May 26-29, 2026

Harmonizing Immunotherapy: Tuning T Cells to Give Cancer the Blues

ImmunoMemphis 2026

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN

On this page:

Speakers and editorial presence
Agenda
Registration
Abstracts & Travel

“No child should die at the dawn of life.”

Danny Thomas’ inspiring credo continues to serve as motivation for researchers around the world to pursue discovery and translate it into life-saving therapies. The scientific pursuits centered on the riddles of T cell immunity embody Danny’s philosophy and have given the world a new way to combat cancer; immunotherapy.

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Technical University of Munich are proud to host the ‘ImmunoMemphis’ symposium where the immunological community will come together in Memphis, Tennessee to discuss fundamental mechanisms of T cell differentiation, and how these insights can be translated into durable immunotherapies for cancer and chronic viral infections.

Topics will include conceptual and technical advances that are reshaping our understanding of T cell immunological memory, current barriers in establishing T cells with tissue/tumor-homing properties, resistance to local-immunosuppression, and the capacity for establishing disease control with long-term immunological protection.

Our worldclass symposium will foster dialogue around the key unresolved questions in T cell biology with the goal of tuning T cells to give cancer the blues.

Speakers and editorial presence

Abbas, Abul
Ahmed, Rafi
Bergthaler, Andreas
Bollard, Catherine
Butterfield, Lisa
Chi, Hongbo
Delgoffe, Greg
Farber, Donna
Gebhardt, Thomas
Goldrath, Ananda
Gottschalk, Stephen
Green, Doug
Harty, John
Höfer, Thomas
Hosen, Naoki
Iannacone, Matteo
Jameson, Steve
Kallies, Axel
Devi-Kanneganti, Thirumala
Kuchroo, Vijay

Levings, Megan
Lugli, Enrico
Mackay, Laura
Masopust, David
Oxenius, Annette
Powrie, Fiona
Prlic, Martin
Rathmell, Jeff
Rudensky, Alexander
Sallusto, Federica
Schoenberger, Stephen
Schwartzberg, Pam
Sekaly, Rafick
Turner, Stephen
Wherry, John
Youngblood, Ben
Zebley, Caitlin
Zehn, Dietmar
Zhang, Lianjun
Zou, Weiping

Editorial presence

Science
Nature
Nature Immunology
Immunity
JEM
Nature Reviews Immunology
Science Immunology

Overview

Event: Harmonizing Immunotherapy: Tuning T Cells to Give Cancer the Blues

Date: May 26-29, 2026

Location:
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Department hosts: Immunology, Bone Marrow Transplantatation and Cellular Therapy

Hosts:
Ben Youngblood, PhD
Member, St. Jude Faculty
Department of Immunology

Caitlin Zebley, MD, PhD
Assistant Member
Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy

Dietmar Zehn, MD, PhD
Technical University of Munich

Anna Schulz, PhD
Technical University of Munich

Event contact:
ImmunoMemphis@stjude.org

Agenda

Tuesday, May 26

Time	Event / Session
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.	Pre-Meeting Seminar Registration
10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.	Immunology Update Course: Seminar Session 1 Abul Abbas, MBBS, University of California San Fransisco
12:30-1:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00-3:00 p.m.	Immunology Update Course: Seminar Session 2 Abul Abbas, MBBS, University of California, San Fransisco
3:00-4:30 p.m.	Conference Registration
4:30-4:40 p.m.	Opening Welcome & Remarks Ben Youngblood, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Caitlin Zebley, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
4:40-5:55 p.m.	Opening Session: T Cellin' in Memphis James R. Downing, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Rafi Ahmed, PhD, Emory University Ananda Goldrath, PhD, University of California
6:00-8:00 p.m.	Reception

Wednesday, May 27

Starting Time	Event / Session
8:00-8:55 a.m.	Breakfast
8:55-9:00 a.m.	Session 1 Introduction Session Chair: Chris DeRenzo, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
9:00-10:30 a.m.	Session 1: Great Cells of Fire: Igniting the Power of T-Cell Therapy Stephen Gottschalk, MD. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Catherine Bollard, MB, BCh, MD, Children’s National Hospital Lisa Butterfield, PhD, San FranciscoXiao Huang, PhD, Drexel University
10:30-10:50 a.m.	Coffee break
10:50-10:55 a.m.	Session 2 Introduction Session Chair: Jordan Johnson, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
10:55 a.m.-12:35 p.m.	Session 2: Pride & Joy: The Biology Behind Successful T-Cell Therapies Stephen Schoenberger, PhD, La Jolla Institute John Wherry, PhD, University of Pennsylvania Naoki Hosen, PhD, University of Osaka Caitlin Zebley, MD, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
12:35-1:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00-1:40 p.m.	Meet the Editor Session & Lunch Yvonne Bordon, PhD, Senior Editor, Nature Reviews Immunology Christiana Fogg, PhD, Senior Editor, Science Immunology Chingyu Huang, PhD, Chief Editor, Nature Communications Stephanie Houston, PhD, Senior Editor, Nature Immunology Priscilla Kelly, PhD, Senior Editor, Science Zhijuan Qiu, PhD, Senior Scientific Editor, Journal of Experimental Medicine Fabiola Rivas, PhD, Editor-in-chief, Immunity Ursula Weiss, PhD, Senior Editor, Nature
1:40-1:55 p.m.	Break
1:55-2:00 p.m.	Session 3 Introduction Session Chair: Yong Feng, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
2:00-3:55 p.m.	Session 3: The King of Regulation; Tregs and the Rhythm of Immune Tolerance Alexander Rudensky, PhD, Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute Megan Levings, PhD, University of British Columbia Fiona Powrie, FRS, FMedSci, DBE, PhD, The Kennedy Institute Enrico Lugli, PhD, Humanitas Research Hospital Pamela Rosato, PhD, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College
3:55-4:10 p.m.	Coffee break
4:10-4:15 p.m.	Session 4 introduction Session Chair: Piyush Sharma, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
4:15-6:20 p.m.	Session 4: St. Louis Blues and Immune Memory: Holding the Note in T-Cell Therapy Martin Prlic, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Stephen Jameson, PhD, University of Minnesota Weiping Zou, MD, PhD, University of Michigan Annette Oxenius, PhD, ETH Zurich John Harty, PhD, Univerity of Iowa
6:30-6:30 p.m.	Closing remarks Ben Youngblood, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dietmar Zehn, MD, PhD, Technical University of Munich

Thursday, May 28

Starting Time	Event / Session
8:30-9:25 a.m.	Breakfast
9:25-9:30 a.m.	Session 5 Introduction Session Chair: Bo Hu, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
9:30-11:10 a.m.	Session 5: Bringing Signal Back: Cytokines & Inflammation Vijay Kuchroo, DVM, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School Doug Green, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Stephen Turner, PhD, Monash University Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
11:10-11:20 a.m.	Coffee break
11:20-11:25 a.m.	Session 6 Introduction Session Chair: Allison Norman, Student, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
11:25 am-12:55 p.m.	Session 6: R.E.S.P.E.C.T: Metabolic Control of Immune Responses Matteo Iannacone, MD, PhD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Andreas Bergthaler, DVM, PhD, Medical University of Vienna Hongbo Chi, Phd, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
12:55-2:55 p.m.	Lunch & Poster Session
2:55-3:00 p.m.	Session 7 Introduction Session Chair: Lindsay Talbot, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
3:00-4:30 p.m.	Session 7: Sittin' in the Cells of the Bay: T-Cell Homing and Residency David Masopust, Phd, University of Minnesota Laura Mackay, PhD, Doherty Institute Thomas Gebhardt, MD, PhD, University of Melbourne Tuoqi Wu, PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center
4:30-4:45 p.m.	Coffee break
4:45-4:50 p.m.	Session 8 Introduction Session Chair: Tae Gun Kang, PhD, Yonsei University
4:50-6:30 p.m.	Session 8: Ring of Tire(d): T Cell Exhaustion and Dysfunction Dietmar Zehn, MD, PhD, Technical University of Munich Pamela Schwartzberg, MD, PhD, National Human Genome Research Institute Axel Kallies, PhD, University of Melbourne Ben Youngblood, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
6:30-6:40 p.m.	Closing remarks Caitlin Zebley, MD, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Anna Schulz, PhD, Technical University of Munich
6:40-8:45 p.m.	Dinner & Special Performance

Friday, May 29

Starting Time	Event / Session
7:20-8:10 a.m.	Breakfast
8:10-8:15 am	Session 9 Introduction Session chair: Yunlong Zhao, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
8:15-9:55 a.m.	Session 9: T Cell Responses: Hunk of Burning T Cells Donna Farber, PhD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Lianjun Zhang, PhD, Suzhou Institute of Systems Medicine Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College Jeff Rathmell, PhD, University of Chicago Thomas Hofer, PhD, German Cancer Research Center
9:55-10:05 a.m.	Coffee break
10:05-10:10 a.m.	Session 10 Introduction Session chair: Adeleye Adeshakin, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
10:10-11:15 a.m.	Session 10: T Cell Responses: Can't Help Responding to You Rafick Sekaly, PhD, Emory University Diego Diaz-Dinamarca, PhD, Emory University Federica Sallusto, PhD, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, USI and ETH Zurich
11:15-11:25 a.m.	Closing Remarks Ben Youngblood, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dietmar Zehn, PhD, Technical University of Munich
11:25 a.m.	Lunch
3:00-6:00 p.m.	Riverboat Cruise

Registration deadlines & fees

Registration closed on May 8, 2026.

All attendees are required to register for the ImmunoMemphis in May conference. Please note that this is an in-person event only. There will be no virtual or hybrid attendance option.

What the Registration Fee Includes:

Full access to all symposium sessions and keynote presentations
Daily breakfast, lunch, and refreshment breaks
Evening receptions featuring dinner or hors d’oeuvres
Access to the poster session and networking events throughout the conference
Access to the Meet the Editor session

Registration Type	Cost
St. Jude employees	Free
General attendees	$650

Abstracts & Travel

Call for Abstracts

The deadline to submit an abstract has passed.

The ImmunoMemphis Symposium aims to create a unique forum for the dissemination and advancement of scholarly work in the field. Abstracts submitted for this symposium will undergo peer review. All planning to attend are encouraged to submit an abstract, regardless of role or level of training. We are committed to promoting the career development of multi-disciplinary trainees and junior faculty. Abstracts selected for podium presentations or poster presentations will require in-person attendance.

Abstracts can present findings from original research, education, and quality improvement projects. Data driven abstracts, including works-in-progress, will be prioritized.

Work that has been submitted or presented elsewhere is eligible for submission, provided that it has not been published in manuscript form prior to the submission deadline.

Why Submit an Abstract?

Advance the future of Pediatric Immunology by sharing innovative research and academic work that drives progress in the field and advances the care of children and families
Gain recognition and connect with leading experts in the field
Network with multi-disciplinary scholars, exchange insights, and receive valuable feedback from key thought leaders
Your registration fee may be reimbursed if your abstract is selected and among the highest rated!

Deadlines

Oral submissions will be accepted until 11:00 pm CT, Friday, February 27, 2026.
Abstract submissions will be accepted until 11:00pm CT, Friday, April 24, 2026.
Decisions regarding abstract acceptance will be communicated by Early May 2026.

We appreciate your participation and desire to share your research/academic work.

We've partnered with The Westin and the historic Peabody Hotel located in downtown Memphis, just minutes from the symposium venue.

Note: The final day to receive a group rate reservation was March 26, 2026.

Memphis International Airport (MEM)

Address: 2491 Winchester Rd, Memphis, TN 38116
Distance from hotel to airport: 11 Miles
Estimated drive time: 16 Minutes
Airport Shuttle: N/A
Taxi: Approximately $30
Uber: Approximately $26 or higher, depending on timing

Weather/Conference Attire

Temperatures push into the mid-80s for highs (84°F+) and mid-to-upper 60s for lows (67°F+). Meeting room temperatures tend to be cool, so attendees may want to bring a light sweater or jacket for indoor activities.