The Science of Childhood Cancer

Lectures by category

The Science of Childhood Cancer is an interactive, weekly lecture series designed to engage the scientific community on key questions in pediatric cancer research. The series, hosted by the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center, features leading experts across the spectrum of basic, translational, clinical and population science. Explore our library of archived lectures below, and visit our registration page to receive updates about upcoming live events. View past lectures organized chronologically.

Brain tumors
- The neuroscience of childhood brain cancers
  03/12/2026
  
  Michelle Monje, MD, PhD
  Professor, Stanford University
- DNA Methylation and Artificial Intelligence for the Diagnosis and Classification of CNS Tumors
  11/06/2025
  
  Ken Aldape, MD
  Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- Killing cancer stem cells
  10/02/2025
  
  Jeremy Rich, MD, MHS, MBA
  Deputy Director for Research & Chief Scientific Officer
  Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Deciphering the molecular and cellular basis of fusion driven ependymoma to uncover novel therapies
  08/21/2025
  
  Stephen Mack, PhD
  Associate Member St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The leukemic niche - endothelial and macrophage control of clonality
  05/15/2025
  
  Leonard Zon, MD
  Director, Stem Cell Program, Boston Children’s Hospital
  Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
- Lineage-specific dependencies in paediatric-type diffuse high-grade glioma
  03/20/2025
  
  Chris Jones, PhD
  Head of Division of Molecular Pathology
  Institute of Cancer Research, London UK
- Developing new models and therapies for high-risk pediatric embryonal brain tumors
  02/06/2025
  
  Martine Roussel, PhD
  Member, St. Jude Faculty
  Endowed Chair in Molecular Oncogenesis
- Oncogenesis in pediatric glioma, moving beyond the genome
  10/10/2024
  
  Cynthia Hawkins, MD, PhD
  Neuropathologist, The Hospital for Sick Children
  Professor, University of Toronto
- Metabolism and epigenetics as integrated drivers of childhood brain cancer
  05/02/2024
  
  Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD
  Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics; Al and Robert Glick Family Research Professor of Pediatrics; Scientific Research Director, Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center
  University of Michigan Medical School
- Dissecting epigenetic control of transcription in pediatric cancer
  03/07/2024
  
  Adam Durbin, MD, PhD
  Assistant Member, Division of Molecular Oncology, Department of Oncology
  St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital
- Organoids in pediatric cancer research
  03/07/2024
  
  Jarno Drost, PhD
  Group leader, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology
  Group leader, Oncode Institute
Cancer biology
- Exploring the role of somatic mtDNA mutations in acute leukemia
  04/16/2026
  
  Mondira Kundu, MD, PhD
  Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Tracing the origins of childhood cancer through genome sequencing
  03/12/2026
  
  Tim Coorens, PhD
  Research Group Leader, European Bioinformatics Institute
- Backtracking leukemia to its origins
  02/19/2026
  
  John Dick, PhD, FRS
  Professor, University of Toronto
- Overcoming the undruggable nature of the most common human oncogene: K-Ras
  11/06/2025
  
  Kevan Shokat, PhD
  Professor, University of California, San Francisco
- Killing cancer stem cells
  10/02/2025
  
  Jeremy Rich, MD, MHS, MBA
  Deputy Director for Research & Chief Scientific Officer
  Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Developmental origins of infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
  09/25/2025
  
  Anindita Roy, MRCPCH, FRCPath, PhD
  Professor, University of Oxford
- Developmental mutagenesis: A unified theory of why young people develop cancer
  09/18/2025
  
  Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD
  Director, Tow Center for Developmental Oncology
  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with Down syndrome: insights and challenges
  08/28/2025
  
  Karen Rabin, MD, PhD
  Professor, University of California, San Francisco
- The Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor: insights into oxygen sensing, tumor immunity, and drugging the undruggable
  08/14/2025
  
  William G. Kaelin, MD
  Professor, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
- Transcriptional dependencies in cancer
  05/08/2025
  
  Chris Vakoc, MD, PhD
  Professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Dissecting mechanisms underlying transcription factor phase separation in function and disease
  05/01/2025
  
  Tanja Mittag, PhD
  Member, Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- The ZERO Childhood Cancer - a national pediatric cancer precision medicine program
  04/17/2025
  
  Paul Ekert, MBBS, PhD, FRACP
  Deputy Director, Children’s Cancer Institute, UNSW Group Leader, Translational Tumour Biology Laboratory Head, Translational Genomics ZERO Childhood Cancer Program
- Lineage-specific dependencies in paediatric-type diffuse high-grade glioma
  03/20/2025
  
  Chris Jones, PhD
  Head of Division of Molecular Pathology
  Institute of Cancer Research, London UK
- Chromatin-based regulations of gene transcription and oncogenesis
  03/13/2025
  
  Greg Wang, PhD
  Professor, Duke Cancer Institute and Duke University School of Medicine
- Developmental heterogeneity in rhabdomyosarcoma
  10/17/2024
  
  Mark Hatley, MD, PhD
  Associate Member, Department of Oncology
  Director Division of Molecular Oncology
- Oncogenesis in pediatric glioma, moving beyond the genome
  10/10/2024
  
  Cynthia Hawkins, MD, PhD
  Neuropathologist, The Hospital for Sick Children
  Professor, University of Toronto
- RNA biology in MDS and modeling myelodysplasia
  10/03/2024
  
  Stephanie Halene, MD
  Chief, Section of Hematology
  Department of Internal Medicine and Yale Cancer Center
  Yale University School of Medicine
- Cancer genes beyond chromosomes
  09/26/2024
  
  Howard Chang, MD PhD
  Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Modeling curative combination therapies
  09/19/2024
  
  Adam Palmer, PhD
  Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine Program
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Chromatin and cancer: from mechanisms to emerging therapies
  09/05/2024
  
  Charles WM Roberts, MD PhD
  Member, St. Jude Faculty
  Executive Vice President
  Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Wild type and mutant p53 functions
  08/29/2024
  
  Guillermina Lozano, PhD
  Chair, Department of Genetics
  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Understanding and targeting the non-coding regulatory genome
  02/15/2024
  
  Jian Xu, PhD
  Member, Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, Department of Pathology
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Clinical trials
- Accessing Innovative Medicines for Children and Adolescents with Cancer
  03/19/2026
  
  Steven DuBois, MD
  Professor, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
- ‘Faster, higher, stronger’ (together) - clinical drug development in children and young people with cancer
  10/09/2025
  
  Lynley Marshall, PhD
  The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Looking back and looking forward for the Children’s Oncology Group
  04/24/2025
  
  Doug Hawkins, MD
  Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Accelerating therapeutic innovations for children and adolescents with cancer
  04/25/2024
  
  Gilles Vassal, MD, PhD
  Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, Villejuif, France
Data science
- The CHARM of it all: Cell-free DNA sequencing for Hereditary And High-Risk Malignancies
  03/12/2026
  
  Trevor Pugh, PhD, FACMG
  Professor, University of Toronto
- Precision survivorship: predicting primary ovarian insufficiency risk in female survivors of childhood cancer
  03/06/2025
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Cindy Im, PhD, MPH
  Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
- The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative: An update
  10/24/2024
  
  Greg Reaman, MD Scientific Director, Childhood Cancer Data Initiative
  National Cancer Institute
- Modeling curative combination therapies
  09/19/2024
  
  Adam Palmer, PhD
  Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine Program
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Epigenetics
- DNA Methylation and Artificial Intelligence for the Diagnosis and Classification of CNS Tumors
  11/06/2025
  
  Ken Aldape, MD
  Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- The leukemic niche - endothelial and macrophage control of clonality
  05/15/2025
  
  Leonard Zon, MD
  Director, Stem Cell Program, Boston Children’s Hospital
  Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
- Transcriptional dependencies in cancer
  05/08/2025
  
  Chris Vakoc, MD, PhD
  Professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Dissecting mechanisms underlying transcription factor phase separation in function and disease
  05/01/2025
  
  Tanja Mittag, PhD
  Member, Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Chromatin-based regulations of gene transcription and oncogenesis
  03/13/2025
  
  Greg Wang, PhD
  Professor, Duke Cancer Institute and Duke University School of Medicine
- Cancer genes beyond chromosomes
  09/26/2024
  
  Howard Chang, MD PhD
  Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Chromatin and cancer: from mechanisms to emerging therapies
  09/05/2024
  
  Charles WM Roberts, MD PhD
  Member, St. Jude Faculty
  Executive Vice President
  Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Metabolism and epigenetics as integrated drivers of childhood brain cancer
  05/02/2024
  
  Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD
  Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics; Al and Robert Glick Family Research Professor of Pediatrics; Scientific Research Director, Chad Carr Pediatric Brain Tumor Center
  University of Michigan Medical School
- Non-genetic mechanisms of clonal dominance in normal and malignant haematopoiesis
  03/14/2024
  
  Mark Dawson, MBBS (Hons), BMedSci, FRACP, FRCPA, PhD
  Professor, Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology & Centre for Cancer
  Research, University of Melbourne
- Understanding and targeting the non-coding regulatory genome
  02/15/2024
  
  Jian Xu, PhD
  Member, Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, Department of Pathology
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Hematological malignancies
- How blinatumomab changed B-ALL therapy and what comes next
  04/30/2026
  
  Rachel Rau, MD
  Associate Professor, Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Developing immune cell therapies for cancer: historical insights, current applications, and pathways to broader impact
  04/23/2026
  
  Dario Campana, MD, PhD
  Professor, National University of Singapore
- Exploring the role of somatic mtDNA mutations in acute leukemia
  04/16/2026
  
  Mondira Kundu, MD, PhD
  Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The CHARM of it all: Cell-free DNA sequencing for Hereditary And High-Risk Malignancies
  03/12/2026
  
  Trevor Pugh, PhD, FACMG
  Professor, University of Toronto
- Backtracking leukemia to its origins
  02/19/2026
  
  John Dick, PhD, FRS
  Professor, University of Toronto
- Therapeutic targeting of high-risk leukemia
  02/12/2026
  
  Charles Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD
  Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Developmental origins of infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
  09/25/2025
  
  Anindita Roy, MRCPCH, FRCPath, PhD
  Professor, University of Oxford
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with Down syndrome: insights and challenges
  08/28/2025
  
  Karen Rabin, MD, PhD
  Professor, University of California, San Francisco
- RNA biology in MDS and modeling myelodysplasia
  10/03/2024
  
  Stephanie Halene, MD
  Chief, Section of Hematology
  Department of Internal Medicine and Yale Cancer Center
  Yale University School of Medicine
- Diagnosis of leukemia: from phenotype to genotype to artificial intelligence
  09/12/2024
  
  Torsten Haferlach, MD PhD
  CEO, Munich Leukemia Laboratory
- Decoding CAR T-cell phenotype using combinatorial signaling motif libraries and machine learning
  08/15/2024
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Kyle Daniels, PhD
  Assistant Professor of Genetics
  Stanford University School of Medicine
- Recent results from translational and clinical studies in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the Princess Máxima Center
  08/08/2024
  
  Rob Pieters, MD PhD MSc
  Chief Medical Officer
  Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology
- Stem cell programs in high risk leukemias
  03/28/2024
  
  Kai Tan, PhD
  Professor of Pediatrics, Richard & Sheila Sanford Endowed Chair
  Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
- Understanding treatment resistance and relapse in ALL through single cell studies
  03/21/2024
  
  Kara Davis, DO
  Stanford University
- Non-genetic mechanisms of clonal dominance in normal and malignant haematopoiesis
  03/14/2024
  
  Mark Dawson, MBBS (Hons), BMedSci, FRACP, FRCPA, PhD
  Professor, Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology & Centre for Cancer
  Research, University of Melbourne
- Beyond owl eyes - advances in pediatric and AYA Hodgkin lymphoma
  02/29/2024
  
  Sharon Castellino, MD, MSc
  Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine
  Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
- Understanding and targeting the non-coding regulatory genome
  02/15/2024
  
  Jian Xu, PhD
  Member, Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, Department of Pathology
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Understanding and targeting the non-coding regulatory genome
  02/15/2024
  
  Jian Xu, PhD
  Member, Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, Department of Pathology
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Immunotherapy
- How blinatumomab changed B-ALL therapy and what comes next
  04/30/2026
  
  Rachel Rau, MD
  Associate Professor, Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Developing immune cell therapies for cancer: historical insights, current applications, and pathways to broader impact
  04/23/2026
  
  Dario Campana, MD, PhD
  Professor, National University of Singapore
- GD2-CART01 for pediatric solid tumors: achievements, challenges and future directions
  04/09/2026
  
  Francesca Del Bufalo, MD, PhD
  Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital
- CAR T-cell therapy: experience from SCMC
  10/16/2025
  
  Benshang Li, MD
  The Director of Cell Therapy Center
  Shanghai Children’s Medical Center
- Engineered cell therapy for pediatric cancer
  08/22/2024
  
  Stephen Gottschalk, MD
  Chair, Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
  Co-Director, Center of Excellence for Pediatric Immuno-Oncology
  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Targeting transcription factors to augment CAR T cell fitness
  08/15/2024
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Evan Weber, PhD
  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  University of Pennsylvania
  Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Decoding CAR T-cell phenotype using combinatorial signaling motif libraries and machine learning
  08/15/2024
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Kyle Daniels, PhD
  Assistant Professor of Genetics
  Stanford University School of Medicine
Perspectives
- Leveraging global health priorities to advance scientific discovery
  05/07/2026
  
  Nickhill Bhakta, MD, MPH
  Associate Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Looking back and looking forward for the Children’s Oncology Group
  04/24/2025
  
  Doug Hawkins, MD
  Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital
- Transforming global pediatric cancer care: an update on strategies to address global inequities in childhood cancer care and control
  02/13/2025
  
  James R. Downing
  Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo
  Transforming global pediatric cancer care: an update on strategies to address global inequities in childhood cancer care and control
- The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative: An update
  10/24/2024
  
  Greg Reaman, MD Scientific Director, Childhood Cancer Data Initiative
  National Cancer Institute
- Accelerating therapeutic innovations for children and adolescents with cancer
  04/25/2024
  
  Gilles Vassal, MD, PhD
  Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, Villejuif, France
Solid tumors
- GD2-CART01 for pediatric solid tumors: achievements, challenges and future directions
  04/09/2026
  
  Francesca Del Bufalo, MD, PhD
  Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital
- Tracing the origins of childhood cancer through genome sequencing
  03/12/2026
  
  Tim Coorens, PhD
  Research Group Leader, European Bioinformatics Institute
- Pediatric melanocytic tumors: a 34-year journey of discovery and progress
  10/23/2025
  
  Alberto Pappo, MD
  Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Developmental programs contribute to chemoresistance in pediatric solid tumors
  11/14/2024
  
  Michael Dyer, PhD
  Chair, Developmental Neurobiology Department
  Co-Leader, Developmental Biology & Solid Tumor Program
  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Addressing the challenges of HPV vaccination in young cancer survivors
  10/31/2024
  
  Wendy Landier, PhD, CRNP
  Professor, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Developmental heterogeneity in rhabdomyosarcoma
  10/17/2024
  
  Mark Hatley, MD, PhD
  Associate Member, Department of Oncology
  Director Division of Molecular Oncology
- Wild type and mutant p53 functions
  08/29/2024
  
  Guillermina Lozano, PhD
  Chair, Department of Genetics
  The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Engineered cell therapy for pediatric cancer
  08/22/2024
  
  Stephen Gottschalk, MD
  Chair, Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
  Co-Director, Center of Excellence for Pediatric Immuno-Oncology
  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Dissecting epigenetic control of transcription in pediatric cancer
  03/07/2024
  
  Adam Durbin, MD, PhD
  Assistant Member, Division of Molecular Oncology, Department of Oncology
  St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital
- Organoids in pediatric cancer research
  03/07/2024
  
  Jarno Drost, PhD
  Group leader, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology
  Group leader, Oncode Institute
Survivorship
- Predicting and Preventing Late-occurring Adverse Outcomes in Childhood Cancer Survivors
  03/26/2026
  
  Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH
  Distinguished Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Bridging surveillance and mechanistic insights to address cardiometabolic risk in childhood cancer survivors
  10/30/2025
  
  Danielle Friedman, MD
  Associate Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering
- Cardiometabolic risk factors in survivorship: a target to reduce morbidity and mortality
  03/06/2025
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Stephanie Dixon, MD, MPH
  Assistant Member, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Precision survivorship: predicting primary ovarian insufficiency risk in female survivors of childhood cancer
  03/06/2025
  
  Rising Star of Cancer Research:
  Cindy Im, PhD, MPH
  Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
- Improving Cognitive Outcomes for Children Treated for Cancer: Moving Beyond the Cure
  05/16/2024
  
  Heather Conklin, PhD
  Chief, Division of Neuropsychology; Full Member, Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Quality of care for adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer
  04/04/2024
  
  Jenny Mack, MD, MPH
  Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
  Associate Chief, Division of Population Sciences, Division of Population Sciences, Faculty Vice President for the Office for Faculty Development, Professionalism, and Inclusion, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Beyond owl eyes - advances in pediatric and AYA Hodgkin lymphoma
  02/29/2024
  
  Sharon Castellino, MD, MSc
  Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine
  Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Targeted therapies
- Accessing Innovative Medicines for Children and Adolescents with Cancer
  03/19/2026
  
  Steven DuBois, MD
  Professor, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute
- Therapeutic targeting of high-risk leukemia
  02/12/2026
  
  Charles Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD
  Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Overcoming the undruggable nature of the most common human oncogene: K-Ras
  11/06/2025
  
  Kevan Shokat, PhD
  Professor, University of California, San Francisco
- ‘Faster, higher, stronger’ (together) - clinical drug development in children and young people with cancer
  10/09/2025
  
  Lynley Marshall, PhD
  The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Developmental mutagenesis: A unified theory of why young people develop cancer
  09/18/2025
  
  Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD
  Director, Tow Center for Developmental Oncology
  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Deciphering the molecular and cellular basis of fusion driven ependymoma to uncover novel therapies
  08/21/2025
  
  Stephen Mack, PhD
  Associate Member St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- The Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor: insights into oxygen sensing, tumor immunity, and drugging the undruggable
  08/14/2025
  
  William G. Kaelin, MD
  Professor, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
- The ZERO Childhood Cancer - a national pediatric cancer precision medicine program
  04/17/2025
  
  Paul Ekert, MBBS, PhD, FRACP
  Deputy Director, Children’s Cancer Institute, UNSW Group Leader, Translational Tumour Biology Laboratory Head, Translational Genomics ZERO Childhood Cancer Program
- Developing new models and therapies for high-risk pediatric embryonal brain tumors
  02/06/2025
  
  Martine Roussel, PhD
  Member, St. Jude Faculty
  Endowed Chair in Molecular Oncogenesis
- Developmental programs contribute to chemoresistance in pediatric solid tumors
  11/14/2024
  
  Michael Dyer, PhD
  Chair, Developmental Neurobiology Department
  Co-Leader, Developmental Biology & Solid Tumor Program
  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
- Addressing the challenges of HPV vaccination in young cancer survivors
  10/31/2024
  
  Wendy Landier, PhD, CRNP
  Professor, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Understanding treatment resistance and relapse in ALL through single cell studies
  03/21/2024
  
  Kara Davis, DO
  Stanford University

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The Science of Childhood Cancer

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