Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled ?Emerging Cellular Therapies: Cancer and Beyond?, organized by Drs. Crystal L. Mackall, Marina Cavazzana and Stanley R. Riddell. The conference will be held in Banff, Canada from February 8-12, 2020. After many years of fundamental research, cell-based therapies are now recognized as effective medicines for treatment of a specific subset of cancers as well as a growing list of autoimmune, degenerative and infectious diseases. This clinical progress has been propelled by exponential growth in understanding of the underlying cell biology, and increasingly sophisticated techniques for genetic engineering and for using synthetic biology to control cellular therapeutics. Cellular therapeutics are now poised for increasing impact both in cancer medicine and in the treatment of genetic, autoimmune and degenerative diseases. This conference will bring together fundamental researchers and translational scientists to discuss recent successes and highlight challenges across the spectrum of emerging cellular therapeutics. Another innovative aspect of this conference is the joint pairing with the Keystone Symposia conference on ?Engineering the Genome? organized by Drs. Vic Myer and Erik Sontheimer. This unique pairing will provide an outstanding opportunity to cross-fertilize ideas and to facilitate formation of new collaborations between experts in genome engineering and experts in cell biology, cell-based therapies and synthetic biology. The conference will provide an opportunity to report emerging preclinical and clinical insights, present novel platforms, and highlight challenges related to both safety and efficacy of cell therapies. The broad disease focus will enhance collaborations between the cancer immunotherapy communities and those focused on developing cell therapies for non-malignant disease.
Cell-based therapies are now recognized as effective medicines for treatment of a specific subset of cancers as well as a growing list of autoimmune, degenerative and infectious diseases. This conference will provide an opportunity to report emerging insights, present novel technical advances, and highlight challenges related to both safety and efficacy of cell therapies. The broad disease focus will enhance collaborations between the cancer immunotherapy communities and those focused on developing cell therapies for non-malignant diseases.
