CANCER’S LEADING THINKERS. TOGETHER IN ONE ROOM. 2026 SPRING FORUMS RECAP
INSIDE TWO FORBECK FORUMS: CANCER’S SHIFTING IDENTITY AND THE BIOLOGY OF AGING
This spring, the William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation convened two of its signature small-group Forums, each bringing together leading scientists to wrestle with questions at the frontier of cancer research. CANCER AND AGING: CONVERGENT AND OPPOSING FORCES From March 8–11 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA, a Forum tackled a fundamental question: why aging is the single strongest risk factor for cancer, outweighing obesity, smoking, and most inherited genetic syndromes. Chaired by Alejo Efeyan, PhD (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas) and Nada Y. Kalaany, PhD (Harvard Medical School), the Forum brought together researchers spanning genetics, epigenetics, immunology, and metabolism to explore how aging and cancer are mechanistically intertwined. Discussion ranged
across the effects of an aging immune system on cancer’s ability to take hold and evade treatment, how aging tissue responds differently to injury and abnormal cells, and the puzzle of why some cancers barely correlate with age at all while others rise sharply. Participants also probed a striking epidemiological curiosity: CENTENARIANS APPEAR TO CARRY UNUSUAL PROTECTION AGAINST CANCER , raising the question of whether that resistance could be understood and eventually replicated. Organizers noted that studying aging and cancer together has historically been hampered by a shortage of models suited to both processes at once, but new tools in single-cell and spatial biology are finally making it possible to pursue the two in tandem. Forbeck Scholars Claire Han, PhD, DNP, APRN-CNP (Ohio State University) and Eric Sun, PhD (Stanford University) joined the discussions alongside 12 senior investigators. CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF CELLULAR PLASTICITY IN CANCER Two months later, from May 3–6 in Princeton, NJ, 17 researchers gathered under the chairmanship of Cory Abate-Shen, PhD (Columbia University Irving Medical Center) and Ben Stanger, MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) to tackle one of cancer biology’s most confounding phenomena: cellular plasticity, the process by which cancer cells change their identity in ways that drive tumor initiation, resistance to therapy, and metastasis. Plasticity has become a hot topic in cancer research in recent years, formally recognized as a “Hallmark of Cancer” in 2022 and named a Cancer Grand Challenge. Yet the molecular logic behind it remains poorly understood: some cancer cells revert to programs reminiscent of their embryonic origins, while others shift identity in ways scientists still can’t fully explain. The Forum drew experts working across melanoma, prostate, lung, colorectal, liver, and pancreatic cancers, along with clinicians and computational biologists studying the problem from different angles. A RECURRING THEME EMERGED: DESPITE WORKING IN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TUMOR TYPES, PARTICIPANTS KEPT RECOGNIZING THE SAME UNDERLYING PATTERNS IN EACH OTHER’S DATA. That convergence, organizers said, points toward shared principles of plasticity that could eventually be exploited therapeutically. The meeting also paired two Forbeck Scholars, Rodrigo Romero, PhD (Memorial Sloan Kettering) and Clint Stalnecker, PhD (University of North Carolina), with senior investigators for the kind of cross-generational exchange the Forums are designed to foster.
SHARED PURPOSE
Though the two forums addressed different questions, both reflect the Foundation’s model: assembling a small, interdisciplinary group of scientists who might not otherwise collaborate and giving them the time and space for the kind of unscripted discussion that can reshape a field. Both meetings are available as podcast previews featuring the Forum chairs, offering a closer look at the science driving each conversation.
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