER data*
    Emma Hymel, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
  • 12:15 p.m. | The impact of social determinants and neuropsychological factors on healthcare transition readiness among adolescent and young adult childhood cancer survivors*
    Gayeong Kim, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

LUNCH BREAK (LUNCH ON YOUR OWN) 

12:30-2:15 p.m.               

Plenary Session 6: Immunotherapy and Immunology 

2:15-4:15 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Rayne H. Rouce, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 

  • 2:15 p.m. | CAR T-cells for T-cell malignancies: Challenges and opportunities
    Rayne H. Rouce
  • 2:45 p.m. | GD2-specific CAR T cell therapies for pediatric solid cancers 
    Claudia Rossig, University Children’s Hospital Münster, Muenster, Germany 
  • 3:15 p.m. | Mapping microglia – tumor crosstalk in pediatric brain cancer
    Florent Ginhoux, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
  • 3:45 p.m. | Functional inhibition of natural killer cells enables surgery-induced accelerated neuroblastoma tumor growth in a mouse model*
    Brian T. Craig, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • 4 p.m. | Developing a safe and potent tumor-targeting gated CAR-T cell therapy for DIPG: A deadly pediatric brain tumor*
    Sujatha Venkataraman, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado

Plenary Session 7: Novel Breakthroughs in Pediatric Hematology Research

Organized by the AACR Pediatric Cancer Working Group (PCWG)

4:30-6 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Kathrin Maria Bernt, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Merion Station, Pennsylvania

  • 4:35 p.m. | New insights into the biology and treatment of T-ALL and T-LL
    David T. Teachey, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • 4:55 p.m. | Understanding cellular predictors of relapse in B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    Kara L. Davis, Stanford University, Stanford, California
  • 5:15 p.m. | Transcriptional dysregulation in pediatric leukemias
    Kathrin Maria Bernt
  • 5:35 p.m. | Panel Discussion

Poster Session B

6-8 p.m. | Sheraton Hall D & E

Sunday, September 8

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

7-8 a.m. | Sheraton Hall C

Plenary Session 8: Emerging Therapies and Drug Resistance 

8-10 a.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Scott A. Armstrong, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts

  • 8 a.m. | Targeting chromatin complexes in cancer 
    Scott A. Armstrong
  • 8:30 a.m. | Neogenes induced by oncogenic chimeric transcription factors as potential targets for therapy
    Olivier Delattre, Institut Curie, Paris, France 
  • 9 a.m. | A methyltransferase-independent role for METTL1 in tRNA aminoacylation and oncogenic transformation
    Alejandro Gutierrez, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
  • 9:30 a.m. | Alectinib in children and adolescents with solid or CNS tumors harboring ALK-fusions: Updated data from the iMATRIX Alectinib phase I/II open-label, multi-center study*
    Francis Mussai, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
  • 9:45 a.m. | MYOD1L122R induces chemoresistance and elevates cancer stem cell programs through WNT11-ROR2-VANGL2 signaling in aggressive rhabdomyosarcoma*
    Yun Wei, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

BREAK

10-10:30 a.m. | Sheraton Hall C Foyer

Plenary Session 9: New Strategies for Early Phase Clinical Trials 

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Osgood East & West | CME Eligible

Session Chair: Andrea A. Hayes-Dixon, Howard University Hospital, Washington, District of Columbia 

  • 10:30 a.m. | How novel clinical research informs pediatric clinical trials
    Andrea A. Hayes-Dixon
  • 11 a.m. | Trial designs to find early signals of efficacy in rare pediatric cancers 
    Katherine A. Janeway, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 
  • 11:30 a.m. | Are we ready to accelerate the development of new safe and effective anticancer medicines for children and adolescents?
    Gilles Vassal, Gustave Roussy, VIllejuif, France
  • 12 p.m. | Panel Discussion

Closing Remarks 

12:30-12:45 p.m. | Osgood East & West

  • Alejandro Gutierrez, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
  • Cynthia E. Hawkins, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 
  • Andrea A. Hayes-Dixon, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 
  • Gilles Vassal, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France