6th Australian Translational Breast Cancer Research Symposium 2022

The Australian Translational Breast Cancer Research Symposium is a one-of-a-kind event in the Australian research meeting. Its objective is to bring together the large breast cancer research community, spanning basic researchers and clinicians, for two days of updates in cutting edge translational breast research.

The plenary speakers for the 2022 meeting are Charles Perou (University of North Carolina), Prue Francis (Peter Mac) and Sherene Loi (Peter Mac). We have also assembled a national faculty of key leaders in breast cancer research.

The key themes for the 2022 meeting are:

Insights from Large Cohort studies
Novel Therapeutic Strategies
ER+ breast cancer
Immune system and Microenvironment

Registrations are limited to 350 places; and are kindly supported by our generous sponsors.

We encourage researchers and clinicians of all stages of their careers to join us.

Symposium details

Date

Thursday 6^th- Friday 7^th October 2022

Venue

The Auditorium,
Garvan Institute of Medical Research,
384 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 (Entry via Burton St)

Cost

Free.

Organising Committee

Elgene Lim, Alex Swarbrick

Contact

Tony Wang: t.wang@garvan.org.au

Speakers

Alex Swarbrick (Garvan)

Andrew Redfern (UWA)

Arcadi Cipponi (Garvan)

Bhupinder Pal (ONJRI)

Bruce Mann (Royal Melb Hospital)

Christine Chaffer (Garvan)

Charles Perou (University of North Carolina)

David Gallego (UTS)

Fiona Simpson (UQ)

Jane Visvader (WEHI)

Joakim Lundeberg (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)

Pilar Blancafort (UWA)

Prue Francis (Peter Mac)

Sean Grimmond (VCCC)

Sherene Loi (Peter Mac)

Sue Clark (Garvan)

Tatyana Chtanova (Garvan)

Theresa Hickey (Uni Adelaide)

Thomas Cox (Garvan)

Program

Please note program may be subject to change

Thursday 6th Oct 2022

9.00am: Registration opens

9.30am: Welcome by Elgene Lim (Garvan) and Alex Swarbrick (Garvan)

9.40am: Patient Reflection: Ms Renee Chahine

Session 1: Insights from Large Cohort studies

Chair: Sunil Lakhani (Uni Queensland) and Sue Clark (Garvan)

9.50am: Plenary I: Charles Perou (University of North Carolina) – Insights into mechanisms of therapeutic resistance

10.20am: Andrew Redfern (UWA) – Breast Cancer in the Indigenous Australian

10.35am: Bruce Mann (Royal Melb Hospital) - Controversies in the management of stage 0 and 1 breast cancer

10.50am: Jane Visvader (WEHI): Exploring normal and malignant breast tissue at the single cell level

11.05am: Alex Swarbrick (Garvan) – Exploring the ecosystem of breast cancer metastases at single cell resolution

11.20am: Panel Discussion

12-1pm: Lunch and networking

Session 2: Novel Therapeutic Strategies

Chair: David Croucher (Garvan) and Andrew Redfern (Uni WA)

1.00pm: Plenary II: Prue Francis (Peter Mac) – Clinical Controversies in the management of ER+ Early Breast Cancer

1.30pm: Pilar Blancafort (UWA) - Metabolic reprograming in ER+ BC

1.45pm: Fiona Simpson (UQ) – Repurposing of stemetil to improve antiHER2 therapy response.

2.00pm: Sue Clark (Garvan) – Epigenetic landscape of treatment resistant breast cancer

2.15pm: Panel Discussion

2.45-3.15pm: Coffee Networking

Session 3: Novel Therapeutic Strategies II

Chair: Wayne Tilley (Uni Adelaide) and Clare Stirzaker (Garvan)

3.15pm: Sean Grimmond (VCCC) - The COLUMN initiative (rapid challenging patient sequencing platform)

3.30pm: Arcadi Cipponi (Garvan) – Targeting Error prone DNA repair pathways

3.45pm: Theresa Hickey (Uni Adelaide) – Targeting CDK9 in TNBC.

4.00pm: Christine Chaffer (Garvan) – Targeting EMT In breast cancer

4.15pm: Liz Caldon (Garvan) - Possibilities for PARP inhibition in breast cancer

4.30pm: Panel Discussion

5:00-6:00pm: Posters, Wine, Canapés and Networking

Chair: David Hermann (Garvan) and Leila Eshraghi (Garvan)

6.30pm - late: Faculty Dinner

The Butler, 123 Victoria St, Potts Point.

Plenary speakers

Ciara Metcalfe
Senior Scientist, Translational Oncology

Ciara leads the Selective ER Degrader program at Genentech and was the lead author on a publication on the mechanism of action of this class of drugs in Cell in 2019. Ciara began her scientific training at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by graduate research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2010 she joined Genentech as a Postdoctoral Fellow, and then continued as a Scientist in Genentech’s Oncology Biomarker Department. Since 2015 she has led her own research group in the Translational Oncology department.

Professor Geoff Lindeman BSc(Med) MB BS(Hons) PhD FRACP FAHMS FAA
Joint Division Head of ACRF Cancer Biology and Stem Cells

Geoff is a clinician-scientist focusing on breast stem cell biology and translational breast cancer research. His laboratory, jointly headed with Professor Jane Visvader, is working to understand how normal and cancerous cells develop in the breast. They are using this information to advance new treatments for breast cancer. Geoff is the foremost translational breast cancer researcher in Australia, and currently leads international trials in targeting the apoptotic pathway in breast cancer, and prevention trials with denosumab in patients harbouring the BRCA1 and 2 mutations.

Sarat Chandarlapaty MD, PhD

Sarat is a physician-scientist who undertook his physician training at Wake Forest School of Medicine and his PhD at University of North Carolina. His lab focuses on understanding the regulation of growth factor signal transduction pathways that are aberrantly activated in cancers, with a focus on those implicated in breast cancer pathogenesis. Sarat is a leader in deciphering the mechanisms of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors, drugs that have been revolutionising the treatment of advanced ER+ breast cancer.