ARI-PST 2026 Advancing Research in Israel: Pediatric Solid Tumors

Thursday, February 26th, Dan Hotel, Eilat

 

 08:00-08:30 registration

 

08:30-10:15 Morning Session - Pediatric Oncology: The Clinical Arena and New Preclinical Pathways

 

Location: Dan Hotel - Big Blue Hall B

 

Chairs: Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Prof. Praveen Raju and Prof. Shai Izraeli

 

08:30-08:35 | Opening remarks: Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Head, Gray School of Medical Sciences, Tel Aviv university

08:35 - 08:55 | Turning Points in Treatment: Pediatric Brain Tumor Advances to Know in 2025: Prof. Uri Tabori, SickKids Medical Center, Canada

08:55 - 09:15 | Breaking Through: Targeted Nanocarrier-Based Therapies for Pediatric CNS Tumors: Prof. Praveen Raju, Rady Children's Hospital, USA

09:15-09:35 | From Relapse to Response: Advancing Therapeutic Strategies for High-Risk Neuroblastoma: Prof. Daniel Morgenstern, SickKids Medical Center, Canada

09:35 - 09:45 | Real-time monitoring of pediatric high-grade glioma invasion using organotypic brain cultures reveals a developmentally dependent sensitivity: Prof. Oded behar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

09:45 - 09:55 | A TCR-centric Approach to Antigen and Adoptive Cell Therapy Discovery in Pediatric Brain Tumors: Dr. Itay Raphael, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

09:55-10:05 | Neutrophils induced delayed tumor growth and malignant cell differentiation in neuroblastoma: Dr. Chen Buxbaum, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

10:05 - 10:07 | Integrative Global and Spatial Proteomics Reveal Chemoresistance-Associated Dynamics in the Neuroblastoma Microenvironment: Anvita Pant, Weizmann Institute of Science

10:07 - 10:09 | Glycosylation-Phosphorylation Crosstalk in KIAA1549-BRAF: A Fusion-Specific Vulnerability in Pediatric Low-Grade Glioma: Dr. Coralie Ebert, Computational Neuroscience, MeNow

10:09 - 10:11 | T Cell Receptor Therapy for Pediatric Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Anat Shemer, Sheba Medical Center, Israel

10:11 - 10:13 | A Mutation-Independent Liquid Biopsy Framework for Noninvasive Precision Oncology in Pediatric Solid Tumors: Dr. Esther Berko, Schneider Children's Medical Center

10:13-10:15 | Precise Delivery of Therapeutics to Pediatric Brain Tumors via P-Selectin-Targeted Nanomedicine: Giuseppe Longobardi, Tel Aviv University, Israel

10:15-11:00 | Coffee Break

11:00-11:45 | ILANIT Plenary Lecture

 

The Neuroscience of Brain Cancers: Prof. Michelle Monje, Stanford Medicine, USA

Location: Dan Hotel - Fiesta Hall

 

12:00-13:15 | Moving to the Next Level - ARI-PST 2025 Achievements & the Roadmap for 2026

 

The Israeli Pediatric Organoid Bank: Building Field-Changing Tools for Research

 

Tissue Bank: Providing Access to Critical Resources

 

The Liquid Biopsy Initiative: Joining Forces Toward Treatment Personalization

 

Joining international Bioinformatic and genomic databases: an update

 

13:15-14:00 | Lunch & Informal Posters Open lunch & poster mingling

12:00-14:00 Closed Session for Consortium Partners, Researchers & Strategic Stakeholders

 

Location: Dan Hotel - Fiesta Hall

 

14:00-15:05 | CAR-T - Personalized Immunotherapy Horizons

 

Chairs: Prof. Michelle Monje, Dr. Daniel Morgenstern, Dr. Gal Cafri

 

14:00-14:05 - The Challenge: A Neuroblastoma Challenging Case

14:05-14:15 Current CAR T-Cell Trials in Neuroblastoma: Prof. Sabine Heitzeneder, Stanford Medicine, USA

14:15-14:20 - A Brain Tumor Challenging Case

14:20-14:30 Current CAR T-Cell Trials in Pediatric Brain Tumors: Prof. Michelle Monje, Stanford Medicine, USA

 

Properties of CAR T cells migrating to the CNS: Dr. Elad Jacoby, Sheba Medical Center

 

Supporting T-Cell Metabolism in a Hostile Environment: Prof. Cyrille Cohen, Bar-Ilan University

 

Innovative CAR T Cells Targeting Pediatric Solid Tumors: Dr. Anat Globerson Levin, Ichilov Medical Center

 

Uncovering New CART Targets in Pediatric Brain Tumors: Prof. Dinorah Friedmann-Morvinski, Tel Aviv University

 

14:30-15:05- Mini Orals: Future Innovative Solutions

15:05-16:15 | Liquid Biopsy - From Bedside to Bench and Back

 

Chairs: Prof. Roger Packer, Dr. Shifra Ash, Prof. Sabine Heitzeneder

 

15:05-15:10 - The Challenge: A Neuroblastoma Challenging Case

15:10-15:20 Current Status of Liquid Biopsy in Neuroblastoma: Dr. Esther Berko, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel

15:20-15:25 - A Brain Tumor Challenging Case

15:25-15:35 Current Status of Liquid Biopsy in Pediatric Brain Tumors: Prof. Uri Tabori, SickKids Medical Center, Canada

 

Chromatin Liquid Biopsy as a Tool for Studying Human Health and Disease: Prof. Nir Friedman, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

Nanopore-based Analysis of CSF ctDNA for Classification and MRD Monitoring in Pediatric CNS Tumors: Prof. Iris Lavon, Hadassah Medical Center

 

Innovative Markers for Tissue Damage & Pseudoprogression: Prof. Yuval Dor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

Blood-Based Sequencing of Brain Tumor-Derived ctDNA: Prof. Dov Hershkovitz, Ichilov Medical Center

 

Barrier-Disrupting Fields Enable Brain-Derived Liquid Biopsy: From Preclinical Proof-of-Concept to First-in-Human Application: Prof. Yael Mardor, Sheba Medical Center

 

15:35-16:15 - Mini Orals: Future Innovative Solutions

14:00-18:00 Satellite Session - Pediatric Oncology: from Preclinical to Clinical Applications and back
16:15-16:30 Coffee Break

16:30-17:20 A Roadmap to Future Hopes - New Therapeutics: Thinking Differently

 

Chairs: Prof. Uri Tabori, Prof. Praveen Raju, Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro

 

16:30-16:40 PNOC's Translational Vision for DMG: Prof. Sabine Mueller, Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, UCSF, USA

16:40-16:50 Next-Gen Therapeutics in Pediatric Rare Brain Tumors: Prof. Roger Packer, Children's National Medical Center, USA

16:50-17:20 - Mini Orals: Future Innovative Solutions

 

 

The Microbiome and Brain Tumors: Surprising New Allies and Foes: Prof. Ravid Straussman, Weizmann Institute of Science

 

The Secrets of RNA in the Fight Against Cancer: Prof. Barak Rotblat, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

 

Engineering Extracellular Vesicles for Precision Delivery of RNA Therapeutics in Brain Tumors: Prof. Chaya Brodie, Bar-Ilan University

 

Predicting Exceptional Responders and Optimizing Therapeutic Selection in Pediatric Low-Grade Brain Tumors: Prof. Yuval Tabach, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

Chairs: Prof. Sabine Mueller, Dr. Iris Fried, Prof. Myriam Ben Arush

 

17:20-17:35 Bringing Innovation to Our Kids: The Role of Advocacy Groups

 

Efrat Lichtman - Larger Than Life

 

Einat Dado Baralia - Shir for Life

 

 

17:35-17:45 Remembering Aryeh, Envisioning the Future: Larry Kluger and Josie Glausiusz-Kluger, Founders, The Aryeh Kluger Research Center for Pediatric Solid Tumors, Shaare Zedek Medical Center

 

 

17:45-17:55 ARI - PST Awards Ceremony: Young Investigator Award, Established Investigator Award

 

 

17:55-18:00 Closing Remarks: Dr. Iris Fried, Shaare Zedek medical Center

 

17:20-18:00 Research to Impact