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AACR Brain Cancer 2026

AACR Special Conference in Cancer Research: Brain Cancer — Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia, PA · March 23 – 25, 2026. Subspecialty AACR special conference covering adult and pediatric brain tumors — glioblastoma, IDH-mutant glioma, medulloblastoma, brain metastases, and rare CNS subtypes — with strong neuroscience, neuro-immuno-oncology, and cellular-therapy threads.

Status: Retrospective scaffold — meeting closed seven weeks ago (Mar 23–25, 2026; today is May 11, 2026). Vault is being seeded now to anchor the brain-tumor axis for the rest of the 2026 calendar (ASCO neuro-oncology track May 29 – Jun 2; SNO Annual Nov; SITC neuro-IO Nov 4–8). Sessions and speaker references inline are reconstructed from the public AACR program page, the Penn Medicine institutional roundup, chair-disclosed program-overview material (Bagley / Monje / Suva), and selected sponsor / institutional press; the AACR Brain 26 abstract supplement (in Cancer Research) is the citable record and is referenced where available. Pre-meeting topline content captured during the conference week is flagged inline.

Why this is in the vault

AACR Brain Cancer is the subspecialty AACR special conference for neuro-oncology — the venue where the cancer-biology and neuroscience halves of the brain-tumor field meet in one program, in a year that does not have an SNO-only inflection. It sits at a deliberate intersection with several other axes already in the vault:

  1. AACR Annual Meeting mechanism axis — many AACR Brain 26 chairs and speakers (Bagley UPenn, Monje Stanford, Suva Broad/MGH) also chair or speak in AACR 2026 neuro-oncology and single-cell sessions four weeks later in San Diego (Apr 17–22). The "deep neuro biology" tracks at the special conference set up the abbreviated mechanism slots at Annual.
  2. Cell-therapy / IO axis (CAR-T in CNS) — chlorotoxin-CAR-T (City of Hope), IL-13Rα2 + EGFR bivalent CAR-T (UPenn / CHOP / Stanford), GD2-CAR-T in DIPG and diffuse midline glioma (Monje group, Stanford), and chimeric-cytokine / armoured cell-therapy approaches. Same biology that anchors the cellular-therapy track at SITC 2026 in November.
  3. Targeted-therapy axis (IDH-mutant glioma) — vorasidenib (Voranigo, FDA-approved Aug 2024) is the first targeted therapy for grade 2 IDH-mutant astrocytoma / oligodendroglioma. INDIGO follow-up plus vorasidenib-combination signals (TTF, immune, radiation) thread through the program. Counterpart trials feed forward to ASCO 2026 and SNO 2026.
  4. Pediatric oncology / medulloblastoma axis — molecular-subgroup-specific therapy (WNT, SHH, Group 3 / 4), CAR-T for relapsed disease, and DIPG / DMG cell-therapy. Strong CHOP / Stanford / St. Jude / DFCI representation.
  5. Single-cell / spatial neuro biology — Suva, Tirosh, Bernstein, Patel-aligned labs at the discovery edge of glioma cell-state mapping, with direct methodological overlap with the AACR 2026 single-cell / spatial topic.

Hybrid per-talk template (and the design decision behind this vault): Brain Cancer 26 is neither pure-clinical (ASCO) nor pure-tools (EuroBioC) nor pure-trial (SABCS) — like SITC and ASHG, it programs neuroscience-mechanism, cellular-therapy clinical, targeted-therapy biology, and single-cell methods in the same room, often back-to-back. The unit of analysis is the talk, not the trial or the tool. We're using the ASHG-style hybrid per-talk template (see talks/index.md) with an explicit Anchor type field that resolves to one of: cell therapy / trial, targeted therapy / trial, cohort / readout, mechanism / biology talk, tool / pipeline, award lecture.

What we have to work with

Source Coverage Notes
AACR Brain 26 program page session titles, chairs, speaker list aacr.org Brain 26 program
AACR Brain 26 abstracts page accepted abstract index, hyperlinks to Cancer Research supplement aacr.org Brain 26 abstracts
Cancer Research abstract supplement full-text abstracts, DOI per abstract OUP-hosted; standard AACR special-conference abstract record
Penn Medicine institutional roundup speaker / session list for UPenn faculty pennmedicine.org Penn at AACR 2026 (overlaps with Brain 26 chair Bagley)
Chair-overview materials Monje, Suva, Bagley public-facing summaries OncoDaily, AACR blog, institutional press
Sponsor / institutional press City of Hope (chlorotoxin-CAR-T), CHOP (pediatric CAR-T), Stanford (GD2-CAR-T DIPG), Servier (vorasidenib INDIGO), Novocure (TTF brain), Day One (DAY101 / tovorafenib) typical for cellular-therapy and targeted-therapy readouts
Trade-press recaps OncLive, Targeted Oncology, CancerNetwork, Neurology Live post-session video stand-ups and editorial recaps
AACR Cancer Discovery / Cancer Cell high-impact post-meeting papers timed to or near the conference recurring pattern for Brain special conference content
Twitter / X #AACRBrainCancer26 real-time session reactions secondary signal
Social #AACRBrainCancer / #NeuroOnc on X / Bluesky / LinkedIn useful for room-reactions and key-slide screenshots

The Cancer Research abstract supplement is the load-bearing primary source — every accepted abstract gets a citable DOI. Per-talk pages should cite the abstract permalink (when known), not the press release.

Program shape

AACR Brain Cancer 2026 ran Monday March 23 – Wednesday March 25, 2026, three days, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. Co-chaired by Stephen J. Bagley (UPenn), Michelle Monje (Stanford), and Mario L. Suva (Harvard / Broad / MGH). Structure followed the AACR special-conference pattern:

  • Plenary keynotes — bookending the meeting. Mario Suva and Simona Parrinello (UCL) delivered named keynote talks; the latter on "The role of injury programs in gliomagenesis." Additional keynotes (TBA in our reconstruction) framed neuro-immuno-oncology and pediatric-CNS-tumor sessions.
  • Concurrent thematic sessions — clustered around: GBM CAR-T and cellular therapy; IDH-mutant glioma biology and clinical; pediatric brain tumors (medulloblastoma molecular subgroups, DIPG / DMG); brain metastases (lung / breast / melanoma); neuroscience of gliomas (neural circuits, dopamine signaling, microglia, neurogliogenesis); blood-brain-barrier delivery; single-cell and spatial CNS tumor biology; tumor heterogeneity and resistance.
  • Poster sessions — translational and discovery posters across all of the above; full abstract list on the AACR Brain 26 abstracts page.
  • Mentorship / career sessions — AACR special conferences include an early-career investigator program.
  • Press / media — limited press program; trade-press editorial recaps in the OncLive / Neurology Live / Targeted Oncology cadence.

Tracks dominating the corpus (per the program page + chair public statements):

  • Cellular therapy for CNS tumors — CAR-T for GBM (chlorotoxin, IL-13Rα2 single-target, IL-13Rα2 + EGFR bivalent / bicistronic, EGFRvIII, B7-H3); CAR-T for medulloblastoma and DIPG / DMG (GD2, B7-H3); locoregional / intraventricular delivery; engineered T-cell biology (next-gen designs, TGF-β-resistant constructs, cell-state-directed engineering); endogenous-immune-system interplay.
  • IDH-mutant glioma — vorasidenib (Voranigo) post-INDIGO biology and combinations; IDH-mut-specific immunotherapy (vaccine, neoantigen); 2-HG biology and downstream epigenetic targeting; high-grade IDH-mut clinical experience.
  • Glioblastoma biology — cell-state plasticity (AC-/MES-/OPC-/NPC-like, per Suva / Tirosh / Bernstein single-cell framework); resistance mechanisms; intratumoral heterogeneity; clonal evolution under therapy.
  • Pediatric brain tumors — medulloblastoma molecular subgroups (WNT / SHH / Group 3 / Group 4) and subgroup-specific therapy; DIPG and DMG (H3K27M, ONC201, GD2-CAR-T); ependymoma; ATRT; targetable fusion-driven low-grade glioma (BRAF / RAF / MEK; DAY101 / tovorafenib).
  • Brain metastases — incidence trends (CNS-active ADCs, targeted-therapy effects on CNS pattern); HER2 brain mets (T-DXd CNS activity, tucatinib); melanoma + lung; leptomeningeal disease; intrathecal regimens.
  • Neuroscience of gliomas — neural-circuit integration (Monje lab thread); activity-dependent glioma growth; dopamine / serotonin signaling in glioma; microglia and tumor-associated microglia / macrophages (TAM); astrocyte-glioma crosstalk; peripheral-nerve cancer biology.
  • Blood-brain-barrier penetration — BBB / BTB-aware drug design; focused-ultrasound BBB opening; convection-enhanced delivery; PK / PD modelling for CNS-penetrant agents; ADC CNS activity question.
  • Single-cell and spatial CNS biology — scRNA-seq / snRNA-seq atlases of glioma; spatial transcriptomics in glioma and pediatric brain tumors; integration with neuroscience markers; 3D / volumetric methods.
  • Tumor heterogeneity and 3D / spatial genomics — strategies to reconcile bulk and single-cell readouts; 3D-genome organization in glioma.
  • Next-generation diagnostics / biomarkers — CSF ctDNA / cfDNA in glioma and pediatric CNS tumors; methylation classifier (DKFZ MNP) updates; liquid biopsy for response monitoring.
  • Neuro-immuno-oncology beyond CAR-T — checkpoint blockade in GBM (the persistent unmet niche), oncolytic virus, vaccine approaches.

Organization

conferences/aacr-brain-tumors-2026/
├── index.md             # this page
├── program-notes.md     # retrospective notes: chairs, sessions, expected talks, key topline readouts to capture
└── talks/               # PRIMARY artifact — one entry per talk (hybrid template)
    └── index.md         # template + master talk index table (CAR-T, IDH-mut, neuroscience, peds, brain mets, methods)

The talks/ directory is load-bearing. Each talk gets one Markdown file. Template at talks/index.md is the ASHG-style hybrid schema with an explicit Anchor type field. Expected ~25–40 entries spanning keynotes, the major concurrent sessions, and discovery-edge biology talks. Day-by-day digest (digest/day-N-*.md) and cross-day themes (themes.md) deferred — the meeting is closed and we are scaffolding retrospectively, so digest pages will be replaced by themes.md once talks/ is populated.

What's different from AACR Annual Meeting, SITC, and SABCS

  • Smaller, denser, more neuro-pure. ~600–900 attendees vs AACR Annual's ~22,000. Every session is neuro-oncology; no breast, no GI, no GU, no non-cancer biology. Tighter cross-talk between cancer biologists, neuroscientists, and clinicians than at Annual.
  • More neuroscience than other special conferences. The Monje thread (neural-circuit integration, activity-dependent glioma growth) and the microglia / TAM thread are bigger here than anywhere else in the cancer-meeting calendar. Closer to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) end of the spectrum than SITC or SABCS.
  • Earlier-phase clinical than SABCS. Most cell-therapy and targeted-therapy readouts here are Ph1/2 cohorts and dose-escalation updates, not randomized Ph3. The randomized vorasidenib INDIGO readout was at ASCO 2023 — by 2026 the work is biology, combinations, and post-marketing.
  • Pediatric component is substantial. Unlike most adult-cancer meetings, the pediatric brain-tumor track is roughly co-equal with the adult-GBM track in airtime. Medulloblastoma and DIPG / DMG content is comparable in volume to glioblastoma content.
  • Single-cell biology load-bearing. Suva / Tirosh / Bernstein / Patel-aligned labs essentially defined glioma single-cell biology; the special conference is where their lineage-and-state framework gets updated. Direct overlap with AACR 2026 single-cell topic.
  • AACR 2026 Annual Meeting — parent meeting, four weeks downstream. Bagley, Monje, Suva and many Brain 26 speakers also have AACR 2026 sessions in San Diego (Apr 17–22). Brain 26 sets up the abbreviated AACR Annual neuro-oncology slots.
  • AACR 2026 single-cell / spatial topic — Suva-lineage glioma biology overlaps heavily.
  • SITC 2026 — IO half of the cell-therapy axis. CAR-T solid-tumor cell-therapy threads (GBM, pediatric CNS) appear in both; SITC's larger cellular-therapies track is downstream in November.
  • ASCO 2026 — clinical-translation counterpart. Vorasidenib follow-up, INDIGO post-hoc analyses, and CNS-active ADC readouts have ASCO 2026 trial counterparts (May 29 – Jun 2).
  • SABCS 2026 — brain-metastases overlap (HER2 brain mets, DESTINY-Breast12 update, HER2CLIMB-05) where the breast and brain communities meet.
  • ASHG 2026 — methodology overlap on single-cell, spatial, and cohort genomics. Hybrid per-talk template borrowed from ASHG.
  • AGBT 2026 — upstream platform layer (long-read CSF ctDNA, single-cell methods used in neuro-onc).
  • JPM 2026 — financing layer. CAR-T-in-CNS sponsors (CARGO Therapeutics, Mustang Bio, City of Hope spinouts) and targeted-therapy sponsors (Servier vorasidenib, Day One DAY101) framed brain-tumor pipelines at JPM.
  • Conferences timeline — Brain 26's position in the year's neuro-oncology cycle (JPM Jan → AGBT Feb → AACR Brain Mar → AACR Annual Apr → ASCO May–Jun → SITC Nov → SNO Annual Nov).

Next steps

  • Now (May 11, 7 weeks post-meeting): scaffold landing — this page + program-notes.md + talks/index.md. Reconcile shortlist against the AACR Brain 26 program page and abstract list as the AACR posts session video / slides.
  • Pre-AACR Annual (Apr 17–22, retro): Brain 26 speakers' AACR Annual session list captured into per-talk cross-links once those sessions go up in the AACR 2026 vault.
  • Pre-ASCO (May 29 – Jun 2): vorasidenib follow-on / neuro-onc trial mapping to ASCO 2026 trial pages.
  • Post-meeting (Q3 2026): finalize talks/ and stand up themes.md. Expected threads: CAR-T-in-CNS readout-versus-design tradeoffs (single vs bivalent vs bicistronic; locoregional vs IV; armoured constructs); vorasidenib combination signal; GD2-CAR-T pediatric inflection; single-cell glioma cell-state framework convergence; neuro-immune microglia framing; BBB-aware drug-discovery framework.

Sources