Pre-Conference Day
Monday 13th November 2023
8:30 am Workshop Registration & Refreshments
9:00 – 11:00Workshop A
9:00 am Identifying & Validating New Targets Involved in Macrophage Repolarization in Both Oncology & Inflammation
Synopsis
The field continuously relies on uncovering novel targets to manipulate and reprogram macrophages to promote beneficial phenotypes in various disease. As the field becomes increasingly aware that the same targets can be utilized to fight inflammatory disease and oncology indications, it’s important to fully understand the pathways targeted to optimize therapeutic intervention and guarantee patient safety, while exploring how these pathways can be harnessed in various disease states.
- Screening TAMs macrophages for target antigens and validating potential targets to evaluate safety and characteristics
- Understanding macrophage characteristics, behavior, and pathways in various diseases to optimize intervention
- Targeting metabolic pathways in oncology and inflammation with opposite effect leveraging agonists and antagonists
11:00 am Morning Break & Refreshments
11:30 – 1:30Workshop B
11:30 am Diving into Macrophage Biology, Heterogeneity & Polarization Across Diseases to Reveal Therapeutic Applications & Influence Phenotypic Control
Synopsis
The plastic and heterogeneous nature of macrophages makes them an extremely attractive target in both oncology and inflammation, however this varies across diseases and can be poorly understood. By uncovering and defining how macrophage phenotype and heterogeneity are influenced by location, cell interactions, and disease, we can expose their behavior in various disease settings and better harness this plasticity to reprogram macrophages to their optimal phenotypic state to treat a variety of disease indications.
- Understanding macrophage phenotypes within and between different disease indications and linking this to standard definitions of phenotype
- Identifying markers to distinguish macrophag phenotype and classify heterogeneity in various locations in the body
- Developing a universal mathematic definition to qualify macrophage polarization in all in vivo environments and disease settings
- Utilizing this definition to predict patient response to immunotherapies
1:30 pm Lunch Break & Networking
2:00 – 4:00Workshop C
2:00 pm Empowering the Paradigm Shift of the Next-Generation of Macrophage-based Therapies
Synopsis
Despite established pathways to manipulate macrophages, the breadth of the tumor microenvironment remains a mystery and requires deep analysis and understanding to optimize targeting and combination rationale. By creating robust methods to screen and map the microenvironment at scale, novel targets, macrophage phenotype and spatial location can be uncovered across tumor types to accelerate progression and maximize the potential of the next wave of macrophage therapies and influence combination strategy.
- Identifying the tumor microenvironment niches that shape distinct macrophage phenotypes with clinical relevance
- Producing a modeling system for high throughput target discovery in TAMs
- Harnessing a CRISPR screen in TAMs to discover targets