Wilmot Cancer Institute Scientific Symposium

Join us for the 30th Annual Wilmot Cancer Institute Scientific Symposium on November 6, 2025. Register here!

Wilmot continues its long tradition of bringing together basic, translational, and clinical cancer research scientists to share exciting findings, new projects, and success stories. This year’s keynote speaker will be Ashani Weeraratna, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, E.V. McCollum Professor, and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Weeraratna is an expert in melanoma metastasis, Wnt signaling, and aging. Her research focuses heavily on the effects of the tumor microenvironment on metastasis and therapy resistance. Beyond the lab, she serves as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board, advocates for early-career researchers, and promotes skin safety practices, ranging from the use of sunscreen to the avoidance of tanning beds.

Dr. Weeraratna was among the first to study how the aging microenvironment influences metastasis and therapy resistance in melanoma. Her research encompasses biophysical changes that impact the migration capabilities of both tumor and immune cells, as well as the integrity of vasculature, which in turn shapes the routes of metastasis. Additionally, it involves secreted factors that drive metastatic signaling and therapeutic responses. The Weeraratna laboratory has also conducted a comprehensive analysis of how the aged microenvironment promotes metastasis, utilizing a unique resource of normal skin fibroblasts from healthy donors of various ages, proteomics analysis, and animal models. These findings could potentially lead to changes in clinical practice, as her team is discovering age-related differences in responses to both targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

Click here for the 2025 Symposium Agenda

Wilmot Symposium Scientific Abstract Competition

Competition Guidelines

Wilmot Cancer Institute invites all University of Rochester students, trainees, and faculty members to submit abstracts on basic, translational, or clinical cancer-related research for the 30th Annual Scientific Symposium. In this context, "cancer-related" may be interpreted broadly. One abstract will be selected from each of Wilmot’s research focus areas to present at the symposium, and the remaining entries will be invited to participate in the scientific poster competition. All submissions must include the abstract title, authors with affiliations, research category, and the full abstract. Abstract submissions must be in Word or PDF format and cannot exceed 300 words. The categories are:

• Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabolism
• Cancer Microenvironment
• Cancer Prevention & Control
• Community Outreach and Engagement
• Clinical Research

Selection Process and Prizes

The faculty judges will select one abstract from each category to present at the Wilmot symposium. The remaining abstract submissions are invited to display posters during the scientific poster session, which will occur during the symposium luncheon. The faculty judges will review the posters during lunch, and one winner will be chosen for each category.

The Wilmot Symposium abstract competition is now closed. Please check back in September 2026 for the next submission opportunity.

Past Symposium Events 

2024 Scientific Symposium Recap

The 2024 keynote presenter was Jen Jen Yeh, MD, Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. Dr. Yeh presented “Leveraging Pancreatic Tumor Heterogeneity for Precision Oncology Approaches.” Dr. Yeh joined the faculty at UNC in 2005 as a physician-scientist with an active surgical oncology practice focusing on endocrine and pancreatic cancers. She is the Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery and co-director of Clinical Research at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is the founding director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center's Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence. She has led a sustained research program that has contributed to significant discoveries in the genomic and phenotypic characteristics of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. 

Scott Gerber was chosen as the 2024 Davey Award winner. The Davey Award is presented each year to a University of Rochester faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to cancer research. Dr. Gerber is a tumor immunologist and Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery, Microbiology and Immunology, and Radiation Oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Gerber is also a member of the Cancer Microenvironment Research program at Wilmot Cancer Institute. Dr. Gerber’s laboratory is home to several research projects on harnessing the immune system to recognize and kill cancerous cells. The immune system is typically effective at protecting the body from viruses and bacteria, but it often struggles to recognize and combat cancer. Immune cells can identify and destroy cancer cells, but tumor cells can change immune cells to support the growth of the tumor and weaken the body's response to cancer. The Gerber laboratory is working on reversing this process by "re-activating" the immune cells to attack and eliminate the tumor. This is achieved through a new form of cancer treatment known as immunotherapy, which enhances the body's immune system to combat cancer and has shown promising results in fighting tumors. Immunotherapy has the potential to change how doctors treat cancer and could be the key to eliminating it.

Dr. Gerber received his first R01 award from the National Cancer Institute in 2019 for his project entitled “Development of a New Strategy to Treat Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer” (R01CA230277). He currently serves as MPI with Dr. David Linehan on the project “Repolarizing the Tumor and Metastatic Microenvironments to Treat Patients with Pancreatic Cancer” (R01CA262580). He is also MPI on a collaborative project with Roswell Cancer Center focused on “Targeting adrenergic stress pathways to increase tumor sensitivity to radiation and promote the development of an anti-tumor immune response” (R01CA236390). Dr. Gerber was also awarded several internal pilot grants, including a CTSI pilot award, a University Research award, a UR/UB Genomics Collaborative Pilot award, and the Wilmot Cancer Institute Collaborative award.

Additionally, over 90 abstracts were submitted in October. Of those, five were selected to present oral presentations at the event. The oral presentations were given by:

1. Cancer Microenvironment = “Taurine Transporter SLC6A6 Promotes Myeloid Leukemia Progression by Regulating Glycolysis” presented by Sonali Sharma, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Bajaj Lab
2. Cancer Prevention and Control = “Walking Dose Required to Achieve a Clinically Meaningful Reduction in Cancer-Related Fatigue Among Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy: A URCC NCORP Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study” presented by Lindsey Mattick, MPH, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Surgery (Cancer Control)
3. Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabolism = “Neat1 Drives Subtype Switch and Aggressiveness in Pancreatic Cancer” presented by Zamira Soares, PhD, Staff Scientist in the Mello Lab
4. Clinical Research = “The Rochester Protocol for Living Donor Liver Transplantation of Unresectable Colorectal Liver Metastasis: A 5-Year Report on Selection, Approval, and Outcomes” presented by Matthew Byrne, MD, Resident in the General Surgery Residency Program
5. Community Outreach and Engagement = “Addressing electronic cigarette cessation among Latino young adults via community-based participatory research” presented by Rafael Orfin, Senior Human Subject Research Specialist.

Finally, more than 70 posters were presented during the poster presentations. The following entries were selected as poster award winners:

1. Cancer Microenvironment = “Taurine Can Accelerate Acute Myeloid Leukemia Progression” presented by Christina M. Kaszuba, Graduate Student in the Biomedical Engineering PhD Program
2. Cancer Prevention and Control = “The mediational relationship of insomnia and cancer-related fatigue among cancer survivors: A nationwide multicenter phase III RCT of yoga and cognitive behavioral therapy,” presented by Po-Ju Lin, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Cancer Control
3. Genetics, Epigenetics, and Metabolism = “Neat1 cooperates with SWI/SNF to maintain pancreas cell identity,” presented by Emily Berry, MS, Graduate Student in the Biomedical Genetics PhD Program
4. Clinical Research = “Abaloparatide indirectly modulates the hematopoietic stem cell niche in myelodysplastic syndromes despite mutational heterogeneity: A phase I trial with combined bevacizumab” presented by Jozal Moore, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Division of Hematology & Oncology)
5. Fan Favorite = “Enhanced Efferocytosis by Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Decreases Support for the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Lineage,” presented by Swachi Patel, Undergraduate Student in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Program

2023 WCI Scientific Symposium

Norman "Ned" Sharpless, MD, former director of the National Cancer Institute and professor of medicine, cancer policy, and innovation at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in North Carolina, delivered the keynote address. Karen Mustian, PhD, associate director for Population Science at Wilmot, leader of Wilmot’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program (CPC), and a professor in the Department of Surgery, received the Davey Award for Outstanding Research. Over 100 abstracts were submitted, with five selected for oral presentations and more than 90 for poster presentations. View the agenda from the 2023 Wilmot Symposium.

2022 WCI Scientific Symposium 

Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Ph.D., Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Immunobiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, presented “Immunometabolism in Inflammation and the Obesity-Cancer Connection.” Paula Vertino, Ph.D., Wilmot Distinguished Professor in Cancer Genomics, received the Davey Award for outstanding cancer research. Additionally, nine poster presentations received recognition. View the agenda from the 2022 Wilmot Symposium.