Despite remarkable advances in cancer treatment, prevention remains one of the greatest unmet needs in oncology. A key and largely underexplored question is why some individuals, even those exposed to well-established risk factors (genetic, environmental), never develop cancer. Studying these exceptional individuals – e.g. centenarians, cancer-free smokers, and twins discordant for cancer – holds the potential to unlock entirely new frameworks for cancer prevention. Similarly, within individuals at high risk of cancer, several tissues, and indeed most cells within at-risk tissues, do not develop into cancer. Studying how such cells and tissues protect against cancer may also yield important insights into cancer avoidance.

This new EACR virtual conference will bring together leading researchers to explore the emerging field of cancer avoidance: the biological mechanisms by which certain cells, tissues and people develop lifelong resistance to cancer despite high-risk exposures, genetic predispositions, or extreme age. Topics will span immunological surveillance, autoantibody biology, epidemiology of cancer resistance, tumour immunology, and prevention strategies, drawing on cohort science, systems biology and cutting-edge profiling technologies.

The target audience for this conference is scientists in academia and industry – both senior and early-career investigators – with an interest in cancer prevention, tumour immunology, cancer epidemiology, ageing and immunology.

Speakers: Paul Bastard (University of Paris INSERM, France) | Tobias Janowitz (Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, USA) | Matthias Kloor (Heidelberg University, Germany) | Kara Maxwell (University of Pennsylvania, USA) | Jyoti Nangalia (Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK) | Kamia Naxerova (Harvard Medical School, USA) | Karl Smith-Byrne (University of Oxford, UK) | Ruth Travis (University of Oxford, UK) | Chi Van Dang (Ludwig Institute Johns Hopkins, USA)

Keywords: cancer research, oncology, cancer risk, cancer resistance, tumoural tissue, immune surveillance, autoantibody biology, immune regulation, epidemiology, ageing and cancer, cancer biomarkers, cancer prevention, clinical perspectives

Deadlines:
Abstract submission deadline: 07 December 2026
Registration deadline: 06 January 2027