PHILADELPHIA (February 17, 2025) — Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Cancer Epigenetics Institute (CEI) will hold its fifth annual free hybrid Cancer Epigenetics Symposium at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on Thursday, March 6. The annual event welcomes researchers and scientists to share their work and learn more about the latest discoveries that will bring epigenetics to the forefront of patient care.
A major goal of this international symposium is to bring world-class science to a global audience at any educational level. This year’s symposium will discuss topics ranging from gene regulation to 3D genomes to aging and therapeutics.
“We are excited to be bringing back our annual symposium and to be welcoming some of the best minds in academia, pharma, and biotech to share the latest scientific discoveries in the field,” said Johnathan Whetstine, PhD, Director of the CEI. “These speakers offer a look at some of the most important fundamental findings in epigenetics as well as the potential clinical impact these advancements may have for patients.”
The symposium keynote will be delivered by Anne Brunet, PhD, Michele and Timothy Barakett Endowed Professor at Stanford University, and Robert Kingston, PhD, Chief Academic Officer at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.
“The American Association for Cancer Research is thrilled to be a Gold Sponsor of this annual flagship event,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Symposia like this are an important vessel for bringing the latest basic science discoveries to the forefront of patient care. The fact that this symposium has attracted more than 3,000 registrants from over 20 countries since it launched in 2021 is a testament to its impact and the contribution it is making to cancer science.”
Additional speakers at the event will represent such institutions as Princeton University, the National Health and Medical Research Council, Humboldt University, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Université libre de Bruxelles, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
The symposium will also include a poster session for in-person attendees and prizes will be awarded for the top three selected poster presentations from trainees. Former C. David Allis CEI travel award recipients will present their research in the afternoon.
Additionally, two individuals will be awarded the Curie Fellowship at the symposium, which will allow them to participate in the 20th anniversary Curie International Course on epigenetics at the Institute Curie in Paris. Chloe Azadegan, a doctoral candidate at Drexel University, and Madison Dautle, a doctoral student at Temple University, were selected as this year’s trainees through a partnership between the CEI and the Institute Curie.
This link was established when Geneviève Almouzni, PhD, former Director and now Honorary Director of the Research Center of the Institute Curie, was a keynote speaker at last year’s CEI symposium. Almouzni recently joined the External Advisory Board of the CEI as well.
There will also be a mid-afternoon translational session with biotech-pharma leaders where attendees can learn about the development of the next generation of epigenetic technologies and therapies. Representatives from Arima Genomics, AstraZeneca, CAMP4 Therapeutics Corporation, Daiichi Sankyo, and VYNE Therapeutics will speak during that session.
“What makes this symposium so valuable is that it is accessible to a wide audience and encourages scientists of all levels to share important work that they do every day,” said Whetstine. “It is always rewarding to see the trainees present and witness their excitement as they receive the Cancer Epigenetics Institute travel awards or poster prizes for their scientific discoveries.”
The program will run from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. The event is free but advanced registration is required. The meeting will also be available virtually for those who are unable to attend in person.
To register and learn more about the symposium, click here.
The sponsors for this year’s event are:
- 10X Genomics
- American Association for Cancer Research
- Active Motif
- Arima Genomics
- AstraZeneca
- Avantor Sciences
- biomodal
- CAMP4 Therapeutics Corporation
- Daiichi Sankyo
- Dovetail Genomics
- Element Biosciences
- EpiCypher
- Epigenome Technologies
- Genes & Development
- Hologic Diagenode
- Illumina
- MedChemExpress
- New England Biolabs
- Oxford Nanopore Technologies
- PacBio
- Qsonica LLC
- Stellar Scientific
- VYNE Therapeutics