Biology of Cancer: Microenvironment & Metastasis Cold Spring Harbor, New York September 24 – 28, 2019 ABSTRACT Cancer is now recognized as an abnormal organ where multiple cell types cooperate during cancer initiation and metastatic progression. Enormous progress has been made on identifying genetic, epigenetic and metabolic alterations in tumor cells and characterizing the different cell types composing a tumor, understanding the mechanisms by which these cell types interact with each other, developing ways to image the changes in a tumor and exploring therapeutic opportunities that take into account the non-malignant cells. Thus, there is an emergence of a need for an integrative approach for controlling cancer. However, most cancer meetings are organized to focus on one or two aspects of the many aspects of the biology of tumor. The proposed meeting takes an integrative approach to create a platform and bring together world leaders in different aspects of cancer biology, genetics, epigenetics, metabolism, signaling, immunology, diagnostics, and therapeutics to discuss the latest findings and promote dialogue aimed at solving the chief problems that prevent durable responses in the clinic. We believe that such an integrative approach will certainly trigger discussions and interactions that cross the disciplinary borders and find new ways to develop and deliver novel therapeutic strategies for controlling cancer. The fifth rendition of this biennial conference will draw participants from academic labs, research institutes and biotech/pharmaceutical industries, and will include leaders in the field, established investigators, junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and corporate scientists. To ensure the presentation of the most cutting edge results many speakers will be chosen based on the quality of abstracts submitted to the meeting coordinators and session chairs several months prior to the meeting. To maximize broad participation, efforts have been made to include outstanding women scientists and scientists from abroad as session chairs and invited speakers. Each session will be chaired by two leading scientists in the field selected by the organizers. Oral presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts by the session chairs in consultation with the organizers. Selected speakers will include graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty aiming for maximal inclusion of young investigators. Of special importance are the two poster sessions and panel discussion. The poster session provide an opportunity for many participants to present their work in an atmosphere conducive to informal discussion and the panel discussion engages thought leaders and the participants on one highly debated topic on the role played by personalized cancer medicine in improving cancer treatment. The meeting will be of moderate size and we expect about 300 people to attend, the vast majority of whom will be presenting a poster or talk.

Biology of Cancer: Microenvironment & Metastasis Cold Spring Harbor, New York September 24 – 28, 2019 PROJECT NARRATIVE Cancer is a heterogeneous disease consisting of evolving neoplastic cells and multiple non-neoplastic cell types that cooperatively interact to form a tumor during cancer initiation and metastatic progression. Heterogeneity within tumors underlies disease progression and resistance to therapies. Recent accomplishments include the identification of a litany of genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic alterations that are intrinsic to tumor biology and that represent new therapeutic opportunities. Additionally, a greater appreciation of the tumor microenvironment has led to the identification of new factors that promote tumorigenesis such as exosomes, and new ways to harness the immune system to prevent metastases and promote the clearance of neoplastic cells. The fifth rendition of this biennial conference will bring together an international group of scientists who work on these processes to discuss the latest advances in their field.