AACR to Offer Education Sessions at Frontiers in Cancer Science Conference
Guest post by David Virshup, MD
Singapore will hold its 12th Frontiers in Cancer Science (FCS) conference virtually Nov. 2-6, 2020. This annual conference was launched in 2009 as a one-day symposium for the common purpose of sharing and advancing knowledge both locally as well with the global scientific community. It has now grown into a major international cancer conference in the region, with over 500 participants registering annually. It is the largest cancer conference in Singapore and regularly brings together cancer researchers and cancer physicians to share their pioneering ideas and novel information in an interactive and network-building environment. Highlights of the previous FCS conferences can be seen on the conference website.
FCS 2020 brings together a stellar list of international and local distinguished cancer researchers covering all aspects of cancer research, with complementary knowledge and expertise. They include Ali Shilatifard, PhD, of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University; Ronald DePinho, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; and AACR President Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, of the University of California Los Angeles, in addition to many others. Speakers will discuss research in both the basic science and the clinical realms, including advances in epigenetics, gene regulation, the tumor microenvironment, and immunotherapy. Young investigators will have the opportunity to showcase their work, and selected talks from poster abstracts will be presented at the Oral Abstract Speaker sessions during the conference. Prizes will also be awarded for the best posters.
This year, Frontiers in Cancer Science will partner with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) to concurrently hold the first AACR-FCS Education Sessions in Southeast Asia. The goal of the Education Sessions is to provide graduate students and early-career investigators with a broader view of key topics. Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR, will open the sessions, and speakers will include Kenneth Kinzler, PhD, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University; Marco Herold, PhD, of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute; and Puay Hoon Tan, MD, MBBS, of Singapore General Hospital. Sessions will cover the use of CRISPR technologies to advance cancer research, the detection of driver mutations in cancer, and the latest in breast pathology.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s FCS will be carried out virtually. Members of our Organizing Committee are learning as we go, with the goal of providing an excellent online platform for learning, exchanging ideas, and developing collaborations in this “new normal.” We are hopeful this virtual arrangement will maintain the goals of the FCS and engage our audiences with renowned speakers in the field of cancer research.
FCS is jointly organized by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Duke-NUS Medical School, Genome Institute of Singapore, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, The N.1 Institute for Health, and Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Program highlights, as well as information about registration and abstract submission are available on the conference website.
David Virshup, MD, is the chairman of this year’s Frontiers in Cancer Science conference. He is Director of the Program in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology and a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. He holds a joint appointment as professor of pediatrics at Duke University in North Carolina.
