Lyon, France : 18 - 20 March 2025
To download and print the programme, use the links below.
Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)
REGISTRATION
Light refreshments will be served at 12:00
CONFERENCE WELCOME
Persisters: Where are we now… and where are we going?
Is it really possible to give a definition of persister cells? Our Scientific Programme Committee come together to discuss the aims of the meeting and the key questions in the field.
SESSION 1: Novel methodologies for studying persister cells
Chair: Yaara Oren
Jan Michiels VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Belgium
'Mechanistic Insights and Evolutionary Dynamics of Antibiotic Persistence in Escherichia coli'
Q&A: 14:15 - 14:25
Shensi Shen West China Hospital, P.R. China
Proffered Paper 1: 'Cross-cancer Insights into Persister Cells Reveal an RNA methyltransferase Driving Immune Evasion'
Q&A: 14:35 - 14:40
EXHIBITOR INTRODUCTIONS
COFFEE BREAK, EXHIBITION & SOLO TRAVELLER MEET-UP
Yaara Oren Tel Aviv University, Israel
'The day after the drug- investigating persister cells memory'
Q&A: 15:40 - 15:50
Direna Alonso-Curbelo IRB Barcelona, Spain
'Uncovering tissue-level interactions dictating tumor and senescent cell state persistence'
Q&A: 16:10 - 16:20
INDUSTRY SYMPOSIUM - PromoCell
Janina Moros PromoCell
'How to kill your fibroblasts and save the cancer stem cells in your culture'
Q&A: 16:40-16:50
Cedric Blanpain Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
'Tumor States mediating Resistance to Chemotherapy'
Q&A: 17:10-17:20
POSTER SPOTLIGHTS 1
WELCOME RECEPTION
POSTER DISCUSSION SESSION 1
Led by members of the Scientific Programme Committee
Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)
EARLY POSTER VIEWING
Session 2: Deciphering the persister code: Molecular mechanisms
Chair: Lenka Munoz The University of Sydney, Australia
Susan Rosenberg Baylor College of Medicine, USA
'Drugging Bacterial and Cancer Evolution'
Q&A: 09:20 - 09:30
Lenka Munoz University of Sydney, Australia
Proffered Paper 2: 'Histone methyltransferase PRDM9 promotes survival of drug-tolerant persister cells in glioblastoma'
Q&A: 09:40 - 09:45
Céline Vallot Institut Curie, France
'Investigating mechanisms of cell plasticity in breast cancers with single-cell epigenomics'
Q&A: 10:05 - 10:15
THE EMBO KEYNOTE LECTURE
Chris Marine VIB - KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, Belgium
'A cell geometry-based approach to monitor and contend with cancer cell plasticity and therapy resistance in melanoma and beyond'
Q&A: 10:35 - 10:45
COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION
Aaron Hata Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
'Mechanisms driving evolution of drug resistance in lung cancer'
Q&A: 11:35 - 11:45
Jukka Westermarck University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Proffered Paper 3: 'Transcriptional profiling of awakening of drug tolerant persisters (DTEPs) reveals DUSP6 as key driver of HER2i tolerance'
Q&A: 11:55 - 12:00
POSTER SPOTLIGHTS 2
LUNCH
Light refreshments will be served.
POSTER DISCUSSION SESSION 2
Led by members of the Scientific Programme Committee
Session 3: Emerging vulnerabilities: Targeting persister cells
Chair: Ultan McDermott
Ultan McDermott AstraZeneca, UK
'Genome-wide CRISPR screens identify the YAP/TEAD axis as a driver of persister cells in EGFR mutant lung cancer'
Q&A: 14:50 - 15:00
Olivier Calvayrac Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse, France
Proffered Paper 4: 'Farnesyltransferase inhibition overcomes oncogene-addicted non-small cell lung cancer adaptive resistance to targeted therapies'
Q&A: 15:10 - 15:15
Eduard Batlle IRB Barcelona, Spain
'Plasticity, therapy resistance and immune evasion in metastatic colorectal cancer'
Q&A: 15:35 - 15:45
COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION
Johannes Zuber IMP - Institute of Molecular Pathology, Austria
'Unveiling persister cell vulnerabilities through in-vivo CRISPR screens'
Q&A: 16:35 - 16:45
René Bernards Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands
'Finding vulnerabilities of drug-tolerant persisters identified through functional genetics'
Q&A: 17:05 - 17:15
Early Career Advice: Managing the work life balance
Scheduled to end at 18:00 CET
CONFERENCE DINNER
Listed times are in Central European Time (CET)
EARLY POSTER VIEWING
Session 4: Persister cells in the clinic
Chair: Caroline Robert
Wendy Mok UConn Health, USA
'Targeting bacterial metabolism and defenses to eradicate antibiotic persisters'
Q&A: 09:20 - 09:30
Shruti Bhatt National University of Singapore, Singapore
'The Great Escape: From Persisters to Resistance Through Apoptotic Priming Loss in Leukemia Models'
Q&A: 09:50 - 10:00
Isabel Puig Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Spain
Proffered Paper 5: 'Proteomic and interactomic profiling to understand the complexities of colorectal cancer persistence'
Q&A: 10:10 - 10:15
COFFEE BREAK & EXHIBITION
Alessia Mira University of Turin, Italy
Proffered Paper 6: 'Targeting oxidative metabolic vulnerabilities in sotorasib-tolerant lung cancer cells'
Q&A: 10:55 - 11:00
Caroline Robert Gustave Roussy, France
'Interactions of the Persister Cells with the tumor microenvironment'
Q&A: 11:20 - 11:30
Trever Bivona UCSF, USA
'Mechanisms of persister cell biology in lung cancer'
Q&A: 11:50 - 12:00
SUMMARY & CLOSE
DEPART
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