Keynote Speaker

Borrelli Family Keynote Speaker

Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, MD, PhD
 Borrelli Family Keynote Speaker Website

"Opportunities for Vaccine Development in Lynch Syndrome"

Dr. Vilar-Sanchez is a physician-scientist and a medical oncologist by training. Dr. Vilar’s clinical expertise and practice are devoted to the care of patients and families diagnosed with hereditary cancer syndromes with a special emphasis in Lynch Syndrome and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis. His long term goal is to contribute to the understanding of colorectal cancer carcinogenesis at the molecular and cellular level and leverage this information to develop novel cancer interception strategies for these genetic conditions. In order to accomplish this overarching goal, the Vilar research group has contributed to the characterization of the genomic and transcriptomic landscape of colorectal premalignancy by both utilizing next-generation sequencing and systems biology tools, which has allowed them to identify new genes cooperating in carcinogenesis (e.g. CNOT3 ), and also identifying novel drug targets for clinical trial implementation (e.g. Naproxen, neoantigens for vaccines). In addition, the Vilar Group has participated in the development of ex vivo models to better recapitulate the biology of the uninvolved adjacent mucosa and premalignancy. Finally, Dr. Vilar has designed investigator-initiated clinical trials in Lynch Syndrome that have been funded by the National Cancer Institute through the N01 (now UG1) Chemoprevention Consortium for early drug development in prevention.