Yale Cancer Center Experts, Scientists to Share Vision and Research at Leading Conference

Newswise — One of the largest global gatherings of cancer experts begins Friday in San Diego, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR).

The five-day session (April 5-10), themed as “Inspiring Science. Fueling Progress. Revolutionizing Care,” will include new findings from Yale Cancer Center researchers and witness the leadership of AACR transfer to Yale Cancer Center’s Patricia LoRusso, DO, PhD (h), who will serve as president of the 58,000-person AACR for 2024-25. LoRusso leads early clinical trials and cancer drug development at Yale Cancer Center and is an internationally recognized leader in trial research. 

Other Yale Cancer Center leaders attending the meeting include YCC deputy director and Yale School of Medicine assistant dean for translation research, Roy Herbst, MD, PhD. On Tuesday April 9, he will lead a press conference on liquid biopsy for early detection and personalized cancer vaccines.

In addition, YCC researchers will present their new cancer research findings. In the videos above, a few of the presenting YCC researchers offer their key study takeaways and the significance for patients and oncologists. Click the links below for more information on their studies.

• In the video above, Yang Yang-Hartwich, PhD discusses her research on the identification of SORL1 as a key regulator of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. She says that when treating ovarian cancer cells with chemotherapy, the surviving cells that are left can have higher levels of the gene, SORL1, which has been found to aid in the cell’s resistance to chemotherapy.
• Ola Adadelokun and Caroline Johnson, PhD discuss in the video above their research on sex differences in cancer stemness among individuals with early onset colorectal cancer. They say their study highlights sex-specific influences on the cellular level during the progression of early onset colorectal cancer.
• Jeffrey Townsend, PhD discusses in the above video his AACR presentation, “Tobacco smoke alters the adaptive landscape of lung adenocarcinoma and influences the strength of epistatic interactions.” His study showed how smoking increases the mutation rate of lung cells and they also found clinically relevant differences in mutations between smoker and never-smoker cancers.

 Click here for a full list of YCC presentations.