XXXI Porto Cancer Meeting - Breaking Boundaries: Adhesion regulation in Cancer

14-16 May 2025 | i3S, Porto, Portugal

It is our great honour to welcome you to the XXXI Edition of the Porto Cancer Meeting. Hosted by the i3S-Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, the largest health research institute in Portugal, the meeting is a historic discussion forum, bringing together leading researchers, scientists, and clinicians in the cancer field. The XXXI Porto Cancer Meeting will focus on the intricacies of cancer cell connections and its implications in cancer development and progression. By coupling basic discoveries with translational and clinical research, the event will foster interdisciplinary interactions addressing fundamental mechanical and biochemical processes, which orchestrate cellular functions and tissue organization. This knowledge will impact our capacity to tackle cancer diagnosis, management and treatment. Ultimately, this conference will witness ground-breaking discoveries, novel therapeutic approaches and collaborative efforts that will shape the future of oncology.

Poster >>

Sandra Tavares
Ana Sofia Ribeiro
Joana Figueiredo
Florence Janody
Joana Paredes
Eurico Morais de Sá

Day 1 | 14^th May 2025

14:30 - 15:00 Welcome Session

15:00 - 17:00 | Session 1: Cell-Cell Adhesion as a Tumour Suppressive Mechanism

15:00 - 15:40 Physical and biochemical signatures of an invasive cancer program triggered by E-cadherin dysfunction
Joana Figueiredo, i3S, Portugal

15:40 - 16:20 Biomechanical regulation of epithelial barrier dynamics in health and disease
Carien Niessen, CECAC, University of Cologne, Germany

16:20 - 16:40 Selected Talk

16:40 - 17:00 Selected Talk

17:00 - 17:30 Porto Honour and Snacks

17:30 - 19:00  Poster Session 1
Networking and poster presentations

Day 2 | 15^th May 2025

09:00 - 11:00 | Session 2: Mechanical Regulation of/by Adhesion

09:00 - 09:40 Signaling by Adhesion Complexes in the Stepwise Progression of Diffuse-Type Gastric Cancer
Martijn Gloerich, UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands

09:40 - 10:20 Loss of cell adhesion and breast cancer progression
Patrick Derksen, UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands

10:20 - 10:40 Selected Talk

10:40 - 11:00 Selected Talk

11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break

11:30 - 13:00  Poster Session 2
Networking and poster presentations

13:00 - 14:30 Lunch Break

14:30 - 17:40 | Session 3: Molecular Mechanisms of Adhesion Signaling

14:30 - 15:10 Defining the molecular state basis of metastasis
Andrew Ewald, Johns Hopkins University, USA

15:10 - 15:30 Selected Talk

15:30 - 15:50 Selected Talk

15:50 - 16:20 Coffee Break

16:20 - 17:00 From border cell migration in Drosophila to an enhanced cancer immunotherapy
Denise Montell, UCSB, USA

17:00 - 17:20 Selected Talk

17:20 - 17:40 Selected Talk

20:00 Meeting dinner

Day 3 | 16^th May 2025

09:30 - 12:40 | Session 4: Therapeutic Targets & Clinical Insights

09:30 - 10:10 Advances in Early Detection and Risk Stratification in Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer: A Path Towards Personalized Treatment
Rachel S van der Post, Radboud Institute, The Netherlands

10:10 - 10:30 Selected Talk

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 - 11:40 Chemputers and Fly Avatars: Targeting Cancer Networks
Ross Cagan, University of Glasgow, UK

11:40 - 12:00 Selected Talk

12:00 - 12:40 Germline Determinant's of Non-Cohesive Cancers: Coding and Non-Coding Mechanisms
Carla Oliveira, i3S, Portugal 

12:40 - 13:00 Awards and Closing Session

Joana Figueiredo, i3S, Portugal

Joana Figueiredo graduated in Applied Biology at University of Minho in 2005 and completed her PhD at the Medical Faculty of University of Porto in 2012, under the supervision of Professor Raquel Seruca. During her PhD, she became fascinated by cancer biology and identified trafficking-related partners altered by E-cadherin dysfunction associated with Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer.

Currently, Joana Figueiredo is an Assistant Researcher at the Intercellular Communication and Cancer Group from i3S and at the Medical Faculty of University of Porto, where she investigates the crosstalk between cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in pathological conditions. She has been challenging conventional perspectives on E-cadherin mutations by demonstrating that they cause a range of clinical phenotypes beyond hereditary gastric cancer, namely cleft lip/palate and hereditary lobular breast cancer.

Joana Figueiredo has been keen to address her scientific questions in an innovative and multidisciplinary way, involving in vitro, in vivo and in silico models in the context of an international collaborative network. Her ambition is to advance our understanding of E-cadherin as more than a cell-cell adhesion molecule, which ultimately can be targeted for the benefit of patients.

Carien Niessen, Cecac, Cologne, Germany

Carien Niessen is a cell biologist and full professor and head of the Department Cell Biology of the Skin at the University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne. She did her PhD with Arnoud Sonnenberg at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam working on the integrin a6b4, which is mutated in skin blistering diseases, and her postdoc with Barry Gumbiner at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York when she started working on cadherins and adherens junctions. She then moved to Cologne to become a group leader at the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne and subsequently an associate professor at the Department of Dermatology before becoming full professor. Since 2019 she is the scientific director of the excellence cluster CECAD focused on Aging and Aging-associated Diseases.

Martijn Gloerich, UMC, Utrecht, Netherlands

Martijn Gloerich is an Associate Professor at the Center for Molecular Medicine at UMC Utrecht in The Netherlands. His lab investigates how cells integrate mechanical signals from their environment to maintain healthy homeostasis and how disruptions in force-dependent communication contribute to tumor progression. To achieve this, his team employs innovative bioengineering and cell biology approaches to modulate and visualize forces and to unravel downstream signaling events. Martijn applies this molecular knowledge to uncover how physical signals regulate the cellular processes underlying epithelial homeostasis and tumorigenesis.

Martijn earned his PhD with honors in the lab of Professor Johannes Bos, where he focused on small GTPases. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training in Professor James Nelson’s lab at Stanford University, where he investigated how cells respond to physical signals. During this time, he identified a link between cell-cell adhesions and the mitotic spindle, elucidating how epithelial cells divide within the tissue plane.

As an independent group leader at UMC Utrecht, Martijn has established a research program dedicated to the force-dependent regulation of epithelial homeostasis, leveraging organoid models to study these processes. His lab has uncovered mechanisms by which epithelial cells adapt their rate of cell division to compensate for cell loss and coordinate cell division with tissue integrity. Furthermore, in close collaboration with clinicians, Martijn has translated his findings to improve the understanding of tumor development in patients, revealing how physical cues contribute to the progression of intestinal and gastric tumors.

Denise Montell, UC Santa Barbara, USA

Denise Montell earned her BA in Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and her PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University, followed by postdoctoral studies at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. She joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry in 1992 and rose through the ranks to Full Professor. At JHUSOM, she also served as the Founding Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics. After 20 years at JHUSOM, she returned to her California roots and joined UCSB as the Duggan Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Professor Montell’s research focuses on identifying the molecular and genetic mechanisms that drive cellular behaviors such as motility, phagocytosis, and stress resilience to develop novel approaches to the treatment of diseases. Professor Montell is an elected fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has served on advisory councils for NIGMS, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes. She is a two-time winner of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award and the recipient of the 2024 E. B. Wilson Award of the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2021 she was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences.

Patrick Derksen, UMC Utrecht, Netherlands

Patrick Derksen is Professor and Principal Investigator (PI) at the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht with an outstanding track record in discovery and preclinical oncology. Specialist in conditional knockout mouse models, with a focus on loss of cell adhesion and tumor progression in breast cancer. His work pivots on translation of basic scientific findings via preclinical model systems towards clinical implementation. International work experience and a strong international network builder in the academic field. He has generated high-impact publications in top scientific journals. Successful acquisition of sustained external funding (approx.1M€/year). Patrick is head of Research at the Pathology Department and Central Tissue Facility. He is a coordinator of the BSc Clinical Oncology course (Biomedical Sciences) at Utrecht University.

Finally, he is founder and chair of the European Lobular Breast Cancer Consortium (24 Institutes, 50+ PI’s, 5 patient advocates, 22 countries) in part sponsored by COST (CA19138).

Andrew Ewald, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA

Dr. Ewald earned his BS in Physics from Haverford College and his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Caltech, then completed postdoctoral training at UCSF. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2008 and is now the Virginia DeAcetis Professor of Basic Cancer Research and Director of the Department of Cell Biology in the Johns Hopkins Medical School. He is also Co-Leader of the Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Program in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the founding Director of the Giovanis Institute for Translational Cell Biology. Dr. Ewald is internationally recognized for his research on the molecular mechanisms of cancer invasion and metastasis, has given over 100 invited talks and received awards from diverse societies and foundations. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Science Foundation, the JKTG Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the METAvivor Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Rachel S van der Post, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Rachel S. van der Post (nickname: Chella) is an experienced clinical pathologist and Associate Professor of Hereditary Cancer at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Since completing her pathology training and obtaining her PhD in 2017, with a focus on familial gastric cancer, she has established herself as a leading expert in hereditary cancers. Chella’s research, widely supported by grants, is centered on rare cancers, including gallbladder cancer and hereditary gastrointestinal tumors, with a particular focus on gastric cancer. Her research integrates histologic analysis, computational pathology, molecular cancer progression, and clinical approaches, providing a comprehensive view of hereditary cancer diagnostics and progression.

Chella is an active member of various national boards, such as the Dutch expert group of gastrointestinal pathologists and the Dutch pathology association; she contributes to clinical gallbladder/cholangiocarcinoma guidelines and hereditary colorectal cancer guidelines. Internationally, she collaborates on several working groups, including the IGCLC for hereditary gastric cancer guidelines, the ICCR for pathology reporting standards, and the WHO Blue book authorgroup. During her 2023–2024 research sabbatical in Dunedin-University of Otago, New Zealand, Chella deepened her expertise in hereditary gastric cancer research and preclinical cancer (organoid) models. With over 90 peer-reviewed publications and multiple PhD students under her guidance, she is a recognized authority in upper gastrointestinal pathology and hereditary cancer research.

Ross Cagan, University of Glasgow, UK

Dr. Cagan is currently the Regius Professor of Precision Medicine and holds several directorial and leadership roles at the University of Glasgow, co-founded Medros Inc., serves on the board of Vivan, and is a Wohl Fellow of the Royal Society. As Academic Lead of the UKRI Living Laboratory and Director of SHIRE, he is working with a team to improve Scotland's healthcare and biotechnology sectors.

Dr. Cagan is currently the Regius Professor of Precision Medicine and holds several directorial and leadership roles at the University of Glasgow, co-founded Medros Inc., serves on the board of Vivan, and is a Wohl Fellow of the Royal Society. As Academic Lead of the UKRI Living Laboratory and Director of SHIRE, he is working with a team to improve Scotland's healthcare and biotechnology sectors.

Carla Oliveira, i3S, Portugal

Carla is internationally recognized for her work in E-cadherin/CDH1-related diseases and hereditary cancer. Her main research interests are 3-fold: 1) disclose the missing heritability in Hereditary Gastric Cancer (HGC); 2) identify genotype-phenotype corrections in carriers of pathogenic variants in cancer-associated syndromes and; 3) develop biomimetic models to understand cancer initiation and identify early disease biomarkers in germline variant carriers. Her team discovered CDH1 and CTNNA1 germline mechanism causing HGC, characterized associated genotype-phenotype associations and developed a novel Stomach-on-a-chip setup with peristalsis for studying stomach diseases ex-vivo.

Carla Oliveira graduated in Biochemist (Coimbra, PT 1996), completed a PhD in Human Biology (Cambridge, UK & Porto, PT 2002), two post-docs (Paris, FR 2004 and Vancouver, CA 2005). Became Junior Researcher at Ipatimup in 2005, and Junior Group Leader in 2008. She was Invited researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (Tubingen, DE 2011-2012), returning to Tenure-track Group Leader position at Ipatimup (now i3S) in 2013. She is a Certified Consultant for gastric-cancer related syndromes at Ipatimup-Diagnostics, Professor at the Fac. Medicine, Univ. Porto, PT, and was the CEO of Bioinf2Bio Bioinformatics Company. She is the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of European Society of Human Genetics and member of its Scientific Program Committee (2017-2025); the past President of the Portuguese Society of Human Genetics, after serving as Chair of its Scientific Program Committee from 2017-2021; National Coordinator of the European Reference Network (ERN) on genetic tumour risk syndromes GENTURIS. She led the Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer branch of the ‘Solve-RD - solving the unsolved rare diseases’ EU-Project (https://solve-rd.eu/), and currently coordinates the PREVENTABLE EU-project, leading teams from 16 Institutions across Europe to understand cost-effectiveness of active surveillance and disease prevention in asymptomatic carriers of cancer-predisposing variants (https://preventable.eu).

She has been granted funds for Human Resources and Research projects totalling >16M€, spoke in >150 conferences, publishing 220 papers (H-index 61 cited >18.000 times). She trained 72 researchers at various career stages in postgraduate programs and supervised >30 students to completion.

15^th May 2025 | 20:00 | Dinner at Casa Agrícola Restaurant

Address: Rua do Bom Sucesso 347 361, 4150-150 Porto

Meeting dinner fee: 41€

The call for abstracts will be open until 26^th February 2025 (notification of acceptance until 12^th March). The abstract will be evaluated and selected either for oral communication or poster communication.

Abstracts should be structured according to the following template:

Abstract template >>

Abstract submission is closed.

Anyone who has submitted an abstract must be registered until the early bird registration otherwise their communication will be withdrawn from the program.

Registration fee includes the lunch on 15^th May and coffee breaks.
The participation in the meeting dinner is suject to payment (41€).

Fees:

Early bird registration until 19th March 2025 | Payment deadline: 19th March 2025
- i3S members, P.CCC Raquel Seruca members & Students*: 75€
- ASPIC members**: 75€
- External participants: 160€

Late registration until 1st April 2025 | Payment deadline: 10th April 2025
- i3S members, P.CCC Raquel Seruca members & Students*: 95€
- ASPIC members**: 95€
- External participants: 180€

* Students should enclose a letter confirming their status signed by their supervisors or other documents that prove their status.

** Limited to 10 participants.

Registration form >>

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Email: events@i3s.up.pt | Tel: +351 226 074 900