EMBO Workshop: The Many Faces of Cancer Evolution

EMBO Workshop: The Many Faces of Cancer Evolution is organized by European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and will be held from May 27 - 29, 2026 at Rockisland Rimini, Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Description:
Cancer evolution is a multi-faceted process and a major clinical challenge. Indeed, tumors constantly change as they progress through multiple mechanisms, the understanding of which is critical to anticipate disease phenotypes and responses to therapy.

This EMBO Workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary community of scientists to facilitate discussion and collaboration on genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of cancer evolution. We will explore a wide spectrum of oncogenic drivers and molecular data types, with a focus on their impact across the three main phases of cancer evolution: initiation, progression, and relapse. This choice was driven by some of the most exciting findings in the last few years exploring, e.g., cancer-associated genetic and non-genetic alterations in normal cells (field cancerization), emerging technologies to monitor tumor progression and response to therapy (e.g., liquid biopsies), and the preponderant role of cell plasticity and lineage reprogramming in therapeutic resistance.

Cancer evolution is a multifaceted problem, and as such, a prism of complementary ideas is needed to understand and harness this process.