The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the first and largest cancer research organization dedicated to accelerating the conquest of cancer. Through its programs and services, the AACR fosters research in cancer and related biomedical science, accelerates the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and others dedicated to the conquest of cancer, promotes science education and training, and advances the understanding of cancer etiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment throughout the world.
The AACR Annual Meeting program covers the latest discoveries across the spectrum of cancer research — from population science and prevention to cancer biology, translational and clinical studies to survivorship and advocacy — and highlights the work of the best minds in research and medicine from institutions all over the world.
The AACR Annual Meeting 2026 is April 17-22 in San Diego. Check out University of Florida presentations below. UF Health Cancer Institute members appear in bold. Presenters appear in underline.
Mini Symposiums
April 20 | 3:35-3:50 p.m.
4082 – The gut microbiota influences chronic sleep deprivation-induced colorectal cancer progression and treatment response
M.C. Hernandez, Y. Yang, C. Jobin
April 20 | 2:35-2:50 p.m.
4087 – Senescent cancer cells facilitate metastasis by adhesion-mediated clustering and immune modulation
S. Anvar, C. Maharjan, Z. Chen, J. D Somers, Z. Jin, H. Kates, S. H. Ramirez, A. M. Andrews, B. M. Runyon, M. E. Carelock, Y. Zhang, J. Liu, W. Zhang, L. Cui
April 20 | 3:05-3:20 p.m.
4026 – Spatial T-cell receptor profiling uncovers barriers to T-cell engagement and shared tumor-reactive clonotypes in high-risk neuroblastoma
Y. Jiang, W. Yu, S. Pedersen, J. Eagles, A. Thadi, A. Naranjo, N. B. Collins, S. DuBois, R. Bagatell, B. D. Crompton, K. Tan, T. J. Pugh
Poster sessions
April 19 | 2-5 p.m.
316 / 1 – Subcellular localization of PARP1 by protein kinase D1 modulated cellular response to olaparib
Sanjeev Shukla, Joseph McGrath, Robert Willis, Arjun Venkatesh, Jean-Pierre Kanumuambidi, Reynier Rodriguez-Rosales, Mario Mietzsch, Robert McKenna, K.C. Balaji
762 / 7 – A tunable 3D organoid model reveals stiffness-dependent stromal activation and cytokine signaling in pancreatic cancer
Carolyn M. Ruiz-Rivera, Ba Xuan Hoang, Jamel Ali, Thomas D. Schmittgen, Bo Han
903 / 16 – Socioeconomic and system-level factors influencing receipt of advanced NSCLC surgery
Nimish Valvi, Francesca Kowalik, Dejana Braithwaite, Mihika Shinde, Hiren Mehta, Shama Karanth
771 / 16 – ECM stiffness and glutamine availability rewire metabolic and immune phenotypes in 3D Co-culture models of pancreatic cancer and cancer-associated fibroblasts
Jonathan Barajas, Carolyn Ruiz, Zhi Yang, Bo Han, Edward Agyare, Xueyou Zhu, Saun-Joo Yoon
997 / 24 – Development of polyHis-targeting chimeras (HisTACs) for targeted protein degradation
Annan Sun, Dong Zhu, Hui Chen, Monica Billitti, Lingtao Jin, Dongwen Lyu, Guangrong Zheng
April 20 | 9 a.m. to noon
2386 / 22 – Evaluating ABCC1 as a potential prognostic biomarker in laryngeal cancer health outcomes
Christina Gobin, Matthew Chang, Jai Walker, Kristianna Fredenburg
2323 / 22 – Associations of stromal markers with breast terminal duct lobular involution
Yaileen D. Guzman-Arocho, Lusine Yaghjyan, Laura C. Collins, Brian R. Sardella, Maisey Ratcliffe, Rulla M. Tamimi, Yujing J. Heng
2324 / 23 – Associations of circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 with the expression of stromal markers in women with benign breast tissue
Lusine Yaghjyan, Yu Jing J. Heng, Brian R. Sardella, Maisey Ratcliffe, Rulla M. Tamimi
2003 / 29 – Comprehensive genomic profiling of angiosarcoma cells reveals widespread activation of the RAS pathway
Donghee Lee, Sun Hee Choi, Md Abdullah, Eslenur Nipa, Jong Hyuk Kim
2356 / 22 – Reliability of stromal markers multiplex immunofluorescent staining: Pathologist assessment compared to quantitative image analysis
Lusine Yaghjyan, Yaileen D. Guzman-Arocho, Yu Jing J. Heng, Brian R. Sardella, Gurzhikhan Murtazaalieva, Graham A. Colditz, Dongtao Fu, Krishna Patel, Bernard Rosner, Maisey Ratcliffe, Rulla M. Tamimi
2573 / 17 – Identification and characterization of platinum agent-induced chemoimmunomodulation in triple-negative breast cancer
Mariana Makarem, Kathleen Streeks, Claudia Perez Perez, Iasmim Lopes de Lima, Mohammed Gbadamosi
2574 / 18 – Identification and characterization of chemoimmunomodulatory induction trajectories in breast cancer via unsupervised transcriptomic analyses of pre- and post-treatment specimens
Iasmim L. de Lima, Kathleen H. Streeks, Elizabeth Molchan, Mariana S. Makarem, Kennedy L. Coleman, Mohammed O. Gbadamosi
2575 / 19 – Identification and characterization of anthracycline-induced chemoimmunomodulation in triple-negative breast cancer
Kennedy L. Coleman, Kathleen Streeks, Mariana Makarem, Iasmim Lopes de Lima, Mohammed Gbadamosi
5373 / 11 – Prognostic impacts of skeletal muscle gene expression and cachexia in advanced colorectal cancer
Vashti L. Bandy, Arunima Punjala, Praveen Bhoopathi, Vignesh Vudatha, KATARZYNA TYC, Mikhail G. Dozmorov, Leopoldo Fernandez, Andrew R. Judge, Sarah M. Judge, Anna Gibson
1833 / 21 – Polyisoprenylated cysteinyl amide inhibitors suppress growth, induce cytoskeletal and transcriptomic remodeling in multiple KRAS-mutated lung cancer cells
Desmond Kwakye, Chase Lilly, Kweku Ofosu-Asante, Jahnissi Frimpomah Odoom, Joshua Kofi Ablordeppey, Bianca Dal Bó, KARLA GONZALEZ, Chunli Yan, Matthew A. Gladstone, Kyle R. Phillips, Benjamin J. Ryder, Yong Huang, Ite A. Offringa, Nazarius Lamango
April 20 | 2-5 p.m.
3407 / 12 – Ensuring diverse in vitro lung cancer models: Development of alveolar epithelial cell lines, patient-derived xenografts, and lung adenocarcinoma cell lines from individuals of African ancestry
Karla E. Gonzalez, Bianca Dal Bo, Chunli Yan, Donna Loza, Matthew A. Gladstone, Anthony W. Kim, Scott M. Atay, Takashi Harano, W. Dean Wallace, Ben Y. Tew, Bodour Salhia, Beiyun Zhou, Kweku Ofosu-Asante, Kyle R. Philips, Benjamin J. Ryder, Desmond Kwakye, Chase A. Lilly, Yong Huang, Nazarius S. Lamango, Ite A. Offringa
3944 / 19 – The impact of diversity on transcriptional heterogeneity of skeletal muscle from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients
Praveen Bhoopathi, Vignesh Vudatha, Arunima Punjala, Vashti Bandy, Anna Gibson, Dongyu Zhang, Katarzyna M. Tyc, Mikhail Dozmorov, Jeremy Ducharme, Martin Schonk, Brittney Poole, Sarah Judge, Leopoldo Fernandez, Andrew R. Judge, Jose G. Trevino
3204 / 14 – DNA methylation profiling in ethnically diverse prostate tissues to identify novel biomarkers predicting prostate cancer progression
Claire A. Stevens, Leonardo Gonzalez-Smith, Colton Stensrud, Divya Ranjith, Jenaye Mack, Sarah Buxbaum, Sara Falzarano, Suhn K. Rhie
2905 / 15 – Pancreatic adenocarcinoma immune tumor microenvironment is shaped by differential miRNA expression
Maksymilian Jan Pilecki, Shannon M. Wallet, Robert Maile, Gerik Tushoski- Alemán, Song Han, Steven J. Hughes
2884 / 24 – Defined bacterial consortium highlights the impact of carcinogenic bacteria on DNA methylation and tumorigenesis
Siddhi Chitre, Claudia Mercado-Rodriguez, Anthony Pompetti, Pyounghwa Park, Raad Z. Gharaibeh, Jean-Pierre Issa, Christian Jobin
3684 / 11 – Socioeconomic and clinical predictors of survival in patients with squamous cell tonsillar cancer
Shama Karanth, Pamela Sandow, Mihika Shinde, Nimish Valvi, Kathryn Hitchcock, Cesar Migliorati, Dejana Braithwaite
2732 / 25 – Florida Cancer Research (FL CARES) network and the Platform for Accelerating Collaborative Computational Cancer Research (PAC3R)
Jeronimo Pissinis, Michael S. Sinclair, Marcin Pilarczyk, Caty Chung, Dusica Vidovic, Lukas Rupprecht, Franklin Sotolongo, Oliver Mazariegos, Kathleen M. Jagodnik, Carlos Obregon, Tingyi Li, Ling Cen, Jiang Bian, Ji-Hyun Lee, Qianqian Song, Bikhyat Adhikari, Till Krenz, Ritik Bhandari, Umamaheswari Natarajan, Gogce C. Crynen, Appu Rathinavelu, Stuart Chalk, Mondal M. Ananda, Xuefeng Wang, Vasileios Stathias, Stephan Schürer
April 21 | 9 a.m. to noon
4602 / 12 – Dual HDAC3/8 PROTAC degraders exert anti-tumor and immunomodulating effects in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Michael Y. He, Yufeng Xiao, Mehran Bakhtiari, Ting Liu, Wenxi Xu, David G. Brooks, Housheng Hansen He, Guangrong Zheng, Robert Kridel
4457 / 5 – A novel CerS2 activator, DH20931, synergizes with doxorubicin to overcome therapeutic resistance in breast cancer
Hissah Alatawi, Haritha H. Nair, Lingbao Ai, Abhisheak Sharma, Christopher Vulpe, Arun K. Sharma, Coy D. Heldermon, Satya Narayan
4511 / 2 – Dual targeting of IKKβ and NR4A1 for AML therapy
Chandra Kumar Maharjan, Yi Liu, Yufeng Xiao, Bristy Podder, Tyler Montgomery, Lei Wang, Myung-Chul Kim, Zeng Jin, Seyedehalaleh Anvar, Alexandra Stevens, Ryan Kolb, Chen Zhao, Zhijian Qian, Jatinder K. Lamba, Guangrong Zheng, Weizhou Zhang
4198 / 25 – Integrative single-cell transcriptomics and computational docking identify CCL18 as an immunomodulatory target in prostate cancer
Edwige Flore Gouegni, Gebre-Eziagbher Kiros, Renee Reams, Diana J. Wilke, Fredenburg Kristianna, Bodour Salhia
LB285 / 10 – RASH3D19 mediates RAS pathway activation and adaptive resistance to KRAS targeting drugs in cancer
Warapen Treekitkarnmongkol, Hiroshi Katayama, Deivendran Sankaran, Mei-Chee Tai, Sanchita Rauth, Hanxiao Chen, Tristian Nguyen, Kieko Hara, Fredrik I. Thege, Moorthy P. Ponnusamy, Surinder K. Batra, Huamin Wang, Ignacio I. Wistuba, Thomas D. Schmittgen, John V. Heymach, Scott Kopetz, Tony Hu, Wantong Yao, Anirban Maitra, Subrata Sen
4632 / 9 – LSD1 inhibition enhances radiotherapy efficacy in OSCC by attenuating SUMOylation and activating NK cells
Chumki Choudhury, Amit Kumar Chakraborty, Rajnikant Raut, Marilia Takada, Bikash Sahay, Minh-Tam Truong, Daniel L. Gustafson, Jenna Burton, Manish V. Bais
4644 / 21 – Protein kinase D1 modulates LET- and dose-dependent radiosensitivity in prostate cancer cells
Joseph McGrath, Sanjeev Shukla, Mohammad Saki, Hardev Grewal, Jiyeon Park, Mark Artz, K.C. Balaji
4734 / 7 – Metabolomic profiling among non-small cell lung cancer and non-cancer populations: A case-control study
Yoo-Min Koh, Jae Jeong Yang, Mi-Jeong Yoo, Qiuyin Cai, Feifei Xiao, Hiren Mehta, Lizi Wu, Hyung-Suk Yoon
April 21 | 2-5 p.m.
6354 / 9 – Unpacking clinical trial referral processes: A qualitative study of community and academic oncologists
Carma Bylund, Naomi Parker, Kelsey Lunsford, Jonathan Thomas, Margo Michaels, Tithi Amin, Stephanie Staras
6362 / 17 – Optimization of outreach and engagement of patients/survivors and community supporters to reduce the cancer burden
Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Sandra Suther, Fern Webb, John Luque, Jennifer Tsui, Carolina Aristizabal, Brooke Vintilla, IIeana Guzman, Eduardo Ibarra, Rosa Barahona, Janet Rodriguez, Pastor Rhonda Holbert, Mariana C. Stern
6349 / 4 – Engaging communities in cancer research: Outcomes from the CaRE2 health center’s 2025 community scientist ambassador program
Carolina Aristizabal, Fern Webb, Sandra Suther, John Luque, Eduardo Ibarra, IIeana Guzman, Brooke Vintilla, Janet Rodriguez, Rosa Barahona, Mariana C. Stern, Jennifer Tsui, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati
6640 / 9 – Geriatric nutritional risk index at diagnosis predicts survival in pancreatic cancer
Christina Grinstead, Saunjoo Yoon
LB394 / 24 – Adherence to CT screening and follow-up by Lung-RADS category: A multicenter cohort study
Pratibha Shrestha, Michael K. Gould, Xiangyang Lou, Gerard A. Silvestri, Dejana Braithwaite, Shama D. Karanth
5719 / 8 – Contrasting roles of MSH2 and MLH1 in basal-like breast cancer
Tanzia Islam Tithi, Jiao Mo, Nicholas Borcherding, Sung Jo, Heather R Kates, Chandra Maharjan, Seyedehalaleh Anvar, Richard L. Bennett, Jixiu Shan, Rohan A. Desa, Kailey E Cash, Masayoshi Honda, Lei Wang, Kawther K. Ahmed, Kalyanee Shirlekar, Li Chen, Katherine N. Gibson-Corley, Ronald Weigel, Jonathan D. Licht, Maria Spies, Ryan Kolb, Weizhou Zhang
5901 / 8 – Using chimeric eCLIP to uncover ancestry-related noncoding RNAs in head and neck cancer
Chayil C. Lattimore, Lu Li, Lauren Gay, Rolf Renne, Mingyi Xie, Kristianna M. Fredenburg
5694 / 10 – SQLE inhibitor triggers ovarian cancer apoptosis by causing ER stress
Cheng Chi, Lei Sun, Mahmuda Akter, Shuang Huang
5667 / 5 – Ferroptosis necessitates caspase 5 dependent GSDME cleavage in ovarian cancer
Mahmuda Akter, Lei Sun, Cheng Chi, Shuang Huang
5677 / 15 – GPX4-FTH1-ARNT signaling regulates iron efflux to suppress ferroptotic cell death and promote immune remodeling in osteosarcoma
Md Abdullah, Donghee Lee, Jong Hyuk Kim
April 22 | 9 a.m. to noon
7573 / 21 – Evaluation of a training intervention for primary care providers to prepare patients for cancer discussions with their oncologists
Carma Bylund, Alyssa Crowe, Margo Michaels, Domenic Durante, Maria Sae-Hau, Andrea Cassells, Jason Arnold, Ana Natale-Pereira, Raymond Mailhot Vega, Zhongyue Zhang, Ji-Hyun Lee, Elisa S. Weiss
7398 / 15 – Senescent regulatory T cells retain potent suppressive function in clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Temitope Mary Ogunmola, Myung-Chul Kim, Zeng Jin, Umasankar de, Lina Cui, Guangrong Zheng, Ryan Kolb, Weizhou Zhang
6880 / 24 – Optimization of a urine based NGS assay for detecting minimal residual disease in bladder cancer
Yujia Zheng, Philip H. Abbosh, Muhammed Murtaza, Rhea Arya
7566 / 14 – Use of supportive care medications is associated with pancreatic cancer tumor location at diagnosis
Hussein Khalil, Kourtney A. D. Byrd, Yi Guo, Shuang Yang, Xiwei Lou, Lisa Scarton, Sherise C. Rodgers, Diana J. Wilke, John M. Allen
7567 / 15 – Predictors of antidepressant use in older adults after pancreatic cancer diagnosis: A SEER-Medicare analysis
Hussein Khalil, Kourtney A. D. Byrd, Yi Guo, Shuang Yang, Lisa Scarton, Xiwei Lou, Diana J. Wilkie, Sherise C. Rodgers, John M. Allen
