Introduction

Goodbye Flat Biology is one of the EACR's most popular conferences, bringing participants from across the world for excellent science and networking in this exciting field. The 2023 edition was so popular that we had to close registrations early, so this year we’ve moved to a larger venue in Essen to make sure more of you can join us for what promises to be another fantastic event.

About the conference topic

The EACR Goodbye Flat Biology conference will focus on cancer models that span in vitro investigations to in vivo cancer biology. Emerging topics include how the extracellular matrix controls cell architecture, mechanobiology, the immune response, and how cell fate transitions underpin tissue morphogenesis and the metastatic cascade. 

A tumour is a complex ecosystem involving multiple cell types, including stromal, immune, vascular, lymphatic, neuronal and epithelial cells. This complexity cannot be modelled completely using conventional 2D monocultures of tumour cells. This meeting will cover cutting-edge, multidisciplinary efforts to create models that mimic the complexity of tissue formation, tissue homeostasis, and the dysregulation of these processes during cancer. The programme includes a wide range of approaches to understand how targeting tissue dynamics may provide therapeutic intervention into cancer progression. 

This edition of the conference will seek to emphasise how targeting the mechanisms that control assembly into tissues, including the interactions with multiple epithelial cell types and the immune system, affects cancer progression and treatment response.

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Target audience

• Scientists, postdocs, and graduate students interested in the latest generation of engineered ex vivo models of tissue biology, in vivo cancer biology, and the use of these mechanobiological concepts for the development of therapeutics
• Industry scientists interested in cutting-edge models of cancer
• Journal editors interested in ex vivo-to-in vivo models of biology and cancer

Topics to be covered

• How complex cell interactions are coordinated to control tumour growth and metastasis, including cell fate transitions in tissue biology and cancer 
• Targetable roles of the extracellular matrix in cancer biology 
• Cancer immunotherapies 
• Advanced imaging technologies 
• Organoids and microtissue platforms 
• Spatial transcriptomics 

Scientific Programme Committee: 

• Valerie Weaver, UCSF, San Francisco, USA (Chair)
• David Bryant, CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK
• Emmanuel Donnadieu, Institut Cochin, Paris, France
• Henriëtte Lanz, MIMETAS, Oegstgeest, Netherlands
• Viola Vogel, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

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Image copyright: Peter Prengel, City of Essen

Above: the city of Essen, Germany