DC2026 PROGRAM

DC2026 — Scientific Program
Key:
Invited Speaker (>20 min)
Short Talk (15 min)
Flash Talk & Poster (5 min)
Keynote

18th International Symposium on Dendritic Cells

11–14 October 2026  ·  Kona Kai Resort, San Diego  ·  All times in Pacific Standard Time (PST)

This program is subject to change. Please check back for updates.

Sunday, 11 October

Opening day · Registration, Inaugural Keynote & Plenary 1

📋 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM Registration Open
🎤 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM Welcome Remarks
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Inaugural Keynote Speaker
Keynote
1 talk
3:30 PM
Chromatin-mediated control of dendritic cell function
Boris Reizis
Keynote · 60 min
☕ 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM Coffee/Tea Break & Networking
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Plenary 1: DC Development, Lineage Specification & Transcriptional Control
Plenary
5 talks
5:00 PM
Mechanism of WDFY4-dependent cross-presentation in cDC1
Kenneth Murphy
Invited Speaker
5:25 PM
Blurring the Line: A Hybrid Mononuclear Phagocyte Population Across Tissues
Florent Ginhoux
Invited Speaker
5:50 PM
The transcription factor regulating tumor-associated macrophages in pancreatic cancer
Tomohiko Tamura
Invited Speaker
6:15 PM
Promoter-dependent IRF8 induction governs subset-specific cDC2 reprogramming during infection with intracellular pathogens
Daisuke Kurotaki
Short Talk
6:30 PM
Infection-specific regulation of cDC2poiesis shapes dendritic cell subset responses
Kyle T. Cunningham
Short Talk
🥂 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Welcome Reception

Monday, 12 October

Plenary 2 & 3 · Parallel Symposia A & B · Ralph Steinman Legacy Symposium

📋 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM Registration Open
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Plenary 2: DC Functional Heterogeneity: Subsets, Identity & Function
Plenary
6 talks
8:00 AM
Surveillance of intestinal antigens by functionally diverse antigen-presenting cells
Dan Littman
Invited Speaker
8:25 AM
Thetis cells: Defining the Ontogeny and Function of a Novel APC Lineage
Chrysothemis Brown
Invited Speaker
8:50 AM
Rethinking Immaturity: Signals Shaping Dendritic Cell Function in Early Life
Barbara Schraml
Invited Speaker
9:15 AM
Epigenetic Heterogeneity in Dendritic Cell Subsets Underlies Immune Response Variation
Mya Gough
Flash Talk
9:20 AM
Thymic myeloid cell heterogeneity reveals a novel population of perivascular transitional dendritic cells with antigen sampling capacity
Matous Voboril
Flash Talk
9:25 AM
Defining the factors governing intratumoral cDC1-CD8 T cell clusters
Maria Parra Reyes
Flash Talk
☕ 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Coffee/Tea Break & Networking
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Plenary 3: Tissue Surveillance, Migration & Immune Coordination
Plenary
7 talks
10:30 AM
Pathways of homeostatic dendritic cell maturation
Sophie Janssens
Invited Speaker
10:55 AM
Environment Patrolling by colonic Dendritic Cells
Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil
Invited Speaker
11:20 AM
Stromal regulation of dendritic cell and macrophage homeostasis
Shannon Turley
Invited Speaker
11:45 AM
Neuronal control of dendritic cell migration drives sex-biased skin immunity
Konrad Knöpper
Short Talk
12:00 PM
Influence of cancer cell mechanical properties on dendritic cell sentinel function
Yazmina Quintana Perez
Flash Talk
12:05 PM
Macrophage nibbling without killing: a novel endosomal route for CD8 T cell priming
Amy C Fan
Flash Talk
12:10 PM
Chemokine-Driven Spatial Niches Regulate Distinct APC-T cell Neighbourhoods within the Human Lymph Node
Marcus Ooi
Flash Talk
🍽️ 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Lunch & Poster Session 1
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Parallel Symposium A: DC Biology, Technologies & Therapeutic Opportunities
Parallel A
2:30 PM
The role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in anti-viral immunity and in homeostasis
Elena Tomasello
Invited Speaker
2:55 PM
Using mRNA-LNP technology to manipulate conventional dendritic cell biology
Justine Mintern
Short Talk
3:10 PM
The tumor-sentinel lymph node immuno-migratome reveals CCR7⁺ dendritic cells drive response to sequenced immunoradiotherapy
Robert Saddawi-Konefka
Short Talk
3:25 PM
Fine-Tuned Help: Orchestrating Dendritic Cell-T Cell Crosstalk in Antitumor Immunity
Eynav Klechevsky
Short Talk
3:40 PM
Single-cell spatial transcriptomics of fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsies links dendritic cell-enriched gut-associated lymphoid aggregates to an archetype of vedolizumab non-response
Alexis J Combes
Flash Talk
3:45 PM
Revisiting Dendritic Cells in Autoimmunity
Juan Villar Vesga
Flash Talk
3:50 PM
Large Scale Production of Human Conventional Type I Dendritic Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy
Sreekumar Balan
Flash Talk
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Parallel Symposium B: DC Metabolism & Cellular Programming of Function & Fate
Parallel B
2:30 PM
Connecting DC metabolism and function
David Sancho
Invited Speaker
2:55 PM
Conventional dendritic cells exhibit tissue-specific characteristics that are regulated by mitochondrial metabolism
Stefanie K Wculek
Short Talk
3:10 PM
O-GlcNAcylation regulates dendritic cell transcriptional stability
Jose A Villadangos
Short Talk
3:25 PM
IL-21 as a central driver of immunosenescence: linking pulmonary dysfunction and neurodegeneration
Anshu Agrawal
Short Talk
3:40 PM
Dying cell-derived polyamines modulate dendritic cell phagocytosis and adaptive priming
Chang Y Moon
Flash Talk
3:50 PM
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Inhibition Activates Mito-calcium/mtROS/IL-12 Axis in Dendritic Cells to Promote Tumor Suppression
Mridula Prakash Menon
Flash Talk
☕ 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM Coffee/Tea Break & Networking
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Ralph Steinman Legacy Symposium: Foundational Discoveries that Shaped the Field
Legacy Symposium
4 talks
5:00 PM
Dendritic Cells: the first 30 years with Ralph Steinman
Jacques Banchereau
Invited Speaker
5:20 PM
Title coming soon
Ira Mellman
Invited Speaker
5:40 PM
Ralph Steinman's legacy in dendritic cell targeting and the balance between tolerance and protective immunity
Laura Bonifaz
Invited Speaker
6:00 PM
Transcription factor Etv3 controls the tolerogenic function of dendritic cells
Nicholas M Adams
Short Talk

Presentations are followed by reflections on Ralph Steinman's training and mentorship legacy from Bei Wang, Diana Dudziak, Shannon Turley, Björn Clausen, Juliana Idoyaga & Shin-ichiro Fujii.

🍽️ 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM Dinner on Your Own

Tuesday, 13 October

Plenary 4 & 5 · Parallel Symposia C & D · Trainee Session · Conference Dinner

📋 7:00 AM – 5:30 PM Registration Open
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Plenary 4: DCs in Skin Immunity: Function, Communication & Adaptation
Plenary
7 talks
8:00 AM
What Makes a Dendritic Cell? Lessons from Langerhans Cells
Clare Bennett
Invited Speaker
8:25 AM
Commensal-DC interactions reinforce early life tolerance at the skin barrier
Tiffany Scharschmidt
Invited Speaker
8:50 AM
How tissues sustain resident T cell immunity
Laura Mackay
Invited Speaker
9:15 AM
Sequential priming by distinct dendritic cell subsets shapes effector CD4 T cell fate
Yosuke Kumamoto
Short Talk
9:30 AM
Distinct dendritic cell subsets drive sequential T cell priming phases
Enrico Dotta
Flash Talk
9:35 AM
Langerhans cells fine-tune axonal guidance of nociceptor neurons in health and disease
Yonatan Ganor
Flash Talk
9:40 AM
Characterization of type-2 dendritic cell populations in skin
Olivier Lamiable
Flash Talk
☕ 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Coffee/Tea Break & Networking
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Plenary 5: DCs in Mucosal Immunity, Homeostasis & Host Defense
Plenary
7 talks
10:30 AM
Unravelling Dendritic cell-CD4+ T cell crosstalk in the inflamed mucosa of Crohn’s disease patients
William Agace
Invited Speaker
10:55 AM
Distinct antigen-presenting cells instruct divergent microbiota-specific T cell fates in the intestinal immune system
Daniel Mucida
Invited Speaker
11:20 AM
A subset of DC specialized in tolerance induction
Marco Colonna
Invited Speaker
11:45 AM
Dysbiosis-induced expansion of AXL-positive inflammatory type 3 dendritic cells triggers pre-clinical autoimmunity
Roxane Tussiwand
Short Talk
12:00 PM
STAT1 signalling shapes the function of type 2 conventional dendritic cells in lungs of weanling mice
Kaushikk Ravi Rengarajan
Flash Talk
12:05 PM
RORγt+ Dendritic Cells are a distinct lymphoid-derived lineage
Patrick Fernandes Rodrigues
Flash Talk
12:10 PM
GM-CSF and specific type 2 cytokines induce CD103+ and CD301b+ cell states in cDC1s and cDC2s
Diana Dudziak
Flash Talk
🍽️ 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Lunch & Poster Session 2
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Parallel Symposium C: DCs in Infection & Host Defense
Parallel C
2:30 PM
Cellular Stress Meets Immunity: IRE1-Dependent Programming of Dendritic Cell Function
Fabiola Osorio
Invited Speaker
2:55 PM
Plasmacytoid dendritic cell adaptations upon viral infection: heterogeneity, functional loss and fate conversion
Carolina Chiale
Short Talk
3:10 PM
Dendritic Cell Diversity During Blood Stage of Murine Malaria
Fernando B Sulczewski
Short Talk
3:25 PM
Defining the role of human anogenital antigen-presenting cells in HIV transmission
Andrew N Harman
Short Talk
3:40 PM
Inflammatory signals during viral infection and sepsis impact dendritic cell development
Regine J. Dress
Flash Talk
3:45 PM
Deciphering the mechanisms underlying human plasmacytoid dendritic cell function and exhaustion
Dina Zangwill
Flash Talk
3:50 PM
Functional heterogeneity of splenic DC2 subsets during acute LCMV infection driven by subset identity
Dimitrios Starfas
Flash Talk
2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Parallel Symposium D: DCs in Tolerance, Allergy, Autoimmunity & Chronic Inflammation
Parallel D
2:30 PM
Signaling through erythropoietin receptors on cDC1s promotes immune tolerance
Edgar Engleman
Invited Speaker
2:55 PM
Pleiotropic IL-10 can drive opposite effects in dendritic cells following MHC-II restricted, antigen-specific tolerogenic immunotherapy
Rebecca Leylek
Short Talk
3:10 PM
SIRPα regulates homeostatic maturation of Notch2-dependent cDC2 and development of autoimmunity
Yasuyuki Saito
Short Talk
3:25 PM
Dissecting IL-10 signaling in myeloid antigen-presenting cells during colorectal tumor development
Björn E. Clausen
Short Talk
3:40 PM
Oxidized mitochondrial DNA drives pDC-dependent Tfh differentiation in autoimmunity
Hongxu Xian
Flash Talk
3:45 PM
Spatially organised IFNγ-instructed dendritic cell niches sustain human chronic inflammation
Andreas Schlitzer
Flash Talk
3:50 PM
Reprogramming suppression: CD40-activated dendritic cells drive Treg-to-effector conversion
Vivien I Maltez
Flash Talk
☕ 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Coffee & Trainee Session (Meet the Editor)
🌅 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM Free Afternoon
🎉 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM End of Conference Networking Dinner

Wednesday, 14 October

Plenary 6 & 7 · Translational Roundtable · Closing Keynote & Awards

📋 7:00 AM – 4:00 PM Registration Open
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Plenary 6: DCs in Cancer Immunity & Therapy
Plenary
6 talks
8:00 AM
CCR7+ activated dendritic cells: defining the state that drives cancer immunity
Santiago Zelenay
Invited Speaker
8:25 AM
On the Nature of Antigen Uptake and Presentation in the TME
Max Krummel
Invited Speaker
8:50 AM
The exceptionalism of the cDC1 lineage and its central role in tumor immunity
Miriam Merad
Invited Speaker
9:15 AM
Dissecting hierarchical dendritic cell–T cell interactions in tumour immunity using in vivo enzymatic labelling
Aleksey Chudnovskiy
Short Talk
9:30 AM
Context-Dependent DC2 States in Human Cancer
Kristen Radford
Short Talk
9:45 AM
Regulation of anti-cancer immunity by a natural killer cell – dendritic cell innate immune axis
Kevin C Barry
Short Talk
☕ 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Coffee/Tea Break & Networking
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Plenary 7: Translating DC Biology into Therapies: Vaccines & Beyond
Plenary
5 talks
10:30 AM
Next-gen DC1 immunotherapy: Making the theoretical possible
Shalin Naik
Invited Speaker
10:55 AM
Inducing lymphoid niches across cancers by tumor-to-dendritic cell reprogramming
Filipe Pereira
Invited Speaker
11:20 AM
Tim-3–Targeted Vaccines Overcome Tumor Immunosuppression and Reduce cDC1 Dependence to Elicit Potent Anti-Tumor Immunity
Aimin Jiang
Short Talk
11:35 AM
Spatiotemporal Coordination of NK Cells and CTLs Drives Remodeling of Poorly T Cell–Infiltrated Tumor Microenvironments
Shin-ichiro Fujii
Short Talk
11:50 AM
CAR-DC1: A novel next-generation dendritic cell therapy for targeting solid tumours
Shengbo Zhang
Flash Talk
🍽️ 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Lunch
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Translational Roundtable: From DC Biology to Therapeutics
Roundtable
1:30 PM
Panel discussion: Bridging fundamental dendritic cell biology to clinical therapeutic application
Panellists TBA
Invited Session
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Closing Keynote
Keynote
1 talk
2:30 PM
Title coming soon
Virginia Pascual
Keynote · 60 min
🏆 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM Awards & Closing Ceremony