Francisca Vazquez, PhD, director of the Cancer Dependency Map Initiative at the Broad Institute, delivered the keynote address, titled “Mapping the Landscape of Cancer Dependencies.”
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and the University of Georgia hosted 175 researchers for the 2026 UGA–Winship Cancer Research Summit at the Emory Conference Center Hotel on March 20. The annual event draws on the complementary strengths of the two institutions and serves as a forum for sharing knowledge and advancing joint efforts in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This year’s theme was “Transforming Cancer Care Through Comparative and Translational Innovation.”
Francisca Vazquez, PhD, director of the Cancer Dependency Map Initiative at the Broad Institute, delivered the keynote address, titled “Mapping the Landscape of Cancer Dependencies.” Vazquez’s presentation was complemented by 15 faculty and student talks from UGA and Winship investigators, who shared compelling advances in cancer biology, therapeutic strategies, biomarker discovery, disease-model engineering and data‑driven approaches to improving cancer care.
Poster Award Winners
The summit concluded with a reception and a scientific poster session featuring work by students, trainees and lab members from both institutions, with the top posters earning awards.
UGA and Winship poster award winners include:
- Discovery of cell surface glycoproteomic biomarkers for pancreatic cancer via selective exo-enzymatic labeling of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens
Sydney Bedillion
PhD Student, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Georgia
Principal Investigators: Michael Tiemeyer, PhD, and Lance Wells, PhD - Potency testing of human brain tumor targeting cellular immunotherapies using a vascularized GBM-on-chip
Amin Davarzani, PhD
Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Georgia
Principal Investigators: Lohitash Karumbaiah, PhD, and Leidong Mao, PhD - High-throughput force assay for screening of CAR T cell function
Anna Davis, PhD
Student, Biomedical Engineering
Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator: Khalid Salaita, PhD - Mutation-driven neo-protein-protein interactions: an untapped pharmacological vulnerability in cancer
Joyce Muthoni Kariuki
Graduate Student, Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
Emory University
Principal Investigator: Haian Fu, PhD - A non-canonical EZH2/TRIM28 epigenetic axis drives heparan sulfate remodeling and melanoma metastasis
Neil Patel
PhD Student, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Georgia
Principal Investigator: Ryan Weiss, PhD - Genome-wide multiomics uncovers IAPs and DISC components as actionable vulnerabilities in overcoming immune evasion in TP53-inactivated acute myeloid leukemia
Ogacheko Okoko, PhD, MSc
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Emory University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator: Shruti Bhatt, PhD - Sub-5 nm M2-Targeted Nanoparticles for CSF-1R Inhibitor Delivery to Reprogram Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Orthotopic Glioblastoma
Anbu Mozhi Thamizhchelvan, PhD
Assistant Scientist, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences
Emory University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator: Hui Mao, PhD
Steering Committee
A joint UGA–Winship steering committee led the summit’s planning and programming:
- Lawrence Boise, PhD (Winship)
- Zachary Buchwald, MD, PhD (Winship)
- Brooke Cherven, PhD, MPH, RN, CPON (Winship)
- Eugene Douglass, PhD (UGA)
- Andrey Ivanov, PhD (Winship)
- Natarajan Kannan, PhD (UGA)
- Lohitash Karumbaiah, PhD (UGA)
- Gregory Lesinski, PhD, MPH (Winship)
- Jonathan Paul Mochel, PhD (UGA)
- Amy O’Dell (Winship)
- Joelle Szendel (UGA)
- Shaying Zhao, PhD (UGA)
