Each year, the Annual Meeting features two distinct lectures comprised of one keynote and one talk given by the Richard V. Smalley Memorial Award & Lectureship recipient. In her keynote address, Stressing Out the Immune System in Cancer, Dr. Susan Kaech provided new insights to the dynamic nature of the anti-cancer response of T lymphocytes and how metabolic changes in the tumor microenvironment affect T cell differentiation and function. She provided new insights to the dynamic nature of the anti-cancer response of T lymphocytes and how metabolic changes in the tumor microenvironment affect T cell differentiation and function. Dr. Kaech’s presentation concluded with new insights on the relationship between neurotransmitters and the T cell-mediated anti-cancer response, and how these interactions can influence response to cancer immunotherapy.
The Richard V. Smalley Memorial Award & Lectureship was presented by Robert D. Schreiber, PhD, FAIO. In his presentation, Cancer Immunoediting: Targets, Mechanisms and Implications for Immunotherapy, Dr. Schreiber presented a comprehensive analysis of past work that led to the discovery of cancer immunoediting and how these advances continue to inform the development of new immunotherapies. He also presented new, high-dimensional analyses of spatial remodeling of the tumor microenvironment during cancer immunotherapy, providing new mechanistic insights to how the immune system destroys cancer cells.