eDyNAmiC
Meet eDyNAmiC, whose challenge is to understand the biology of ecDNA generation and action, and develop approaches to target these mechanisms in cancer.
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Extrachromosomal DNA
This conference took place in June 2025.Currently viewing section: About
About
The first edition of the Cancer Grand Challenges Conference Series took place in June 2025 at The Royal Society. The event convened 160 researchers from around the globe to discuss extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) — a field that Cancer Grand Challenges brought into the spotlight by setting the extrachromosomal DNA challenge in 2020 and funding team eDyNAmiC, led by Paul Mischel.
Researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds, came together to discuss emerging concepts, unanswered questions, and the future direction of the ecDNA field. With tools, datasets, and experimental models now sufficiently advanced, the meeting aimed not only to share cutting-edge science but also to strengthen an open and collaborative community to accelerate progress for patients.
The programme included 18 invited speakers and 20 selected talks, spanning discussions on the basic mechanisms of ecDNA formation, maintenance, and function, including their roles in transcription, replication, and inheritance. Speakers also explored how ecDNAs contribute to tumour initiation, progression, evolution, and treatment resistance. In addition, the conference showcased pioneering technologies to generate and study ecDNAs, bioinformatic tools for their detection, and chemical probes to better understand and target them.
The conference was sponsored by Boundless Bio and supported by American Friends of Cancer Research.
Programme
All talks will take place in the Wellcome Lecture Hall. Refreshments and the poster session will take place in City 1, 2 and 3, which are all found on the ground floor.
| 8.30am - 9.30am | Registration Light refreshments will be served |
| 9.30am - 10am | Welcome From Cancer Grand Challenges and the organising committee |
| Session one | Basic Mechanisms of ecDNA formation, maintenance and function |
| 10am - 10.45am | Paul Mischel (Chair and Organiser), Standford University, US Opening Plenary: Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA): Cancer’s Dynamic Circular Genome |
| 10.45am - 11.15am | Howard Chang (Organiser), Amgen, US Cancer genes beyond chromosomes |
| 11.15am - 11.45am | Break Refreshments will be served |
| 11.45am - 12.00pm | Venkat Sankar, Stanford University, US
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| 12.00am - 12.15pm | Lotte Brückner, Charité and Max Delbrück Center Berlin, DE
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| 12.15pm - 12.45pm | Maite Huarte, University of Navarra, ES Noncoding RNAs in the coordination of DNA replication and genomic stability |
| 12.45pm - 1.00pm | Aurélie Diman, University of Geneva, CH
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| 1pm - 2.00pm | Lunch Break Lunch will be served |
| Session one continued | Basic mechanisms of ecDNA formation, maintenance and function |
| 2pm - 2.30pm | Peter Ly, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US Mechanisms of ecDNA formation from chromothripsis |
| 2.30pm - 2.45pm | Ofer Shoshani, Weizmann Institute of Science, IL
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| 2.45pm - 3.00pm | Andrea Degasperi, University of Cambridge, UK
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| 3.00pm - 3.30pm | Kathy Burns, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, US A retrotransposon in cancer: the marker and the mutator |
| 3.30pm - 4pm | Break Refreshments will be served |
| 4pm - 4.45pm | Panel discussion: Open questions in ecDNA research: the future of the field and integrating ecDNA throughout cancer research Chair: Paul Mischel, Standford University, US Panellists: Charlie Swanton, Francis Crick Institute, UK. Kathy Burns, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, US. Matt Vander Heiden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US. Safia Danovi, Senior Editor, Nature Genetics, UK. Co-Speaker: Chris Bailey |
| Session two | Impact of ecDNAs in cancer initiation, progression, evolution, detection and treatment |
| 4.45pm - 5.15pm | Charlie Swanton (Chair), Francis Crick Institute, UK The tissue-specific, immunoregulatory, and prognostic landscape of ecDNA in cancer |
| 5.15pm - 5.30pm | Lukas Chavez, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, US Selected talk: Circular extrachromosomal DNA associates with poor survival across a wide spectrum of childhood cancers |
| 5.30pm - 5.45pm | Magnus Haughey, Barts Cancer Institute, UK
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| 5.45pm - 6.15pm | Martine Roussel, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, US MYC oncogenes are amplified in ecDNAs in paediatric embryonal brain tumors |
| 6.15pm - | Poster Session & Welcome Reception |
| 8.30am - 9am | Registration and light refreshments |
| Session two continued | Impact of ecDNAs in cancer initiation, progression, evolution, detection and treatment |
| 9am - 9.30am | Mariam Jamal-Hanjani (Chair and organiser), University College London Cancer Institute, UK Tracking ecDNA from early to late stage lung cancer in the TRACERx and PEACE studies |
| 9.30am - 10am | Florent Mouliere, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institutue, UK ecDNA as a biomarker for cancer detection and treatment response from liquid biopsies |
| 10am - 10.15am | Vincenzo Corbo, University of Verona, IT
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| 10.15am - 10.45am | Matt Vander Heiden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US Influence of metabolism on cancer progression |
| 10.45am - 11.15am | Break Refreshments will be served |
| 11.15am - 11.30am | Weini Huang, Queen Mary University of London, UK
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| 11.30am - 11.45am | Kadir C. Akdemir, MD Anderson Cancer Center, US Selected talk: Integrative Multi-Omic Analysis Reveals Distinct Microenvironmental and Transcriptional Features of ecDNA-Driven Glioblastomas |
| 11.45am - 12pm | Aditi Gnanasekar, Stanford University, US
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| 12pm - 12.30pm | Birgitte Regenberg, University of Copenhagen, DK
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| 12.30pm - 1.30pm | Lunch Break Lunch will be served |
| Session three | Novel technologies to generate, manipulate and study ecDNAs |
| 1.30pm - 2pm | Vineet Bafna (Chair), University of California, San Diego, US The sequence and 3-dimensional structure of ecDNA |
| 2pm - 2.15pm | Jens Luebeck, University of California, San Diego, US
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| 2.15pm - 2.30pm | Sihan Wu, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US
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| 2.30pm - 3pm | Isidro Cortes-Ciriano, EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute, UK Rearrangement mechanisms underpinning ecDNA formation and evolution in human cancers |
| 3pm - 3.30pm | Break Refreshments will be served |
| Session three continued | Novel technologies to generate, manipulate and study ecDNAs |
| 3.30pm - 3.45pm | Matthew G. Jones, Stanford University, US
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| 3.45pm - 4.00pm | Jedrzej Jaworski, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK
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| 4pm - 4.15pm | Ivy Tsz-Lo Wong, Stanford University, US
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| 4.15pm - 4.30pm | Sina Jasmin Wille, German Cancer Research Center, DE
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| 4.30pm - 5pm | Andrea Ventura, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US In vivo and ex vivo engineering of oncogenic ecDNAs |
| 8am - 8.30am | Registration and light refreshments |
| Session four | Targeting ecDNAs in cancer: novel therapeutics and the role of the immune system |
| 8.30am | Ben Cravatt (Chair), Scripps Research, US Activity-based protein profiling for ligand discovery of ecDNA-relevant biochemical pathways |
| 9.00am | Anton Henssen, Charité and Max Delbrück Center Berlin, DE Selected talk: Mitotic Segregation of Extrachromosomal DNA as a Therapeutic Vulnerability in Cancer
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| 9.15am | Marco Novais-Cruz, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, NL Selected talk: ecDNA-containing cells as a target of irradiation-induced damage |
| 9.30am | Yardena Samuels, Weizmann Institute of Science, IL Revisiting the neoantigen approach to cancer immunotherapy |
| 10am | Christian Hassig, Boundless Bio, US
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| 10.15am - 10.45am | Break Refreshments will be served |
| Session four continued | Targeting ecDNAs in cancer: novel therapeutics and the role of the immune system |
| 10.45am | Panel discussion - From science to medicine Co-chairs: Anton Henssen, Charité Berlin, DE. Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, University College London Cancer Institute, UK. Panellists: Howard Chang, Amgen, US. Zachary Hornby, Boundless Bio, US |
| 11.45am - 12.15pm | James Chen, UT Southwestern Medical Center, US Sensing ecDNA in cancer as danger |
| 12.15pm - 12.30pm | Closing remarks |
Sponsored by
Speakers
Scientific themes
ecDNA has emerged as one of the most pressing and challenging problems in cancer. ecDNAs, oncogene-containing circular DNA fragments found outside of chromosomes, play a crucial role in cancer development and progression. ecDNAs allow cancer cells to quickly evolve and adapt to changing environments and treatments, and thus are a significant clinical problem, as major contributors to treatment resistance and poor outcome. Conceptually ecDNA biology is fascinating – sitting at the interface of genetics and epigenetics. ecDNA biology is also vitally relevant - being linked to treatment resistance and poor outcome in patients. Understanding and exploiting ecDNA biology promises to transform the fundamental understanding of cancer and potentially revolutionise its treatment.
Although first observed over 50 years ago, the importance of ecDNA in cancer has only recently come to light, with the field undergoing a revolution, making major leaps towards understanding mechanistically how ecDNAs form and function, how they evolve to resist treatment, how they impact the immune system, and critically how they can be effectively targeted therapeutically.
Topics included:
- Exploring how ecDNAs originate
- Understanding how ecDNAs function
- How ecDNAs contribute to cancer development and evolution?
- How do ecDNAs contribute to therapy resistance?
- How does ecDNA evade and manipulate the immune system?
- Clinical impact of ecDNAs
- How can ecDNAs be targeted therapeutically?
- What tools are available to study ecDNAs?
Scientific Steering Committee
This conference is being organised by a dedicated steering committee, chaired by:
Meet the committee members below.
Event information
Attendees wishing to cancel their place can receive a full refund up to 30 working days before the event start date. All cancellations must be made in writing to events@cancergrandchallenges.org by 12 May. Any cancellations received after this date will not be refunded. Attendees can send a replacement free of charge.
Cancer Grand Challenges is co-founded and operationally delivered by Cancer Research UK (CRUK). The refund policy, code of conduct and guiding principles will be implemented at all CRUK events delivered by Cancer Grand Challenges. Cancer Research UK is not liable for any travel or accommodation costs relating to attendee bookings.
The conference will be held at The Royal Society, located at 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG. Please see venue and transport link information below:
- Stations Charing Cross (underground and national rail) and Piccadilly Circus (underground) are both a 7 – 10 minute walk
- For travel to London by rail or DLR, consult National Rail Enquiries
- For travel within London, including from airports, consult Transport for London Journey Planner
- We advise travelling by public transport, but should you wish to drive, use directions to The Royal Society. The venue is located within the congestion charge zone. On-street parking on Carlton House Terrace and Waterloo Place is available for up to four hours, for £3.30 - £4.40 per hour. Westminster City Council's Trafalgar Square car park is also near by
The Royal Society is in a central London location with many hotels near by. See below a few suggestions; we strongly recommend booking early to secure a good rate:
Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the important information below regarding how we run our events:
- Guiding principles for our events
- Code of Conduct
- Prioritising environmental sustainability
- Regarding health and safety, we work closely with venues to ensure the health and safety of all our attendees. Sanitising stations are available throughout conference rooms and we provide sanitiser at our registration desks. In certain instances, we may hire HEPA filters to improve the quality of air filtration at a venue. Face masks and COVID-19 tests are also available onsite should attendees wish to use these
Get in touch
If you have any questions about this event, please send us an email at events@cancergrandchallenges.org. We'll endeavour to respond to you within two working days.
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