Collaboration and connections: reflections on CICON 2024
Cancer immunotherapy, once a niche subdiscipline in the landscape of cancer treatment, is now widely seen as one of the most important innovations in 21st century cancer therapeutics. From CAR-T therapy to bispecific antibodies to therapeutic vaccines, immunotherapeutic technologies are revolutionizing the way researchers understand and treat both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.
Recently (September 8–11, 2024, MD, USA), the 8th International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference (CICON) was held in National Harbor, Maryland. Hosted by the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) and the European Network for Cancer Immunotherapy (ENCI), the conference brought together scholars from across the wide spectrum of cancer research to share the latest findings and drive immunotherapy forward. Presentations included talks from molecular and computational biologists, experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as clinicians translating basic science into clinical trials.
A recurring theme of presentations and conversation was the incredible importance of new technologies for data analysis. One of the conference organizers Dana Pe’er (Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, NY, USA) optimistically declared that scientists will eventually be able to accurately predict where and how cancer moves in the body, thanks to the incorporation of data analysis tools into biology and cancer research.
Researchers who understand both biology and math, cancer cells and statistics, will be “the glue” of the future of cancer research, according to Pe’er. Communicators, too, who can speak across and between disciplines will be critical for the future of cancer research.
It is connection and collaboration that will lead cancer into the next, as yet unknown, discoveries. CICON exemplifies an ethos of interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking that is necessary to, as this year’s conference theme puts it, enable “translating science into survival.”
When asked what advice she would give to an early-career scientist, Pe’er urged researchers to pursue their passions, to reach across disciplines and to not be afraid to go against the grain of mainstream trends. As she put it, “at first, those of us at CICON were a small group who didn’t buy the trends and hype. Now, we are the hype.”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oncology Central or Taylor & Francis Group.