2025 Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School Schedule

FEBRUARY 11-14, 2025 IN AUSTIN, TX AND VIRTUALLY

The following is the schedule for the 2025 SITC Cancer Immunotherapy Winter School, taking place Feb. 11-Feb. 14, 2025. Send us an email with any questions. 

Monday, Feb. 10, 2025

5-7 p.m. CT

Early Registration and Badge Pick Up

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

7-8am Registration and Coffee 

8-8:55am 

Immunotherapy Overview: History of the Field                
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Yana Najjar, MD
University of Pittsburgh
8:55-9am Transition
9-9:55am

Innate Immunity: Cellular Mechanisms and Signaling                             
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Lewis Lanier, PhD
University of California San Francisco
9:55-10:10am Break
10:10-11:05am

Adaptive Immunity: Cellular Mechanisms and Signaling                        
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Kristin Anderson, PhD University of Virginia 
11:05-11:10am Transition
11:10am-12:05pm

Tumor Microenvironment: Complexity of Cells and Molecules Regulating Intratumoral Immunity  
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Victor Engelhard, PhD University of Virginia School of Medicine
12:05-1:05pm Networking Lunch
1:05-2pm

Tumor Immunosuppression Mechanisms - Pre-Recorded Presentation                                                  
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Greg Delgoffe, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
2-2:05pm Transition
2:05-3pm

Immunotherapeutic Strategy: Adoptive Cell and CAR T Therapies                                                          
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Daniel Powell, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
3-3:15pm Break
3:15-4:10pm

TIL Presentation      
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Michael Lotze, MD, FACS
University of Pittsburgh
4:10-4:15pm Transition
4:15-5:10pm

Immunotherapeutic Strategy: Immune Checkpoint Blockade               
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Sumit Subudhi, MD, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
5:10-5:15pm Transition
5:15-6:15pm

Breakout Session: Antigen Presentation
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)
Peter Bruno, PhD
University of California San Francisco

Breakout Session: T Cell Exhaustion
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)
Chrystal Paulos, PhD
Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University

Breakout Session: Innate Immune Mechanisms Dendritic Cells and NK Cells
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)
Lewis Lanier, PhD
University of California San Francisco

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025

7:30-8am Coffee
8-8:55am

Grantsmanship - Virtual Presentation
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Christian Capitini, MD
University of Wisconsin Madison
8:55-9am Transition
9-9:55am

Presenting Your Data in Talks and Manuscripts
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Yana Najjar, MD
University of Pittsburgh
9:55-10:10am Break
10:10-11:05am

B Cells and TLS
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Tullia Bruno, PhD
 University of Pittsburgh
11:05-11:10am Transition

Researcher's Track
11:10am-12:05pm

Synthetic Immunology: Harnessing the Tools of Synthetic Biology and Gene Editing to engineer Next-Generation Cell Therapies
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Yina Huang, PhD
Dartmouth College
12:05-1:05pm Networking Lunch
1:05-2pm

Pre-Clinical Combination Immunotherapy
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Gregory Lesinksi, PhD, MPH
Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University
2-2:05pm Transition
2:05-3pm

Immunotherapeutic Strategy: Can Cancer Vaccines Really Work?
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Olivera Finn, PhD, FAIO
University of Pittsburgh
3-3:15pm Break

Clinician's Track
11:10am-12:05pm

Off-the-Shelf Cell Products - Virtual Presentation
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

May Daher, MD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
12:05-1:05pm Networking Lunch
1:05-2pm

Combination Immunotherapies
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Bambi Grilley, RPh
Baylor College of Medicine
2-2:05pm Transition
2:05-3pm

Preclinical Assessment of Cell and Gene Therapy Products to Support IND
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Bambi Grilley, RPh 
Baylor College of Medicine
3-3:15pm Break

 Sessions for Everyone
3:15-4:45pm

Patient Considerations that Impact Treatment and Clinical Trials and How to Work with Patient Representatives to Make Your Research More Successful
(15 min. presentation with 75 min. panel and Q&A)

Cindy Chmielewski, BA
HealthTree Foundation for Myeloma

Deborah Collyar, BS
Patient Advocates in Research

Jane Perlmutter, PhD
Gemini Group

Virgil Simons, MPA
The Prostate Net

Patricia Spears, FASCO
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
4:45-4:50pm Transition

4:50-5:45pm

Breakout Session: Cytokine-based Immunotherapies
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Michael T. Lotze, MD, FACS
University of Pittsburgh

Breakout Session: Importance of T Cell Subsets
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Chrystal Paulos, PhD
Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University

Breakout Session: The Microbiome and Immunotherapy
(45 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Abigail Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD
University of Pittsburgh

6:30-8:30pm

CIWS and SCION Reception

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

7:30-8am Coffee
Researcher's Track
8-9am

Antigen Identification
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

James Heath, PhD
Institute for Systems Biology
9-9:15am Break
9:15-10:15am

Pre-Clinical Animal Models
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Maryland Franklin, PhD
Labcorp
10:15-10:20am Transition
10:20-11:20am

Autoimmunity and irAEs
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Ryan Sullivan, MD
Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
11:20-11:25am Transition
11:25am-12:25pm

Tumor Cell Analyses (Pathology)
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Tricia Cottrell, MD, PhD
Queen's University
12:25-1:25pm Networking Lunch (includes optional Patient Advocate info tables)
1:25-2:25pm

Applications of Computational Biology/Machine Learning to Immuno-Oncology
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Robert Scharpf, PhD
Johns Hopkins University
2:25-2:40pm Break
Clinician's Track
8-9am

Phase I Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Chris Takimoto, MD, PhD
START Research
9-9:15am Break
9:15-10:15am

Phase II and Phase III Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer, PhD
American Society of Clinical Oncology
10:15-10:20am Transition
10:20-11:20am

How to Get a Predictive Biomarker out of every Clinical Trial 
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Gregory Lesinksi, PhD, MPH
Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University
11:20-11:25am Transition
11:25am-12:25pm

Regulatory Issues Related to Cancer Immunotherapy 
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Bambi Grilley, RPh
Baylor College of Medicine
12:25-1:25pm Networking Lunch (includes optional Patient Advocate info tables)
1:25-2:25pm

Immunotherapy in Special Patient Populations
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Zachary Buchwald, MD, PhD
Emory University
2:25-2:40pm Break
Small Group/Hands On Sessions for Everyone
2:40-3:40pm

Deep TCR and BCR Sequencing as a Biomarker for Cancer - Virtual Presentation
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Sacha Gnajtic, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Industry-Led Session: New Agents
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Chris Takimoto, MD, PhD
START Research

TCR T Cell Therapy
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Kristin Anderson, PhD
University of Virginia
3:40-3:55pm Break
Small Group/Hands On Sessions for Everyone
3:55-4:55pm

Intratumoral and Local Therapy
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Masataka Suzuki, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine

GMP: The Science of Manufacturing
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Bruce Levine, PhD
Abramson Cancer Center

 

 

Friday, Feb. 14, 2025

7:30-8am Coffee
Small Group/Hands On Sessions for Everyone
8-9am

Development of a Grant/Translational Idea and Career Development Awards 
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Christian Capitini, MD - Virtual Panelist 
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sumit Subudhi, MD, PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Methods to Assess and Discover Biomarkers
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Jianda Yuan, MD, PhD
Merck Research Laboratories

 

Emerging technologies and tackling high-throughput, high-dimensional genomic data in Cancer Immunotherapy Research - Virtual Presentation
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Dinesh Kumar, PhD
Roche

 
9-9:05am Transition
Sessions for Everyone
9:05-10:05am

Careers in Cancer Immunotherapy Panel Discussion
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Olivera Finn, PhD, FAIO
University of Pittsburgh

Christina Kauffman, RLATg
AstraZeneca

Chrystal Paulos, PhD
Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University

Jianda Yuan, MD, PhD
Merck
10:05-10:20am Break
10:20-11:20am

Perspective on Direction of the Field - Virtual Presentation
(50 min. presentation with 10 min. Q&A)

Christian Capitini, MD
University of Wisconsin-Madison
11:20-11:30am

Closing Remarks