Agenda

Advancing the Dark Proteome Towards Clinical Impact

Thursday, February 25, 2027, 8:30 AM - 5:35 PM ET

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Check-In and Breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Session I: Welcome Remarks and Opening Keynote

Chairperson: John Prensner, MD, PhD, University of Michigan 

9:00 AM

Welcome Remarks
Cassie Chartier, PhD, The New York Academy of Sciences

9:15 AM

Opening Keynote Presentation
Jonathan Yewdell, MD, PhD, NIH

 

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Networking Break
10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session II: Proteogenomics

Chairperson: Robert Salzler, MS, Regeneron 

10:30 AM

Computationally Searching the Dark Proteome: Proteogenomics and the Immunopeptidome
Alexey Nesvizhskii, PhD, University of Michigan

10:55 AM

Qingqing Wang, PhD, Regeneron

11:20 AM 

Next Steps for Understanding the Cancer Dark Proteome 

John Prensner, MD, PhD, University of Michigan 

Speaker To Be Announced

11:45 AM

Benjamin Greenbaum, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

 

12:10 PM - 1:25 PM
Networking Lunch and Poster Session
1:25 PM - 1:45 PM
Session III: Short Talks from Selected Abstracts

Chairperson: Robert Salzler, MS, Regeneron 

1:25 PM

Speaker To Be Announced

1:35 PM

Speaker To Be Announced

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM
Session IV: Inflammatory-Related Diseases

Chairperson: Qingqing Wang, PhD, Regeneron 

1:45 PM

A Primate-Specific Micropeptide Encoded by a Heart Disease Risk Locus Drives Inflammatory Gene Expression
Coen Van Solingen, PhD, NYU Langone Health

2:10 PM

High Throughput Identification and Functional Characterization of the Dark Proteome in Macrophages
Susan Carpenter, PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz

2:35 PM

Illuminating the Viral Dark Proteome to Advance Our Understanding on Antiviral Immunity
Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, PhD,
Harvard Medical School 

3:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Networking Break
3:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Session V: Catalyzing Dark Proteome Therapeutics

Chairperson: William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 

3:30 PM

Characterizing and Targeting the Dark Immunopeptidome Using CAR T Cells
Mark Yarmarkovich, PhD, NYU Langone Health

3:55 PM

Zuzana Tothova, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

4:20 PM

Richard Childs, MD, NIH

4:45 PM

Closing Keynote Presentation: New Therapeutic Approaches for Cancer via Cancer-Specific Novel RNA Isoforms
Omar Abdel Wahab, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

5:30 PM

Closing Remarks 
Cassie Chartier, PhD, The New York Academy of Sciences

5:35 PM Conference Ends

Submit Your Abstract

Deadline: March 13, 2026

Are you interested in being considered for a short talk or poster session? Researchers at all levels and across disciplines and sectors can advance their work in a welcoming environment designed to encourage dynamic dialogues and meaningful exchange - propelling their research, and the science, forward.