SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
Thursday, March 12, 2026
08.30 Registration Opens
09.30 - 09.40 Welcome Addresses
Welcome Address by the conference president Michael von Bergwelt, Munich, Germany
09.40 – 11.10 Plenary Session 1: Tumor immunology evolving
Chair: Mascha Binder, Basel, Switzerland & Stefani Spranger, Cambridge, MA, United States
09.40 – 10.10
01.01. How T cells see neoepitopes
Stefanie Spranger, Cambridge, MA, United States
10.10 – 10.40
01.02. Metabolic control of T cells
Max Mazzone, Leuven, Belgium
10.40 – 11.10
01.03. CD27-CD70 axis in tumor immunology
Eric Tartour, Paris, France
11.10 – 11.40 Coffee Break
11.40 – 13.10 Plenary Session 2: Resistance mechanisms to immunooncological agents and how to break them
Chair: Dieter Saur, Munich, Germany & Sonia Wörmann, Munich, Germany
11.40 – 12.10
02.01. Transfer tumoral mitochondria to T cells as tumor evasion mechanism
Yosuke Togashi, Okayama, Japan
12.10 – 12.40
02.02. On Tregs and how they can be properly targeted
Sergio Quezada, London, United Kingdom
12.40 – 13.10
02.03. Rewiring immune suppression at local and distant sites
Maria Sibilia, Vienna, Austria
13.10 – 13.40 Satellite Symposium 1
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13.40 – 13.50 Company Pitch 1
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13.50 – 14.50 Lunch & Poster Viewing
14.50 – 15.00 Company Pitch 2
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15.00 – 17.00 Plenary Session 3: New targets and new leads
Chair: José Saro Suarez, Geneva, Switzerland & Christoph Zielinski, Vienna, Austria
15.00 – 15.30
03.01. Peripheral opioid antagonism as an adjunct therapy for checkpoint blockade
Ana Anderson, Boston, MA, United States
15.30 – 16.00
03.02. Expect the unexpected modulating Nacl in cancer immunotherapy
Christina Zielinski, Jena, Germany
16.00 – 16.30
03.03. Current status of immunotherapy in breast cancer
Nadia Harbeck, Munich, Germany
16.30 – 16.45
03.04. Anti-KIR2DL4 Stimulation Enhances the Cytotoxic Activity of NK-92 Cells Against Prostate Cancer
Mohammadreza Dastouri, Ankara, Turkey
16.45 – 17.00
03.05. Aging drives immunosuppressive niches in gallbladder cancer: single-cell and spatial transcriptomic insights for immunotherapy
Lei Kong, Shanghai, China
17.00 – 18.00 Plenary Session 4: Anti-cancer vaccines
Chair: Tanja de Gruijl, Amsterdam, Netherlands & Eric Tartour, Paris, France
17.00-17.30
04.01. Dark genome-derived antigens as therapeutic targets
Bernie Fox, Portland, OR, United States
17.30-18.00
04.02. Potential targets for combination therapy in melanoma
Patrizia Stoitzner, Innsbruck, Austria
18.00 – 20.00 Welcome Reception and Poster Viewing (at the venue)
Friday, March 13, 2026
08.00 – 09.00 Plenary Session 5: Advances in clinical immunotherapy of multiple myeloma – Part I
Chair: Maike Buchner, Munich, Germany & Djordje Atanackovic, Baltimore, MD, United States
08.00 – 08.30
05.01. The evolving landscape of myeloma immunotherapy
Djordje Atanackovic, Baltimore, MD, United States
08.30 – 09.00
05.02. Dynamic changes in myeloma tissue and its microenvironment as modulators and predictors of tumor immune responses
Julia Frede, Munich, Germany
09.00 – 09.30 Plenary Session 6: Moving grounds: IO reaching earlier lines of treatment – Part I
Chair: Chong Xian Pan, Boston, MA, United States & Alexander Eggermont, Utrecht, Netherlands
09.00 – 09.30
06.01. Neoadjuvant immunotherapy in Bladder Cancer
Michiel S. van der Heijden, Amsterdam, Netherlands
09.30 – 10.30 Plenary Session 7: Technological advances in resolving tumor immunity
Chair: Jürgen Ruland, Munich, Germany & Michael Bergmann, Vienna, Austria
09.30 – 10.00
07.01. Modulating the microbiome for cancer immunotherapy
Bertrand Routy, Montreal, Canada
10.00 – 10.30
07.02. Spatial transcriptomics and secretomics analysis to unravel potential therapy resistance mechanisms in esophageal cancer
Sarah Derks, Amsterdam, Netherlands
10.30 – 11.00 Coffee Break
11.00 – 12.30 Plenary Session 8: Immune engagers
Chair: Michael Hölzel, Bonn, Germany & Pedro Romero, Lausanne, Switzerland
11.00 – 11.30
08.01. Opportunities and Challenges of CD47 targeted therapy in cancer immunotherapy: Bispecific antibodies targeting CD47
Victor Moreno, Madrid, Spain
11.30 – 12.00
08.02. DLL3-CD3 bispecific antibodies in Small cell lung cancer
Rosa Nadal Rios, Seattle, WA, United States
12.00 – 12.30
08.03. Predictors of response and resistance to immunotherapies against multiple myeloma
Maximilian Merz, New York, NY, United States
12.30 – 13.00 Satellite Symposium 2
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13.00 – 13.30 Satellite Symposium 3
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13.30 – 14.30 Lunch & Poster Viewing
14.30 – 15.15 Plenary Session 9: Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Prof. Dr. John Haanen
Chair: Sebastian Kobold, Munich, Germany & Michael von Bergwelt, Munich, Germany
09.01. Ways to engage endogenous T cell immunity to fight cancer
John Haanen, Amsterdam, Netherlands
15.15 – 15.45 Plenary Session 10: Moving grounds: IO reaching earlier lines of treatment – Part II
Chair: Chong Xian Pan, Boston, MA, United States & Alexander Eggermont, Utrecht, Netherlands
15.15 – 15.45
10.01. Adjuvant IO is no more? Curing with neoadjuvant concepts: an overview
Alexander Eggermont, Utrecht, Netherlands
15.45 - 16.30 Plenary Session 11: Advances in clinical immunotherapy of multiple myeloma – Part II
Chair: Maike Buchner, Munich, Germany & Djordje Atanackovic, Baltimore, MD, United States
15.45 – 16.15
11.01. How to enhance bispecific antibody activity
Marion Subklewe, Munich, Germany
16.15 – 16.30
11.02. β-adrenergic blockade unleashes cytotoxic CD4 T cell immunity in cancer
Daniel Hargbøl Madsen, Herlev, Denmark
16.30 – 17.00 Coffee Break
17.00 – 18.00 Plenary Session 12: Young Researcher Session (from submitted abstracts)
Chair: Stefan Endres, Munich, Germany & Louisa von Baumgarten, Munich, Germany
17.00 – 17.15
12.01. Increased teclistamab dosing interval improves clonotypic diversity and reduces infection risk in multiple myeloma
Nazia Afrin, Würzburg, Germany
17.15 – 17.30
12.02. ERBB2 signaling drives immune cell evasion and resistance against immunotherapy in small cell lung cancer
Charlotte Orschel, Cologne, Germany
17.30 – 18.00
12.03. Transient immune cell engineering: sufficient with innate help?
Andrea Ablasser, Lausanne, Switzerland
18.00 – 19.00 Poster Viewing with Presenters
19.30 ITOC12 Conference Dinner
Saturday, March 14, 2026
09.00 – 10.30 Plenary Session 13: Immunooncology in gynecologic oncology
Chair: Sven Mahner, Munich, Germany & Fabian Trillisch, Munich, Germany
09.00 – 09.30
13.01. New immunooncological approaches in endometrial cancer
Fabian Trillsch, Munich, Germany
09.30 - 10.00
13.02. Immunotherapy of Ovarian Cancer
Frederik Marmé, Mannheim, Germany
10.00 – 10.15
13.03. Cancer cell–intrinsic rewiring of the secretome in immune-excluded colorectal cancer
Krijn Dijkstra, Utrecht, Netherlands
10.15 – 10.30
13.04. The combination of Innate immunity, activating tumor associated macrophages and adaptive immunity, a promising therapeutic approach in heavily treated platinum resistant ovarian cancer patients
Julien Montorfani, Plan-Les-Ouates, Switzerland
10.30 – 11.30 Plenary Session 14: Cellular therapies beyond T cells
Chair: Philipp Beckhove, Regensburg, Germany & Reda Benmebarek, Heidelberg, Germany
10.30 – 11.00
14.01. IPSC as universal source of therapeutic cells
Maria Themeli, Amsterdam, Netherlands
11.00 – 11.15
14.02. Menin inhibition following allo-HCT enhances graft-versus-leukemia effects through endogenous retrovirus induction in AML and T-cell activation
Viktor Fetsch, Freiburg, Germany
11.15 - 11.30
14.03. A modular CAR T cell platform for targeted immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukemia
Anja Hauptstein, Munich, Germany
11.30 – 12.00 Coffee Break
12.00 – 13.45 Plenary Session 15: CAR- and TCR- engineered T cells
Chair: Marion Subklewe, Munich, Germany & Johanna Olweus, Oslo, Norway
12.00 – 12.30
15.01. CRISPR engineering of T cells for cancer therapy
Franziska Bläschke, Heidelberg, Germany
12.30 – 13.00
15.02. TCR T cells against novel targets
Johanna Olweus, Oslo, Norway
13.00 – 13.15
15.03. Myeloid-T Cell Therapy Interactions Reshape the Tumor Microenvironment to sustain Tumor Control
Alfredo Pherez Farah, Padua, Italy
13.15 – 13.30
15.04. Metabolic reprogramming enhances stem-like and functional properties of lung cancer-derived TILs
Abhishek Tomar, Galway, Ireland
13.30 – 13.45
15.05. Development of peptide-centric CARs targeting IGFBPL-1 for cancer immunotherapy in small-cell lung cancer
Benjamin McEnroe, Bonn, Germany
13.45 – 14.15 Plenary Session 16: Best Poster Awards & Closing Remarks
Chair: Sebastian Kobold, Munich, Germany & Michael von Bergwelt, Munich, Germany
14.15 – 15.00 Lunch & Farewell