Spotlight on the Cancer Cell: Intrinsic Properties and Vulnerabilities for Therapeutics - Abstract Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled “Spotlight on the Cancer Cell: Intrinsic Properties and Vulnerabilities for Therapeutics,” organized by Drs. Anwesha Dey, Laura D. Attardi and Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, with scientific programming input from Keystone Symposia. The meeting will take place January 26–29, 2026 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tumor evolution is a process by which cells acquire genetic and epigenetic alterations that lead to inappropriate cell proliferation. This process is fueled further by extensive interactions between cancer cells and cells of the tumor microenvironment, including immune cells and fibroblasts. In recent years, there has been a great deal of attention focused on the tumor microenvironment and signaling between different cell types within the tumor. A priority of this Keystone Symposia conference is to draw attention back to the cancer cell itself to think about the cell intrinsic mechanisms that promote tumor development. This focus will not only provide a deeper understanding of the underpinnings of carcinogenesis but also provide new insights into potential strategies for therapeutic interventions. We believe this focus is directly aligned with the NCI’s Division of Cancer Biology’s priorities to explore basic, fundamental questions in cancer biology, which provides the research foundation that improves understanding of the disease and may lead to new approaches for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Specifically, conference sessions will cover broad topics ranging from tumor evolution, tumor heterogeneity, and metabolic rewiring and plasticity to drugging cancer cell-intrinsic pathways and cancer cell vulnerabilities. There will also be discussions on emerging topics and unanswered questions in the field. As the goal of the meeting is to stimulate thinking about changes in cancer cells themselves during the process of tumor evolution, this meeting is distinct from many meetings in the cancer field, which focus much more on crosstalk between various cell types in the tumor. Attendees will thus take away a broad-based overview of the field that is uniquely focused on the cancer cell itself, a critical perspective for both understanding tumor evolution and for designing better cancer therapies.
