EACR-Mark Foundation Joint Conference: The Rise of Early-Onset Cancers - Biology, Causes, and Detection

Bergamo, Italy : 11 - 13 November 2025

Scientific Programme

Tuesday 11th November 2025

Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)

11:30

REGISTRATION (light refreshments will be served at 12:00)

13:00

CONFERENCE WELCOME

SESSION 1: Global landscape of early-onset cancers (1)

Chair: Alberto Bardelli

13:10

Keynote Speaker: Yin Cao Washington University in St. Louis, US

'Accelerating cancer risk factor discovery for younger and future generations'

Q&A 13:35-13:50

13:50

Ahmedin Jemal American Cancer Society, US

'The changing landscape of early-onset cancers'

Q&A 14:10-14:20

14:20

José Montes de Oca Carlos Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Mexico

Proffered Paper 1: 'Accelerated Tumor Aging in Mexican Breast Cancer Patients: Integrating Transcriptional Clocks with Functional Models'

Q&A 14:30-14:35

14:35

EXHIBITOR INTRODUCTIONS

14:45

COFFEE BREAK, EXHIBITION & SOLO TRAVELLER MEET-UP

15:15

Giulia Martina Cavestro UniSR, Italy

'Diet and lifestyle as associated factors in early-onset colorectal cancer: Preliminary data from the DEMETRA study'

Q&A 15:35-15:45

15:45

Andrew Biankin University of Glasgow, UK

'Moving away from a one size fits all for young people with cancer'

Q&A 16:05-16:15

16:15

POSTER SPOTLIGHTS

16:25

NETWORKING QUIZ

Our fun, informal quiz offers conference participants the chance to make new connections on the first evening of the meeting

17:00

WELCOME RECEPTION

18:00

POSTER DISCUSSION SESSION 1

Led by members of the Scientific Programme Committee

Wednesday 12th November 2025

Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)

08:30

EARLY POSTER VIEWING with coffee and biscuits

09:00

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT - CeGaT

Marco Silvano CeGaT

'21st Century genetic oncodiagnostics'

SESSION 2: Global landscape of early-onset cancers (2)

Chair: Shuji Ogino

09:15

Ulrike Peters Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, US

'Early onset colorectal cancer: Integrating epidemiological trends with molecular mechanisms'

Q&A 09:35-09:45

09:45

Seongmi Russell Washington University in St Louis, USA

Proffered Paper 2: 'Early-Life Colonization by Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis Drives Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Susceptibility'

Q&A 09:55-10:00

10:00

Jelle Wesseling Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands

'Ductal Carcinoma In Situ: When cancer is not really cancer'

Q&A 10:20 - 10:30

10:30

Ilenia Laterza Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy

Proffered Paper 3: 'The Role of E. coli Toxin CNF1 in Colorectal Cancer Progression and Metastasis'

Q&A 10:40-10:45

10:45

COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION

11:15

José Perea Biomedical Research of Salamanca, Spain

'Immunometabolic dimension of early-onset colorectal cancer. Paradigm for the other early-onset cancers?'

Q&A 11:35-11:45

11:45

Muhammad Shah Zaib University of Trento, Italy

Proffered Paper 4: 'Microbiome alterations of colorectal cancer according to age of onset, stage, and anatomic location'

Q&A 11:55-12:00

12:00

POSTER SPOTLIGHTS

12:10

INDUSTRY SYMPOSIUM - SARTORIUS

Gennaro De Vita Sartorius

'Innovative Bioanalytical Tools for Enhanced Live-Cell Imaging'

Q&A 12:30-12:40

12:40

LUNCH

13:40

POSTER DISCUSSION SESSION 2

Led by members of the Scientific Programme Committee

SESSION 3: Clinical, molecular and biological features

Chair: Salvatore Siena

15:10

Keynote Speaker: Shuji Ogino Harvard University, US

'Assessing long-term risk factor exposures is a critical gap in early-onset cancer research: how can we overcome it using tumor biomarker analyses?'

Q&A 15:35-15:50

15:50

Silvana C E Maas VHIO, Spain

Proffered Paper 5: 'Methylation fingerprints expose novel environmental contribution to early-onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 16:00-16:05

16:05

Giulia Calafato IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Italy

Proffered Paper 6: 'Dysregulation of Wnt/β-catenin/mTOR axis and intestinal stemness cross-talk in obesity-dependent early-onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 16:15-16:20

16:20

Irit Ben-Aharon Rambam Health Care Campus, Israel

'The evolving enigma- early onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 16:40-16:50

16:50

COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION

17:20

Nicola Segata University of Trento, Italy

'The microbiome in early-onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 17:40-17:50

17:50

The EMBO Keynote Lecture

Alberto Bardelli IFOM, Italy

'The exposome and early onset colorectal cancers'

Q&A 18:10-18:20

19:30

CONFERENCE DINNER (optional ticketed event)

Thursday 13th November 2025

Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)

08:30

EARLY POSTER VIEWING with coffee and biscuits

SESSION 4: Experimental models

Chair: Yin Cao

09:00

Cheryl Walker Baylor College of Medicine, US

'Epigenomic reprogramming by early life environmental exposures alter cancer risk in adulthood'

Q&A 09:20-09:30

09:30

Gianluca Mauri Ospedale Niguarda, Italy

'From biological understanding to personalized clinical management of early-onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 09:50-:10:00

10:00

Pauliina Kallio University of Helsinki, Finland

Proffered Paper 7: 'A Multipotent PROX1+ Tumor Stem/Progenitor Cell Population Emerges During Intestinal Tumorigenesis and Mediates Treatment Resistance in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer'

Q&A 10:10-10:15

10:15

COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION

10:45

Selma Masri UC Irvine, US

'Circadian Clock Misalignment in Colorectal Cancer: Links with Early-Onset Disease'

Q&A 11:05-11:15

11:15

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Sir Mike Stratton Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK

'Mutagenic exposures to normal colorectal epithelium and their potential role in early-onset colorectal cancer'

Q&A 11:40-11:55

11:55

SUMMARY & AWARDS

12:15

DEPART

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