The 13^th Frontiers in Cancer Science (FCS) conference, held over 3 days from 1 – 3 November 2021, concluded successfully with over 1,270 registrants from around the world. The nation’s largest annual conference was held virtually for the second year in a row, this time reaching out to a wider range of participants hailing from over 40 countries, including India, the United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and more. Jointly organized by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Duke-NUS Medical School, Genome Institute of Singapore, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, National Cancer Centre Singapore, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, and Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, this year’s conference organizing committee was chaired by Professor Patrick Tan, Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, together with Vice-Chair Dr. Tam Wai Leong, Group Leader at the Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR.

Participants had the opportunity to gain insights through talks by world-renowned international and local cancer researchers. The conference served as an avenue for the exchange of knowledge and expertise, as speakers discussed advances in both basic science and clinical realms over the span of 6 sessions. At the AACR-FCS Education Sessions, graduate students and early-career investigators were privileged to learn from key opinion leaders, including Professor Jesús Gil Valles from the Imperial College London, Professor Thomas Gajewski from the University of Chicago and Professor Gerard Evan from the University of Cambridge, as they discussed topics involving cellular senescence, resistance to immunotherapy and academic science. The AACR-FCS Education Sessions was held for the second year running, after the highly successful inaugural session in the previous year.

Among the many outstanding abstract submissions received this year, 10 oral abstract speakers were selected to present the latest research findings from their high-quality abstracts. During the poster sessions which ran parallel to the conference program, a total of 53 poster abstract presenters showcased their work on the online event platform, which facilitated the exchange of ideas and forging of collaborations in this “new normal”.

Congratulations to the 4 poster presentation awardees, who each received an Amazon gift card worth up to SGD $400:

4th place:

1. Dr. Lee May Yin (Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR)

3rd place:

2. Dr. Lee Wen Xing (Duke-NUS Medical School)

2nd place:

3. Dr. Patrick Jaynes (CSI Singapore)

1st place:

4. Dr. Cheong Jit Keong (Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine)

The FCS 2021 conference would like to express our thanks to 6 sponsors who offered their invaluable support – Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, Fluidigm, GenScript Biotech Corporation, NanoString, PerkinElmer and 10x Genomics. We also thank our conference partner, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), for the successful partnership in furthering the conference. Lastly, we would like to thank all attendees for making the virtual FCS 2021 a great success!

FCS 2022 will be happening from 7^th – 9^th November 2022. Mark your calendars now!