Monday, June 16, 2025

08:00–09:00 Registration and welcome coffee
09:00–09:10 Welcome address (Bozena Kaminska - Chair of the Organizing Committee)
09:10-13.40 Session: Pediatric brain tumor: pathobiology and therapy
(chairs: Dolores Hambardzumyan, Bozena Kaminska)
09:10–10:00 Keynote lecture:
Form Follows Function: Cellular and Developmental Architecture of Pediatric Brain Tumors
Mariella Filbin, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, USA
10:00–10:35 Epigenomic Landscapes of H3K27M Mutant Gliomas
Jacek Majewski, McGill University, Canada
10:35–11:10 Myeloid cell heterogeneity and their functions in pediatric high-grade gliomas
Dolores Hambardzumyan
, Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, USA
11:10–11:40 Coffee break
11:40–12.15 Cell state and plasticity defining drug sensitivity and resistance in diffuse midline glioma
Chris Jones, The Institute of Cancer Research, UK
12:15–13.00 Oral presentations (3x15 min)
13.00-13.45 Lunch break
13.45-17.00 Session: Glioma plasticity and microenvironment
(chairs: Christel Herold-Mende, Aleksandra Ellert-Miklaszewska)
13.45-14.20 Dissecting gliomas by single cell and spatial genomics
Mario Suva, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA
14.20-14.55 Ido Amit, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
14.55-15.20 Immune microenvironment of gliomas with different genetic drivers
Bozena Kaminska, Nencki Institute, Poland
15.20–15.50 Coffee break
15.50-16.25 Christel Herold-Mende, University of Heclasselberg, Germany
16.25-17.00 Modeling and modulating antitumor immunity in 3D-bioprinted human brain tumoroids
Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Tel Aviv University, Israel
17:00–18.45 Poster session part I
19:00–21:00 Welcome reception

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

09:00–12:40 Session: Brain tumor immunology and immunotherapy
(chairs: Dinorah Friedman-Morvinski, Wiesława Grajkowska)
09:00–9:35 Mapping microglia – tumor crosstalk in pediatric brain cancer
Florent Ginhoux, Institute Gustave Roussy, France
09:35–10:10 Targeting T cells to brain tumors
Michel Platten, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
10.10-10:45 Duane Mitchell, University of Florida, USA
10:45–11.15 Coffee break
11:15-11.50 Generating metabolically superior CART cells as a novel immunotherapy to treat brain tumors
Dinorah Friedmann-Morvinski, Tel Aviv University, Israel
11.50–12.40 Keynote lecture:
Oncolytic immunoactivation to convert the GBM microenvironment
Antonio Chiocca, Harvard Medical School, USA
12.40-13.30 Lunch break
13.30–18:00 Session: Brain tumor pathobiology, diagnostics & therapy
(Chairs: Bartosz Wojtas, Joanna Trubicka)
13:30-14.05 Molecular classification of meningiomas
Felix Sahm
, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
14:05–14:40 Harnessing metabolic checkpoints for improved immune-targeted therapy against brain metastases
Lisa Sevenich
, Frankfurt Cancer Institute, Germany
14:40–15:05 Synthetic super-enhancers enable selective expression of anti- cancer payloads for viral gene therapy
Steve Pollard, University of Edinburgh, UK
15:05–15:35 Coffee break
15:35–16:10 Varun Venkataramani, University of Heidelberg, Germany
16:10–16:45 Multiome analysis of local peritumoral glioblastoma cells uncovers phenotypically unique subpopulations
Lene Uhrbom, Uppsala University, Sweden
16:45-17.35 Keynote lecture:
Epigenetic reprogramming of the tumor immune microenvironment in mutant IDH1 gliomas
Maria Castro, University of Michigan Medical School, USA
17:35–19:30 Poster session part II
20:00-23:00 Gala dinner (by invitation)

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

09:00–12:55 Session: Brain tumor pathobiology, diagnostics & therapy
(chairs: Katarzyna Leszczynska, Marta Maleszewska)
09:00–09:30 Oral presentations (2x15 min)
09:30–10:05 Advances in neurosurgery
Radosław Rola, Medical University of Lublin
10:05–10:40 Gliomagenesis as the corruption of an injury-regenerative process
Peter Dirks
, The University of Toronto, Canada
10:40–11:10 Coffee break
11:10–11:45 Reprogramming the immune microenvironment in glioblastoma: results from an immune-mediated gene therapy Phase I clinical trial
Pedro Lowenstein
, University of Michigan Medical School, USA
11:45-12:20 Targeting glioma immune escape: from mechanisms to novel therapies
Patrick Roth, University of Zurich, Switzerland
12:20–12:50 Oral presentations (2x15 min)
12:50-13:00 Closing remarks | Best Poster Award ceremony
13.00-14.00 Lunch break
14.30–16:00 Warsaw sightseeing guided tour or Run for HIT-GLIO (5 or 10 K run at the Pole Mokotowskie)