Programme

Thursday, October 1

8:00-9:00 Registration and coffee
9:00-9:05 Symposium opening words: Päivi Ojala
9:05-9:15 Awarding of the Eero Saksela Prize
9:15-9:45 Special lecture: FCI 40 years Pirkko-Liisa Kellokumpu-Lehtinen, University of Tampere, Finland
9:45-10:30 Keynote: Leveraging Metabolism to Cure Primary and Metastatic Kidney Cancer, Celeste Simon, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States

10:30-11:00 Coffee, posters and exhibition

Session 1: Liquid Biopsy: Ready For Prime Time?

Chairs Matti Nykter and Jussi Nikkola.

11:00-11:30 Utilizing minimal residual disease for guiding therapy, Tenna Vestman Henriksen, University of Aarhus, Denmark
11:30-12:00 Minimal residual disease from data perspective, Sampsa Hautaniemi, University of Helsinki, Finland
12:00-12:30 Liquid biopsies for guiding treatment selection in bladder cancer, Trine Strandgaard, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Department of Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
12:30-12:45 Short talk: Early adaptations in prostate cancer treatment resistance at single cell and spatial resolution, Antti Kiviaho, Tampere University, Finland

12:45-12:55 Group photo
12:55-13:45 Lunch, posters and exhibition

Session 2: Moving From Prognostic To Predictive

Chairs Annika Auranen and Juha Väyrynen.

13:45-14:15 Targeting the DNA damage response: from bench to bedside, Thomas Helleday, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
14:15-14:45 New precision medicine approaches for patients with high grade ovarian carcinoma, James Brenton, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
14:45-15:00 Short talk: CIP2A Coordinates Oncogenic and DNA Damage Response Signaling via PP2A and TopBP1 Interactions in Triple-negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), Phuong Doan, Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
15:00-15:15 Short talk: Pan-cancer Applications of a Comprehensive Clinical Decision Support Tool: integrative Molecular Tumor Board (iMTB), Tamara Luck, FIMM, University of Helsinki, Finland

15:15-15:45 Coffee, posters and exhibition

Session 3: Molecules In Place: Mapping Biology With Spatial Precision

Chairs Mikael Marttinen and Leena Latonen.

15:45-16:15 Eero Saksela Prize talk
16:15-16:45 Integrating Histopathology, Spatial Biology and AI for Translational Biomarker Discovery in Cancer, Nic Reitsam, Universität Augsburg, Germany
16:45-17:00 Short talk: Integrated Multi-Omics and Spatial Immune Profiling of Soft Tissue Sarcomas for Precision Oncology and Improved Patient Stratification, Piia-Riitta Karhemo, University of Helsinki, Finland
17:00-17:10 Short talk:  MYC suppression underlies HDAC inhibitor responses in TP53-mutant ovarian cancer, Daniela Ungureanu, University of Oulu, Finland

17:10-18:10 Poster session with sparkling wine
19.00 Buffet dinner at Original Sokos Hotel Ilves, Ball Room (Hatanpään Valtatie 1)

Friday, October 2

Session 4: Imaging and Immunity Across Scales

Chairs James Conway and Pekka Ruusuvuori.

9:00-9:30 Mapping the landscape of ovarian cancer: from spatial fingerprints to precision oncology, Anniina Färkkilä, University of Helsinki, Finland
9:30-10:00 Control of Anti-tumor Immunity by Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, Juan Cubillos-Ruiz, Cornell University, New York, United States
10:00-10:15 Short talk: Pan-cancer analysis identifies recurrent PD-1 pathway regulatory heterogeneity associated with prognosis and response to immune checkpoint blockade, Mariike Kuijjer, University of Helsinki, Finland
10:15-10:30 Short talk: Unlocking Dormancy: FOXM1 Drives Non-genetic Proliferative Relapse Across Cancer Types, Wei Zhang, Turku Bioscience Centre, Finland

10:30-11:30 Poster session with coffee and exhibition

Session 5: Novel Mechanisms and Therapeutics 

Chairs Anna Vähärautio and Heidi Haikala.

11:30-12:00 Molecular and therapeutic landscape of clear cell renal carcinoma, Natasha Kyprianou, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, United States
12:30-13:00 Utilizing precision oncology for drug development, Juha Rantala, Misvik Biology, Turku; Orion Pharma, Turku, Finland
13:00-13:15 Short talk: Epstein–Barr virus drives tolerance to targeted inhibition in gastric cancer, Silvia Gramolelli, Åbo Akademi and Tampere University, Finland

13:15-14:15 Lunch

Session 6: Why Are We Not There, Yet?

Chairs Toni Seppälä and Sauli Vuoti

14:15-14:45 Translational gap in novel diagnostics methods, Juha Kononen, Docrates Mehiläinen
14:45-15:30 Panel discussion with Annika Auranen, Anniina Färkkilä, Sampsa Hautaniemi, Juha Kononen, and Pekka Ruusuvuori
15:30-15:45 Closing words including poster prizes

Speakers