Scientific Program

Get inspired by the best and brightest minds in Stem Cell & Cancer research at the International Symposium in Heidelberg.

Pre-Meeting: AML Workshop

Sep 14, 2025
11:00 - 12:35

AML Workshop Part 1

  • 11:00    Welcome and Opening Remarks (Carsten Müller-Tidow, Heidelberg)
  • 11:05    Novel stemness regulators in acute myeloid leukemia (Caroline Pabst, Heidelberg)
  • 11:30    MAC-Scoring predicts AMLs outcome with HMA/Venetoclax (Simon Renders & Alexander Waclawiczek, Heidelberg)
  • 11:55    Short Talk 1: Disrupting tRNA modifications to target mitochondrial vulnerabilities in drug-resistant leukemia cells (Cornelius Pauli, Heidelberg)
  • 12:10    Immunotargeting of HSPCs and AML (Markus Manz, Zurich)
  • 12:35    LUNCH BREAK
Sep 14, 2025
13:20 - 14:30

AML Workshop Part 2

  • 13:30    Development of new therapies based on alloreactive responses to AML (Paresh Vyas, Oxford)
  • 13:55    Short Talk 2: Acute myeloid leukemia with UBTF tandem duplications respond to combined BCL-2 and RNA polymerase I inhibition with increased stemless and a quiescent-like state (Nesrine Aroua, Heidelberg)
  • 14:10    Cell therapy of myeloid malignancies (Saar Gill, Philadelphia)
  • 14:35    Podium Discussion: Future of AML therapies (invited workshop speakers & Andrew Wei)
  • 15:10    GROUP PICTURE AML WORKSHOP
  • 15:30     END OF CLINICAL WORKSHOP - COFFEE BREAK

Symposium

Sep 14, 2025
16:00 - 19:30

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 1

  • 16:00    Welcome by Carsten Müller-Tidow & Andreas Trumpp
  • 16:10    Welcome Note by Michael Baumann, CEO& Scientific Director DKFZ
  • 16:15    Keynote Lecture: New direction and challenges in AML therapy (Andrew Wei, Melbourne)
  • 16:55    From single.cell landscapes to data-driven cancer taxonomies and precision medicine (Simon Haas, Berlin)
  • 17:25    Cancer neuroscience: how stem-like cancer cells are governed by neural features (Frank Winkler, Heidelberg)
  • 17:55    Mechanisms driving clonal hematopoiesis and impact on distal tissues (Margaret Goodell, Houston)
  • 18:25    WELCOME RECEPTION
  • 19:30    END OF DAY 1
Sep 15, 2025
09:00 - 10:40

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 2

  • 09:00    Keynote Lecture: Therapeutic targeting of chromatin complexes in leukemia (Scott Armstrong, Boston)
  • 09:40    Novel approaches to target cell states in metastatic colorectal cancer (Rene Jackstadt, Heidelberg)
  • 10:10     Tumor cell plasticity in colorectal cancer (Fred de Sauvage, San Francisco)
  • 10:40    COFFEE BREAK
Sep 15, 2025
11:10 - 13:00

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 3

  • 11:10    Systematic impact of metastasis over host metabolism (Salvador Aznar Benitah, Barcelona)
  • 11:40    Short Talk 3: Endosomal pH: A key driver in leukemic stem cell dynamics (Eleni Besiridou, Heidelberg)
  • 11:55    Acute myeloid leukemia genomics: Thinking outside of box (Ann-Kathrin Eisfeld, Columbus)
  • 12:25    Ten Lightning Talks - poster teasers - à 1 minute
  • 13:00    GROUP PICTURE, LUNCH BREAK, EXHIBITION
Sep 15, 2025
13:45 - 16:45

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 4

  • 14:00    Poster Session 1 (odd numbered posters) and Exhibition
  • 15:15    Decoding and engineering T cell immunity against blood cancers (Mirco Friedrich, Heidelberg)
  • 15:45    Short Talk 4: Tet2 clonal hematopoiesis as a mechanistic driver of diet-induced liver cancer (Lina Merg, Heidelberg)
  • 16:00    DNMT3A-R882 mutation drives maladaptive myelopoiesis from human hematopoietic stem cells (Elisa Laurenti, Cambridge)
  • 16:30  COFFEE BREAK
Sep 15, 2025
17:15 - 18:00

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 5

  • 17:00    Regulation of cellular plasticity in cancer (Moritz Mall, Heidelberg)
  • 17:30    Single cell and synthetic genomics of blood formation (Lars Velten, Barcelona)
  • 18:00    END OF DAY 2
Sep 16, 2025
09:00 - 11:10

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 6

  • 09:00    Tissue stem cells: Acquiring, remembering and recalling past experiences in sickness and in health (Elaine Fuchs, New York)
  • 09:40    Metabolic signaling and metastasis (Sarah-Maria Fendt, Leuven)
  • 10:10    Modulation of bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell activity as a therapeutic strategy after myocardial infarction: a preclinical study (Nina Cabezas-Wallscheid, Zurich)
  • 10:40    Perils and promise of unlocking stemness in the adult and aging brain (Ana Martin-Villalba, Heidelberg)
  • 11:10      COFFEE BREAK
Sep 16, 2025
11:40 - 13:10

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 7

  • 11:40    Small non-coding RNAs drive leukemogenesis via rRNA modifications and chromatin functions (Carsten Müller-Tidow, Heidelberg)
  • 12:10    Stem Cell Pathways Aging and Cancer Evolution (Catriona Jamison, San Diego)
  • 12:40    Short Talk 5: Combination of phenotypic drug screening and a WNT signaling reporter to identify stemness-targeting drugs against colorectal cancer (Martina Zowada, Heidelberg)
  • 12:55   Ten Lightning Talks - poster teasers - à 1 minute
  • 13:25    LUNCH BREAK and EXHIBITION, 
Sep 16, 2025
14:00 - 17:15

Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer Part 8

  • 14:15    Poster Session 2 (even numbered posters) and Exhibition
  • 15:30    IDH inhibition in AML (Paresh Vyas, Oxford)
  • 16:00    Targeting innervating peripheral neurons in pancreatic cancer (Andreas Trumpp, Heidelberg)
  • 16:30    Targeting RNA modifications in cancer (Michaela Frye, Heidelberg)
  • 17:00    Poster Prizes & Best Short Talk (Concluding Remarks: Carsten Müller-Tidow and Andreas Trumpp)
  • 17:30    END OF CONFERENCE