Scientific Spotlight Sessions

CAR-T Manufacturing Across Nations: From LMIC Academic Platforms to Frontier Innovations in Global Access

The session will explore two complementary perspectives on the science of CAR-T manufacturing across the globe. One talk will describe the development and characterization of an academic CAR-T product in Latin America — examining T-cell fitness, product phenotype, and manufacturing biology, and addressing implications that extend across low-to-middle-income countries and global research. The other speaker will provide a perspective from a high-income setting, specifically exploring what should be developed next in CAR-T manufacturing science to broaden global access to cellular therapies. Together, the two talks will frame the comparative science of academic CAR-T manufacturing as a research question of both biological and translational consequence.

Speakers:

Fernando Gibran-Nunes, MD
Hospital Sirio-Libanês
São Paulo, Brazil
Centralized and Decentralized Models of CAR-T Manufacturing: Insights from a Latin American Academic Platform on the Science of Global Access

Sarah Nikiforow, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA
From Frontier to Field: Manufacturing Innovations That Could Lower Barriers to CAR-T Access in LMICs

Decoding Macrophage Diversity in Lymphomas: Spatial Insights and Immunotherapeutic Implications

This session will synthesize emerging data on macrophage diversity and crosstalk with T cells in lymphomas, highlighting translational strategies to overcome resistance to T cell–engaging therapies. T cell–engaging immunotherapies—bispecific antibodies, CAR T cells, and checkpoint inhibitors—have transformed lymphoma treatment, yet many patients develop resistance with incompletely understood mechanisms. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have emerged as central orchestrators of T-cell dysfunction across lymphoma subtypes, offering a unifying framework for microenvironment-mediated resistance. 

This is especially timely given recent practice-changing trials of T cell–directed therapies. In parallel, spatial multi-omics and single-cell studies have redefined macrophage biology, revealing spatially organized niches where macrophage–T cell interactions actively shape immune evasion. Distinct TAM subsets—including TREM2+ lipid-laden macrophages, CXCL13+ macrophages, and PD-L1+ TAMs—suppress T cells through metabolic reprogramming, checkpoint ligand expression, and physical exclusion of cytotoxic lymphocytes. These populations now represent actionable therapeutic targets. 

Speakers:

Anand Devaprasath Jeyasekharan, PhD, MBBS, MRCP
Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore
Singapore, Singapore
Dark Zone Macrophages as Mediators of T-Cell Exhaustion and Immunotherapy Response in Lymphoma

Tomohiro Aoki, MD, PhD
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre - University Health Network
Toronto, ON, Canada
Macrophage–HRS Cell Crosstalk Driving Immune Evasion and Therapy Resistance in Hodgkin Lymphoma

Greasy Situations: Unraveling Lipid-Mediated Therapy Resistance

Adiposity is correlated with the incidence and progression of thirteen cancers. The purpose of this session is to outline how intrinsic and extrinsic lipids and cellular metabolism shape therapy sensitivity and resistance in hematological malignancies. Lipids in the bone marrow microenvironment promote multiple myeloma development and progression and specific plasma lipids are correlated with AML therapy relapse. Cancer cells exhibit heightened context-specific metabolism driven in part by genetics and microenvironmental constraints. This session will review mechanisms of lipid-driven therapy resistance, lipid-driven metabolic and signaling dependencies and consequent targetable vulnerabilities will be highlighted. Presenters will shed light on approaches that have leveraged their understanding of the lipidome and cancer metabolism for improving therapy efficacy in heme malignancies.

Speakers:

Courtney Jones, PhD
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, OH
Lipids Biomarkers of Therapy Relapse

Mala Shanmugam, PhD
Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Lipids and Therapy Resistance

Illuminating the Dark Corners in the Genomes of Lymphoid Neoplasms

This session will bring together international leaders who use germline genetics and functional genomics to understand how non-coding mutations contribute to lymphomagenesis. In the lymphomas, the somatic mutation landscape has been extensively studied in protein-coding space. The impact and role of mutations in the remaining 98% of the genome remains understudied. Recent discoveries highlight that this “dark matter” of the genome harbors powerful clues to lymphoma risk, biology, and therapy. 

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) consistently reveal lymphoma-predisposing variants in enhancers, promoters, and other non-coding regions, yet the mechanisms by which they act are only beginning to be uncovered. Functional genomics has started to illuminate how these variants reshape transcriptional programs, deregulate oncogenes, and alter the activity of non-coding RNAs. Moreover, whole-genome sequencing is revealing somatic mutations in non-coding regions that act as previously overlooked drivers of lymphomagenesis. Speakers in this session will describe the novel approaches that enable these discoveries, and discuss how these insights may eventually transform patient risk stratification, biomarker development, and therapeutic targeting.

Speakers:

Jun J. J. Yang, PhD
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Memphis, TN
Dissecting the Functional Consequence of Non-Coding Variants

Laura K. Hilton, PhD
BC Cancer
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Clinical Relevance of Non-Coding Mutations

Sticky Situations: Glycans in Classical and Malignant Hematopoiesis

This session will highlight fundamental and preclinical advances in the glyco-hematology field. Glycosylation is one of the most abundant post-translational modifications. It occurs on more than half of all proteins and nearly all cell surface proteins yet has been poorly studied historically. With the advancement of novel mass spectrometry technologies, glycosylation research has gained traction. The session is aimed at basic and translational scientists with the goal that attendees will leave the session inspired to consider the role of glycosylation in their disease of interest.

Speakers:

Marie Hollenhorst, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, MA
Novel Insights Into the Glycobiology of Cell-Cell Interactions and Signaling

Anna Marneth, PhD
Radboudumc
Nijmegen, Netherlands
Glycans in the Pathogenesis and as a Therapeutic Target in Malignant Hematopoiesis