14-16 October 2026
Lisbon, Portugal
Call for abstracts will open on 27 January 2026.
Apply for oral or poster presentations.
The Champalimaud Research Symposium 2026
(CRSy26) will gather an interdisciplinary community of researchers to discuss the interplay between the neural and immune systems in relation to cancer initiation, progression and therapy. This symposium will emphasise the dynamic interactions among tumour cells, neurons and immune components, and how these relationships impact tumour growth, metastasis and the tumour microenvironment.
Key topics will include mechanistic insights into neuro-immune signaling pathways, the influence of stress and innervation on tumor immunity, and how immune responses can affect neural activity within tumours and beyond.
(CRSy26) will gather an interdisciplinary community of researchers to discuss the interplay between the neural and immune systems in relation to cancer initiation, progression and therapy. This symposium will emphasise the dynamic interactions among tumour cells, neurons and immune components, and how these relationships impact tumour growth, metastasis and the tumour microenvironment.
Key topics will include mechanistic insights into neuro-immune signaling pathways, the influence of stress and innervation on tumor immunity, and how immune responses can affect neural activity within tumours and beyond.
Symposium Chairs
Carlos Minutti
Immunoregulation Lab, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PT
Henrique Veiga-Fernandes Immunophysiology Lab, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PT
Carlos Minutti
Immunoregulation Lab, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PT
Henrique Veiga-Fernandes Immunophysiology Lab, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PT
Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Douglas Hanahan
EPFL, Lausanne, CH
Florent Ginhoux
Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, FR
Douglas Hanahan
EPFL, Lausanne, CH
Florent Ginhoux
Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, FR
CRSy is the main scientific symposium of the Champalimaud Research. Since 2017, it has fostered global dialogue among researchers across various disciplines, focusing on groundbreaking advancements in neuroscience, physiology and cancer.
Eugenia Chiappe, PhD
Sensorimotor Integration Lab, Champalimaud Foundation
Lisbon, PortugalA former circus performer from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Eugenia Chiappe, PhD, studies how animals move with effortless grace. Her research focuses on the interplay between movement generation and sensory processing—from her graduate work at Rockefeller University on auditory mechanisms in hair cells to her more recent work uncovering motor sensory coordination in visual circuits of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
As a postdoctoral fellow at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, Eugenia helped establish the fly as a model for systems neuroscience by pioneering simultaneous recordings of neural activity and walking behavior. Now a Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Foundation in Portugal, she investigates how visuomotor circuits orchestrate flexible yet stable goal directed locomotion, with a particular focus on gaze control. Eugenia is a current holder of a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant and a past recipient of an ERC Starting Grant.
︎ Visit the speaker’s lab here