UT MD Anderson and Nature to Co-Host Conference on Next-Generation Cancer Therapeutics

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Springer Nature will co-host a conference to explore the latest research on cancer therapeutics, highlighting advances in the development of next-generation treatment modalities and the technologies enabling them. “Next Generation Cancer Therapeutics” is scheduled for Oct. 6-8, 2026, on the UT MD Anderson campus.

The meeting, organized by UT MD Anderson clinicians and scientists together with colleagues from Nature Cancer, Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, will feature presentations and poster sessions as well as talks from 23 invited speakers. Topics include next-generation biologics and immunotherapies, such as T cell engagers, cancer vaccines, in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) approaches, oncolytic virotherapy and microbiome-based therapies.

Topics also will cover new paradigms in targeted protein modulation, including molecular glues, proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and RNA degraders, as well as emerging therapies for oncogenic drivers, such as RAS proteins. Additionally, talks will cover how artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating therapeutic development through AI-assisted drug design and screening, biomarker-guided patient stratification, agentic AI systems and foundation models.

“We are thrilled to welcome colleagues from around the world for the Next Generation Cancer Therapeutics conference,” said Albert Koong, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer at UT MD Anderson. “Meetings like this do more than just showcase innovation; they help define the next-generation therapeutics and AI-enabled discoveries of the future. By bringing experts and innovators to our campus, we can help the scientific community accelerate the exchange of ideas and forge collaborations that turn promising platforms into life-saving treatments for our patients.”

The five sessions, occurring over three days, will cover the following topics:

• Next-generation biologics
• Next-generation immunotherapy
• Next-generation targeted therapies
• Next-generation therapeutic platforms
• Artificial intelligence in therapeutics

The conference features keynote presentations from Christina Curtis, Ph.D., RZ Cao Professor of Medicine, Genetics & Biomedical Data Science from Stanford University, and Paul Workman, Ph.D., OBE, Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics from The Institute of Cancer Research.

“The Nature journals are delighted to be returning to UT MD Anderson to co-host the second in a series of Nature Conferences,” said Alexia-Ileana Zaromytidou, Ph.D, chief editor of Nature Cancer. “Our topic this year is next-generation cancer therapeutics, arguably the most exciting area of cancer research in academia and the industry. We are looking forward to welcoming researchers from around the world to discuss their work on the next phase for immunotherapies, next-generation targeted therapies, cancer biologics and nanomedicine, but also how state-of-the-art technologies like artificial intelligence are informing drug design and discovery and therapy decisions for patients.”

More information on the conference, including a full agenda and links to register or submit abstracts, can be found on the Nature conferences website.