ɬÀï·¬

ASBMB Annual Meeting

Unraveling oncogenesis: What makes cancer tick?

Lydia Smith
April 7, 2025

Recent discoveries in cancer biology may bring forward an additional collection of tools in physicians’ arsenal of cancer therapeutics. Scientists now know that many cancer-associated mutations affect chromatin regulation and the function of multiprotein transcriptional complexes, which can ultimately lead to cancer development and growth. This knowledge may be used to develop future clinical approaches.

Cigall Kadoch and Greg Wang
Cigall Kadoch and Greg Wang

The ASBMB annual meeting is around the corner, and attendees can expect a wide variety of symposia offerings throughout the event. One of the symposia, oncogenic hubs: chromatin regulatory and transcriptional complexes in cancer, will focus on the role of transcriptional dysregulation, histone modification and chromatin regulatory complexes in cancer formation.  of Harvard Medical School and of Duke University School of Medicine organized and will lead the session.

Wang, a current Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board member and 2022 ASBMB Young Investigator Award recipient, said the symposium will focus on cancer but encouraged attendees from all fields to participate in the session.

“These topics can be applied to many other diseases as well,” Wang said.

According to Kadoch, the topics covered at the symposium directly relate to patient care and developing novel therapeutic approaches.

“We’re at a unique moment in time in which the learnings from first-in-class approaches in the clinic are coming back to the bench to inform new questions and propel next-step advances,” Kadoch said. “(We) hope this section of the ASBMB meeting does a good job of covering that.”

Wang added: “(This field) elevates basic science to the translational level to ultimately benefit patients.”

Kadoch and Wang selected a diverse array of speakers who study the role of molecular condensates, extrachromosomal DNA, chromatin regulatory machinery, epigenetics and more in cancer.

“I am particularly excited about the interplay of the speakers within the section and the opportunity for our audiences to take away numerous new approaches to exploring some of the most pressing biological questions relating to oncogenic hubs,” Kadoch said. 

Check out the full to get the most out of #ASBMB25.

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.

Learn more
Lydia Smith

Lydia Smith has a B.S. in molecular cell biology and a minor in chemistry, which she received from California State University, Long Beach. She is continuing on to receive her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology at the University of Utah and is a volunteer contributor for ASBMB Today. 

Featured jobs

from the

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Science

Science highlights or most popular articles

Targeting toxins to treat whooping cough
Journal News

Targeting toxins to treat whooping cough

May 1, 2025

Scientists find that liver protein inhibits of pertussis toxin, offering a potential new treatment for bacterial respiratory disease. Read more about this recent study from the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Elusive zebrafish enzyme in lipid secretion
Journal News

Elusive zebrafish enzyme in lipid secretion

May 1, 2025

Scientists discover that triacylglycerol synthesis enzyme drives lipoproteins secretion rather than lipid droplet storage. Read more about this recent study from the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Scientists identify pan-cancer biomarkers
Journal News

Scientists identify pan-cancer biomarkers

April 30, 2025

Researchers analyze protein and RNA data across 13 cancer types to find similarities that could improve cancer staging, prognosis and treatment strategies. Read about this recent article published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

New mass spectrometry tool accurately identifies bacteria
Journal News

New mass spectrometry tool accurately identifies bacteria

April 30, 2025

Scientists develop a software tool to categorize microbe species and antibiotic resistance markers to aid clinical and environmental research. Read about this recent article published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

New tool matches microbial and metabolic metaproteomic data
Journal News

New tool matches microbial and metabolic metaproteomic data

April 30, 2025

Scientists develop a bioinformatics program that maps omics data to metabolic pathways. Read about this recent article published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics

Meet Paul Shapiro
Interview

Meet Paul Shapiro

April 29, 2025

Learn how the JBC associate editor went from milking cows on a dairy farm to analyzing kinases in the lab.