IASLC Hot Topic Meeting to Shed Light on Immunoresistance
The clinical application of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 have shown significant and durable survival increases for a subset of patients with advanced NSCLC. However, a challenge to using ICIs in lung cancer remains in understanding the biology of resistance, including predictive biomarkers beyond PD-L1 expression and the factors controlling de novo or acquired resistance. Improve your understanding of immunoresistance at IASLC’s 2023 Hot Topic in Basic & Translational Science: Resistance to IO in NSCLC, which will take place November 10-12 in Brussels, Belgium.
The meeting kicks off with a keynote address by Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD, who is director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Pardoll has made several basic advances in cellular immunology, including the discovery of gamma-delta T cells, NKT cells, and interferon-producing killer dendritic cells. During the past two decades, Dr. Pardoll has studied molecular aspects of dendritic cell biology and immune regulation, particularly related to mechanisms by which cancer cells evade elimination by the immune system. He is an inventor of several immunotherapies, including GVAX cancer vaccines and listeria monocytogenes-based cancer vaccines.
In addition to the keynote by Dr. Pardoll, the program includes many other sessions and posters with experts who will present and discuss the latest emerging data on immunoresistance in NSCLC. Register by August 30, 2023, to receive an early registration discount.
Lung Cancer Research Foundation Appoints New Executive Director
The Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) recently announced Aubrey Rhodes will now lead the organization as its new executive director. Ms. Rhodes joined Free to Breathe, a legacy organization of LCRF, in 2016 as head of community engagement and outreach and was promoted to senior vice president of strategy of LCRF in 2021.
Ms. Rhodes succeeds former executive director Dennis P. Chillemi, who recently retired. Mr. Chillemi had served as the foundation’s executive director since November 2018.
LCRF is a nonprofit organization focused on funding innovative, high-reward research with the potential to extend survival and improve quality of life for people with lung cancer. LCRF’s mission is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of lung cancer. To date, LCRF has funded 409 research grants, totaling nearly $42 million. For more information, visit LCRF.org.
