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7th Midwest Tumor Microenvironment Meeting Hosted by the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
12:00 p.m. Registration check-in begins
1:00-1:15 p.m. Welcome
1:15-2:30 p.m.  Oral Presentations: Session I. Modeling the Tumor Microenvironment
Chair: Young Hye Song, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering,
University of Arkansas
Speaker 1: Aubie Shaw, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences, University of
Minnesota
Speaker 2: Steve Seung-Young Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
University of Illinois at Chicago
Young Investigator Awardee: Ashlee Ford Versypt, PhD, Associate Professor of Chemical
and Biological Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
2:30-2:50 p.m. Coffee break
2:50-3:20 p.m. NCI-Supported Microenvironment Research: Perspectives and Opportunities
Jeffrey Hildesheim, PhD, Chief, Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Branch, National
Cancer Institute
3:20-4:00 p.m. Panel discussion: "Lessons on NIH reviewing from three guys named Mike"
Chair: Shrikant Anant, PhD, Kansas Mason Professor of Cancer Biology & Tom and Teresa
Walsh Professor of Cancer Prevention, University of Kansas Medical Center
Panelist 1: Michael Henry, PhD, Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University 
of Iowa
Panelist 2: Michael Dwinell, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College 
of Wisconsin
Panelist 3: Michael Wendt, PhD, Associate Professor Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular 
Pharmacology, Purdue University
4:00-5:00 p.m. Poster Blitz
5:00-6:30 p.m. Poster Session A (poster numbers 1-42)
6:30-9:00 p.m. Dinner

7:00-7:30 a.m. Yoga
7:00-8:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:00-9:00 a.m. Plenary Session: Keynote Address
Marina Pasca di Magliano, PhD
Maude T. Lane Professor of Surgical Immunology, University of Michigan
9:00-10:15 a.m. Oral Presentations: Session II. Stromal Tumor Crosstalk 
Chair: Guangyong Peng, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Saint Louis University School
of Medicine
Speaker 1: Lisa Arendt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Comparative Biosciences, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
Speaker 2: Sunila Pradeep, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical
College of Wisconsin
Young Investigator Awardee: Leah Cook, PhD, Assistant Professor, Pathology and
Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center
10:15-10:40 a.m. Coffee break
10:45-12:00 p.m. Oral Presentations: Session III. Functions of the Stroma in Cancer 
Chair: Luisa Iruela-Arispe, PhD, Stephen Walter Ranson Professor of Cell Biology, Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Speaker 1: Laurie Littlepage, PhD, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of
Notre Dame
Speaker 2: Paolo Provenzano, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Young Investigator Awardee: Pilar de la Puente, PhD, Assistant Professor, University
of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
Noon-1:00 p.m. Lunch 
1:00-2:15 p.m. Poster Blitz
2:15-3:30 p.m.  Oral Presentations: Session VI. TME Interactome in Cancer Progression  

Chair: Pankaj Singh, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nebraska
Medical Center
Speaker 1: Alexandra Naba, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, University of
Illinois at Chicago
Speaker 2: Michael Vansaun, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology,
University of Kansas Medical Center
Young Investigator Awardee: Xi He, MD, Research Scientist, Stowers
Institute for Medical Research

3:30-4:00 p.m. Coffee break
4:00-5:30 p.m. Poster Session B (poster numbers 42-84)
5:30-10:00 p.m.  Travel to, and Social & Dinner at Char Bar
4050 Pennsylvania Ave, Kansas City, MO 64111


7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:45-10:15 p.m.  Oral Presentations: Session V. Microbes and Inflammation in Cancer 
Chair: Shahid Umar, PhD, Professor & Vice Chair of Surgery, University of Kansas Medical Center
Speaker 1: Grace Yi Chen, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology, University
of Michigan
Speaker 2: Thomas M. Attard, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School
of Medicine
Speaker 3: Mary Philip, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology,
Immunology, Vanderbilt University
Young Investigator Awardee: Benjamin L. Woolbright, PhD, Research Assistant
Professor, Urology, University of Kansas Medical Center
10:15-10:40 a.m.  Coffee Break
10:45-Noon Oral Presentations: Session VI. Acellular Components and Novel Therapeutics

Chair: Danny Dhanasekaran, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center
Speaker 1: Luis Solorio, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
Speaker 2: Joan Lewis Wambi, PhD, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, University of Kansas
Medical Center
Young Investigator Awardee: Wade Gutierrez, BS, Graduate Student, 
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Noon Adieu with a Box Lunch