The Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology

April 29-30th, 2024
Zuckerman Research Center
417 East 68th Street
New York, NY

The Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology aims to bring outstanding scientists across the country to discuss the latest discoveries into the molecular mechanisms of cancers in children and young adults, and the development of new approaches for their definitive therapy and control.

There are many unanswered questions that need to be addressed for childhood and young adult cancers:

What causes cancer in children and young adults without inheritance of cancer-predisposing mutations or exposure to environmental mutagens? How do predisposing alleles and exposures contribute to cancer development?
What developmental processes are dysregulated to cause mutations and cell transformation in otherwise healthy tissues?
How do mutations in developmental pathways involving transcription factors and epigenetic signaling cause cancer?
How do we design effective therapeutics to block, activate, and modulate protein interactions that control transcription factors and other developmental regulators?
How do we identify targets for immune therapy in developmental tumors that have relatively few mutations?

The Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology provides an intimate and exciting setting to share new advances for these questions. This meeting also provides an opportunity for established and young investigators to discuss new questions and interdisciplinary approaches of relevance to young-onset cancer biology.

The Robert Steel Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research

The Robert Steel Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research was established to honor the memory of Robert Steel, who died in 1984 at the age of eighteen after a heroic two-year struggle against rhabdomyosarcoma. Throughout the years, the Foundation supported MSK programs and initiatives devoted to speeding progress against childhood cancers, and its farsighted generosity has made The Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology possible. By bringing together leading scientists to address the latest challenges and opportunities in pediatric cancer research and treatment, The Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology continues to advance the vital work launched by the Robert Steel Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research more than three decades ago.