CANCAN
Meet CANCAN, whose challenge is to understand and reverse cachexia and declining performance status in cancer patients.
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Cancer and the host
Registration is now open via the link below.Currently viewing section: About
About
Date: Wednesday 17 – Friday 19 June 2026
Location: The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG
This conference will explore cancer as a systemic disease, emphasising that tumours cannot be understood or treated in isolation. By integrating expertise across disciplines, the conference aims to deepen your understanding of cancer as a host-dependent process and open new frontiers in prevention, treatment, and patient care.
Cancer progressively co-opts and reconfigures immune, metabolic, and neural networks, hijacking normal evolved responses and establishing host-tumour bidirectional interactions that extend far beyond the tumour and its surrounding microenvironment. This systemic interplay shapes disease progression, therapeutic response and patients' outcomes, underscoring the need for approaches that consider the whole individual rather than focusing solely on the tumour.
Registration, fees and abstracts
Registration
Registration is now open and will close on Friday 1 May 2026. If you’re interested in attending, register here.
Fees
Registration includes VAT, a light breakfast, networking lunch and coffee breaks on all days, and a welcome reception on Wednesday 17 June. See fees below:
- Student/PhD/Postdoc - £150
- Academic/Clinical - £300
- Industry - £500
Please note that the above prices to not include Eventbrite fees (6.95%, 59p, plus VAT).
Abstract submissions
Abstract submissions for selected talks and poster presentations are now closed.
Speakers
Programme
10am – 11:15am
Registration and light refreshments
11:15am – 11.30am
Welcome from Cancer Grand Challenges
11:30am – 12pm
Organiser talk: Tobias Janowitz, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, US
Conference scene setting and mechanisms of behavioral changes during cancer progression
Theme one: Whole body metabolism and cancer (1/3)
12pm – 12:15pm
Selected talk: Emma Brown, Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, UK
Mapping inter organ metabolic networks in cancer cachexia by translational PET imaging
12:15pm – 12:30pm
Selected talk: Yetiş Gültekin, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, US
Pancreatic cancer-associated organ dysfunction promotes muscle autophagy and contributes to peripheral tissue wasting
12:30pm – 1pm
Invited speaker: Stephen O'Rahilly, University of Cambridge, UK
Endocrine control of energy balance and partitioning in health and disease
1pm – 2pm
Break: Lunch will be served around posters
Theme two: Immuno-metabolic crosstalk
2pm – 2:30pm
Invited speaker: Lydia Lynch, Princeton, US
Talk title: TBC
2:30pm – 2:45pm
Selected talk: Cort Breuer, Stanford University School of Medicine, US
Interferons impart divergent metastatic evolution and therapy responses
2:45pm – 3pm
Selected talk: Ezequiel Dantas, NYU Langone Health, US
JAK1/2 inhibition delays cachexia and improves survival through increased food intake
3pm – 3:15pm
Selected talk: Ilaria Malanchi, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Cancer-driven neutrophil priming couples systemic epithelial regenerative programs with pre-metastatic niche formation
3:15pm – 3:30pm
Selected talk: Naomi van den Berg, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Immunometabolic gatekeeping: how tissue metabolism conditions tumor immunity
3:30pm – 4pm
Invited speaker: Johanna Joyce, University of Lausanne, CH
Talk title: TBC
4pm – 4:30pm
Break: Refreshments will be served
Theme two: Whole body metabolism and cancer (2/3)
4:30pm – 5pm
Organiser talk: Eileen White, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, US
Metabolic alterations driving cancer cachexia
5pm – 5:15pm
Selected talk: Kay Macleod, University of Chicago, US
BNIP3-dependent muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia promotes PDAC progression
5:15pm – 5:45pm
Invited speaker: Marco Sandri, University of Padua, IT
RNA-Based multitarget therapy efficiently counteracts cancer-induced cachexia
5:45pm – 6:30pm
Panel discussion: Metabolic modulation and cancer
Chair: Marcus Goncalves, NYU Langone Health, US
6:30pm – 8pm
Poster session and welcome reception
8:30am – 9am
Registration and light refreshments
Theme three: The nervous system and cancer
9am – 9:30am
Invited speaker: Erica Sloan, Monash University, AU
Metastasis within host neural systems: Tumour-neuron interactions shape disease progression and therapy response
9:30am – 10am
Invited speaker: Leanne Li, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Cancer and the peripheral nervous system
10am – 10:15am
Selected talk: Ya-Hsuan Ho, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Nociceptive sensory innervation suppresses tertiary lymphoid structure formation and promotes lung cancer progression
10:15am – 10:30am
Selected talk: Thales Papagiannakopoulo, NYU School of Medicine, US
A dietary switch promotes sensory-neuron dependent cancer-associated cachexia
10:30am – 11am
Invited speaker: Frank Winkler, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), DE
Neuro-cancer interactions drive brain tumor progression and response to therapies
11am – 11:30am
Break: Refreshments will be served
Theme four: Host biomarkers for patient stratification
11:30am – 12pm
Organiser talk: Caroline Dive, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, UK
Tracking tumour and immune changes in cell-free DNA to predict response in advanced melanoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors
12pm – 12:15pm
Selected talk: Jack Sanford, NYU Langone Health, US
Evaluation of putative lung cancer cachexia drivers in vivo
12:15pm – 12:30pm
Selected talk: Alice Wang, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, US
Conserved sleep fragmentation precedes weight loss in cachexia
12:30pm – 1pm
Invited speaker: Jason Lewis, Memorial Sloan Kettering, US
Harnessing low abundance targets for cancer diagnosis and treatment
1pm – 2pm
Break: Lunch will be served around posters
Theme five: Therapeutic targeting of the host (1/2)
2pm – 2:30pm
Invited speaker: Evangelos Giampazolias, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, UK
Decoding host-microbiome interactions in cancer immunity: Killing cancer with a gut instinct
2:30pm – 2:45pm
Selected talk: Marzia Santamaria, IFOM, IT
Fasting induces ferroptosis by modulating lipid metabolism in breast cancer
2:45pm – 3:30pm
Panel discussion: From biology to bedside - host-directed strategies for cancer
Chair: Tobias Janowitz, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, US
3:30pm – 4pm
Break: Refreshments served around posters
Theme six: Cancer in context
4pm – 4:30pm
Invited speaker: James DeGregori, University of Colorado, US
Context-dependent selection sculpts mutational landscapes in the normal lung
4:30pm – 5pm
Invited speaker: Ashani Weeraratna, Johns Hopkins University, US
A Complex TiME: How the aging tumor immune microenvironment governs tumor progression
8:30am – 9am
Registration and light refreshments
Theme five: Therapeutic targeting of the host (2/2)
9am – 9:30am
Invited speaker: Claudio Vernieri, AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, IT
Talk title: TBC
9:30am – 9:45am
Selected talk: Toshiro Shirakawa, Kobe University, JP
Immune activation and microbiome diversity in a Phase I study of B440, an oral Bifidobacterium-engineered WT1 cancer vaccine
9:45am – 10am
Selected talk: Giulia Salvadori, IFOM, IT
Leucine is a fasting mimetic with broad immunomodulatory and antitumor activity
10am – 10:15am
Selected talk: Andrea de Castro, The Francis Crick Institute, UK
Depleting tumour-infiltrating Tregs enhances the efficacy of KRAS-mutant targeted therapies in lung cancer
10:15am – 11am
Break: Refreshments will be served
Theme one: Whole body metabolism and cancer (3/3)
11am – 11:30am
Organiser talk: Marcus Goncalves, NYU Langone Health, US
Talk title: TBC
11:30am – 11:45am
Selected talk: Debasmita Mukherjee, Cancer Research UK Cambridge institute, University of Cambridge, UK
Changes in composition of cancer associated fibroblasts promote pancreatic cancer cachexia
11:45am – 12pm
Selected talk: Sonia Boscenco, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US
Physiologic subtypes of cancer cachexia reveal hepatomegaly as a marker of lethal wasting
12pm – 12:30pm
Invited speaker: Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, University College of London, UK
Lung cancer metastasis from the perspective of the cancer cell, its microenvironment and host
12:30pm – 12:45pm
Closing remarks
12:45pm – 2pm
Lunch will be served
Scientific themes
The second edition of the Cancer Grand Challenges Conference Series aims to integrate diverse fields and define the therapeutic value of targeting the host to treat cancer by bringing together thought leaders from across the cancer research spectrum with experts from immunology through to metabolism and neuroscience.
Cancer does not develop in isolation; it is influenced by the unique biology of its human host. The immune system, metabolic state, microbiome and factors such as aging and stress all shape tumour initiation, growth, metastasis, and therapeutic response. Research on these host-tumour interactions often remain siloed, limiting opportunities to integrate across disciplines. By uniting researchers from across the fields of cancer research and beyond, this conference will serve as a platform to drive innovative experimental approaches, thought-provoking discussions, and translational advances that reflect cancer not only as a disease of cells, but as a systemic host-influenced process.
Considering cancer as a systemic disease is integral to the approach of Cancer Grand Challenges team CANCAN in tackling the cachexia challenge, and an emerging theme across the Cancer Grand Challenges portfolio.
Who should attend?
With only 150 places, this conference is focused on enabling meaningful discussion. It will foster big-picture, interdisciplinary discussions between academic researchers, clinicians and medical professionals, members of the pharmaceutical industry and biotech, as well as funding bodies and policymakers. It has been designed for the wider scientific community, not just Cancer Grand Challenges funded researchers or those focused on cancer.
Topics will include:
- How host physiology influences tumor development and progression
- Interactions between cancer and the host immune, metabolic, and neural networks
- Strategies to harness host biology for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
- The role of the host environment in shaping therapeutic response
Sponsorship
Be part of the future of cancer research. Connect your organisation with some of the leading names in cancer research by sponsoring a Cancer Grand Challenges Conference.
Find out more Scientific Steering Committee
This conference is being organised by a dedicated steering committee.
Meet the committee members below.
Event information
Attendees wishing to cancel their place can receive a full refund up to 30 working days before the event start date. All cancellations must be made in writing to events@cancergrandchallenges.org by 21st July 2026. Any cancellations received after this date will not be refunded. Attendees can send a replacement free of charge.
Cancer Grand Challenges is co-founded and operationally delivered by Cancer Research UK (CRUK). The refund policy, code of conduct and guiding principles will be implemented at all CRUK events delivered by Cancer Grand Challenges. Cancer Research UK is not liable for any travel or accommodation costs relating to attendee bookings.
The conference will be held at The Royal Society, located at 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG. Please see venue and transport link information below:
Detailed directions from the venue website:
Stations Charing Cross (underground and national rail) and Piccadilly Circus (underground) are both a 7 – 10 minute walk
For travel to London by rail or DLR, consult National Rail Enquiries
For travel within London, including from airports, consult Transport for London Journey Planner
We advise travelling by public transport, but should you wish to drive, use directions to The Royal Society. The venue is located within the congestion charge zone. On-street parking on Carlton House Terrace and Waterloo Place is available for up to four hours, for £3.30 - £4.40 per hour. Westminster City Council's Trafalgar Square car park is also near by.
The Royal Society is in a central London location with many hotels near by. See below a few suggestions; we strongly recommend booking early to secure a good rate:
Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the important information below regarding how we run our events:
- Guiding principles for our events
- Code of Conduct
- Prioritising environmental sustainability
- Regarding health and safety, we work closely with venues to ensure the health and safety of all our attendees.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about this event, please send us an email at events@cancergrandchallenges.org. We'll endeavour to respond to you within two working days.
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