2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting
DCEG scientists will present their research at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from April 17 - 22, 2026.
See below for the DCEG-led workshops, presentations, and posters.
The full program can be found on the AACR website.
Saturday, April 18
The 21st AACR Undergraduate Student Caucus and Poster Competition (USCPC) will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2026, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego during the AACR Annual Meeting 2026.
Posters
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title |
|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Syracuse | 21st Annual AACR Undergraduate Student Caucus and Poster Competition (USCPC) | Comprehensive characterization of somatic structural variations and mutations in cancer cell lines using Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing |
| Sama Mikhail | 21st Annual AACR Undergraduate Student Caucus and Poster Competition (USCPC) | APRV03-HPV Vaccination and Self-Sampling for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Globally and in Underserved Settings |
Sunday, April 19
Presentations
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haoyu Zhang | Population Sciences at the Forefront 1: Risk Factors Influencing Cancer Incidence and Survival | The Confluence Project: Largest multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of breast cancer identifies 469 susceptibility loci in over two million participants | 3pm |
| Thi Van Trinh Tran | Clinical Research - From Real World Data to Medicine-based Evidence | Distinct Histology of Lung Cancer in people who have never smoked and Prognostic Determinants in Non-Mucinous Adenocarcinoma | 3pm |
| Eleanor Watts | Olink Spotlight Theater | Proteomics to Inform Hepatocellular Carcinoma Etiology and Detection | 3:30pm |
| Mustapha Abubakar | PICR/PSWG Town Hall | From pixels to populations: Computational pathoepidemiology of multi-step mammary carcinogenesis | 6:30pm |
Posters
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tawnjerae Joe | Late-Breaking Research: Molecular/Cellular Biology and Genetics | Cervical Cancer in Guatemala: Molecular Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis by Rare HPV types | 2pm |
| Olivia Lee | Genomic Dissection to Define Novel Therapeutic Strategies | Genomic landscape of targetable drivers in lung cancer | 2pm |
| Tongwu Zhang | Late-Breaking Research: Molecular/Cellular Biology and Genetics 1 | Whole-genome sequencing reveals distinct mutational mechanisms across endometrial cancer subtypes | 2pm |
Monday , April 20
Talk to Experts from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
Presentation: "Opportunities in Clinical Cancer Genetics in the Intramural Research Program"
Presenter: Dr. Sharon Savage, Clinical Director
Time: 9:30am
Presentation: "The NCI Intramural Fellowship Playbook: How to Stand Out and make the Right Choice for Your Goals"
Presenter: Dr. Jackie Lavigne, Director, Office of Education
Time: 10:30am
Presentations
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria Teresa Landi | AACR-JCA Joint Session: Lung Cancer in Never-Smokers (Session Co-Chair) | Sherlock-Lung: Charting the landscape of lung cancer in never smokers | 2:30pm |
| Brenen Papenberg | Oncogenic Transcriptional Control: From Chromatin to Cell Fate | Epidemiology meets epitranscriptomics: Uncovering a novel TERT-antisense transcript regulated by RNA methylation and its role in cancer cell growth and proliferation | 2:30pm |
| Mustapha Abubakar | Precision Prevention: Advances in Early Detection and Risk Assessment | Single-cell pathology of the normal breast uncovers occult cytomorphologic signatures that signal future cancer risk and etiologic origins | 2:30pm |
| Kara Barnao | Precision Prevention: Advances in Early Detection and Risk Assessment | Therapy-associated clonal hematopoiesis and risk of hematologic malignancy after primary cancer treatment | 2:30pm |
Posters
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rebecca Kelly | Biomarkers of Endogenous or Exogenous Exposures, Early Detection, Biological Effects, and Prognosis | Mosaic loss of the Y chromosome in leukocytes is associated with increased incidence of non-aggressive prostate cancer in 278,998 cancer-free males | 9am |
| Monjoy Saha | Digital Pathology 2 | Deep learning of H&E slides adds prognostic value beyond IASLC grading in non-mucinous lung adenocarcinoma among never-smokers | 9am |
| Corey Young | DNA Methylation | Clonal expansion of leukocytes harboring mosaic chromosomal alterations accelerates epigenetic aging and reshapes local DNA methylation | 9am |
| Demetrius Albanes, MD | Epidemiology: Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Patterns, and Methodology (in the Population Sciences session) | Pre-diagnostic circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and prostate cancer survival: A collaborative analysis of 13 prospective studies | 9am |
| Ibrahim Hossain Sajal | Integrative Computational Approaches 1 | Integrative analysis identifies potential proteomic intermediates associated with renal cell carcinoma and its risk factors | 9am |
| Eun Mi Jung | Epidemiology: Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Patterns, and Methodology | An investigation of etiologic heterogeneity across transcriptomic subtypes of clear cell renal cell carcinoma in two case-control studies | 9am |
| Kelvin Cesar de Andrade | DNA Methylation | Distinct genome wide DNA methylation signatures due to pathogenic germline variants in DKC1, TERC, and TINF2 | 9am |
| Mitchell Machiela | Bioinformatics / Computational Biology / Systems Biology / Convergent Science | Long-read sequencing of 15 Ewing sarcoma cell lines uncovers extensive GGAA microsatellite variation shaping the landscape of EWSR1::FLI1 binding | 9am |
| Garrett Hendley | Biomarkers of Endogenous or Exogenous Exposures, Early Detection, Biological Effects, and Prognosis | Protective role of abundant healthy stroma against breast cancer: A prospective cohort study of healthy women in the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank | 9am |
| Batel Blechter | Genetic Epidemiology 1: GxE, GWAS, Polygenic Risk Scores, and Post-GWAS | Mitochondrial DNA breaks and copy number and the risk of lung cancer in never-smoking women | 2pm |
| Eleanor Watts | Metabolism and Microbiome in Cancer Initiation and Prevention | Updated meta-analysis incorporating the largest evidence base to date | 2pm |
| Hasset Nurelegne | Genetic Epidemiology 1: GxE, GWAS, Polygenic Risk Scores, and Post-GWAS | Defining cancer risk germline variants in shelterin complex genes - a genome-first analysis | 2pm |
| Payal Khincha | Prevention, Early Detection, and Interception | Performance of longitudinal cancer screening in Li-Fraumeni syndrome | 2pm |
| Charles Breeze | Genetic Epidemiology 1: GxE, GWAS, Polygenic Risk Scores, and Post-GWAS | Genome-wide association study of mantle cell lymphoma identifies novel loci suggesting a critical role for B-cell chromatin readers and DNA repair mechanisms | 2pm |
| Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson | Genetic Epidemiology 1: GxE, GWAS, Polygenic Risk Scores, and Post-GWAS | Multi-population GWAS meta-analysis identifies novel bladder cancer susceptibility loci and highlights the genetic regulation of smoking-related risk | 2pm |
| Wei Zhao | Late-Breaking Research: Tumor Biology 1 | High-resolution spatial transcriptomics identifies unique spatial programs in lung adenocarcinoma from never smokers | 2pm |
Tuesday, April 21
Talk to Experts from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
Presentation: "Opportunities in Clinical Cancer Genetics in the Intramural Research Program"
Presenter: Dr. Sharon Savage, Clinical Director
Time: 3:30pm
Presentations
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aimee Kreimer | APRV03-HPV Vaccination and Self-Sampling for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Globally and in Underserved Settings. | Single-dose HPV Vaccination: a shot in the arm for cancer prevention | 10:15am |
| Sharon Savage | Cancer Predisposition Syndromes | Cancer in Telomere Biology Disorders | 12:30pm |
Posters
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Thakur | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | H3K27ac-HiChIP variant-to-gene mapping confirms the importance of cancer drivers and oncogenic signaling pathways in melanoma risk | 2pm |
| Linh Bui-Raborn | Genetic and Transcriptomic Dissection of Cancer Evolution | A large-scale sequencing study identifies a novel non-coding structural variant as a high-penetrance susceptibility variant for melanoma | 2pm |
| Xueyao Wu | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | Genome-wide association study identifies germline susceptibility loci for acute myeloid leukemia | 2pm |
| Adino Tsegaye | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | Hysterectomy-corrected incidence of cervical cancer among women with HIV in the United States, 2001-2019 | 2pm |
| Bolun Li | Genetic and Transcriptomic Dissection of Cancer Evolution | Single-cell full-length transcriptome of lung cells reveals genetic effects on isoform regulation beyond eQTL | 2pm |
| Deborah Tadesse | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | Pre-diagnostic exposures, mutational signatures, and immune profiles in triple-negative breast cancer: an overview of the PREMISE-TN project | 2pm |
| Maxwell Akonde | Environmental and Occupational Risk Factors, Infection, and Aging | Inflammation-related exposures and histotype- specific ovarian cancer risk in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) | 2pm |
| Lindsay Morton | Genetic Epidemiology 2: Pathway Analysis, Sequencing, Functional Genetics / Family and Hereditary Studies | Distinguishing radiation-induced from sporadic thyroid cancers after the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident | 2pm |
| Kaitlin White | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | Breast Cancer Risk According to Molecular Subtype Among People Living with HIV in the United States | 2pm |
| Xiaohong Rose Yang | Late-Breaking Research: Population Sciences | Incidence patterns and temporal trends of chordoma: A population-based analysis of over 6000 cases in the United States | 2pm |
| Pior Teodorowski (including Sarah Jackson and Jonine Figueroa) | PO.SHP01.02 - Science and Health Policy 2 | Surprising myself of how much more confident I got in being able to share my voice: A qualitative study exploring patient and public engagement in cancer research | 2pm |
Wednesday, April 22
Posters
| Presenter | Session | Presentation Title | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Veith | Late-Breaking Research: Tumor Biology 3 | Subtype-specific evolutionary constraints shape the genomic architecture of adult diffuse gliomas | 9am |
| Li Feng | Population Science-Risk Prediction Modeling, Screening, Early Detection, and Preneoplastic and Tumor Markers | Tumor and Host Determinants of the Breast Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Kenyan Breast Cancer Women | 9am |