Pancreatic Cancer UK Discovery and Translational Research Forum 2025

1. Facilitate knowledge exchange – sharing of the latest discoveries, emerging insights, and innovations in pancreatic cancer research
2. Encourage collaboration across disciplines/institutions/between all levels of researchers
3. Identify what actions or strategies are needed to move research discoveries from the lab to clinical practice
4. Provide a platform for emerging researchers, including ECRs, to showcase their work and connect with others in the field

1. Collaboration: How can collaboration drive change in pancreatic cancer?

• Collaboration is key to progressing pancreatic cancer research, to bring together diverse expertise, resources, and perspectives, enabling the development of innovative approaches to tackle the complexity of the disease. This session will focus on the power of collaboration in advancing research from pre-clinical to clinical stages. We invite researchers to share their stories of successful partnerships, highlighting the key things that made these collaborations work—whether in terms of scientific breakthroughs, overcoming challenges, or advancing the transition from lab discoveries to clinical application. We also encourage honest discussions on the hurdles faced along the way, from resource limitations to communication barriers, and how these were navigated. This is a chance to reflect on how collaboration shapes the future of research and discover insights to inspire others in the community.

2. Disease Heterogeneity: How can we reframe our research approaches to heterogeneity, considering pancreatic cancer as syndrome with multiple distinct subtypes and patient populations, rather than a single disease?

• Typical classification of pancreatic cancer fails to capture the complexity and diversity of the disease at molecular, clinical and demographic levels. This session aims to dive deeper into the heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer, from molecular drivers to clinical presentation and discuss whether we should be reframing our research approaches at every level of research (from pre-clinical models to clinical trials) to account for this complexity.
• Discussion points:
  • How can we define and characterise the various molecular and genetic subtypes within pancreatic cancer, and what are the key drivers of this?
  • How can we detect more precise biomarkers and develop detection methods to distinguish between these subtypes?
  • What are the barriers to identifying and studying these subtypes? How can we improve current research models to reflect the disease’s diversity?
  • How does the tumour microenvironment, including immune cell infiltration and stromal composition contribute to heterogeneity, and what are the implications of this for early detection and treatment strategies?
  • If pancreatic cancer is viewed as a collection of diseases rather than a single entity, what implications does this have for how we classify and stratify patients in clinical trials? How can we overcome this?

3. Interception: How and when should we intercept the progression from benign to malignant disease in at-risk populations to enable early detection and effective surveillance?

• There are several distinct at-risk groups for pancreatic cancer, each with unique challenges in terms of identification, monitoring, and intervention: individuals with a family history of pancreatic cancer, those with pancreatitis, individuals with new-onset diabetes (NOD), and patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). This session will explore the biological, genetic, and clinical factors that increase the risk for each of these groups, the challenges in identifying and monitoring these individuals, and the potential strategies for interception, early detection and prevention.
• Discussion points:
  • What are the most critical genetic factors or syndromes that increase pancreatic cancer risk?
  • How does chronic or recurrent pancreatitis contribute to pancreatic cancer risk, and what is the relationship between pancreatitis and the development of IPMNs?
  • Which molecular or genetic markers could be used to predict the malignant transformation of IPMNs? How can we integrate these findings into clinical decision-making?
  • What mechanisms explain the relationship between NOD and pancreatic cancer, and how do we distinguish between benign NOD and NOD secondary to pancreatic cancer (Type 3c diabetes)?
  • What critical data or research are we lacking that would help guide more targeted interventions for all of these at-risk populations?

4. Therapeutic Innovation: How can combinatorial treatment strategies and innovative drug delivery platforms address the unique challenges of pancreatic cancer, and what is the path toward improving clinical translation for these approaches?

• Research into combinatorial treatment strategies and advanced drug delivery platforms holds significant promise for pancreatic cancer but there are key challenges in overcoming the dense tumour microenvironment and addressing the intrinsic and adaptive treatment resistance mechanisms present in pancreatic cancer. This panel discussion will explore the promising new approaches being investigated in the UK at the moment and discuss the challenges and potential solutions to ensure translational potential of these.

We invite you to submit a proposal when you register if you are interested in speaking in the Collaboration, Disease Heterogeneity or Interception sessions. Therapeutic innovation will be an invited panel discussion.

• Venue: the studio Birmingham, 7 Cannon Street, Birmingham, B2 5EP
• Timings: the following are rough timings and may change over the next few months.
  • Thursday 6th November 2025
    • 10.30 – 11.00: Registration, teas & coffees
    • 11.00 – 18.00: Main event
    • 18.30 – 21.30: Evening social at Bacchus Bar, Burlington Arcade, New St, Birmingham B2 4JH
  • Friday 7th November 2025
    • 9.00 – 09.30: Registration, teas & coffees
    • 09.30 – 14.30: Main event
    • 14.30 – 16.00: Early Career Researcher session

• Catering:
  • On Thursday, lunch and refreshments will be provided at the event venue. In the evening, there will be a social at Bacchus Bar with a buffet available.
  • On Friday, refreshments and lunch will be provided at the event venue.
  • All dietary requirements will be catered to. Please ensure you let us know any dietary requirements when you book your place.

• Travel:
  • If travelling by train, Birmingham New Street station is approx. 2-minute walk to the event venue. Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street stations are also a short walk to the venue.
  • If travelling by car, the venue recommends Birmingham Snow Hill Station Car Park (postcode B3 2BJ) and Birmingham New Street Station Car Park (postcode B2 4ND). Both car parks are around a 5-minute walk from the studio.
  • Visit the studio Birmingham’s website for more detailed information on getting to the event venue.

Here are some affordable accommodation options:

• Premier Inn Birmingham City Centre (New St Station), Birmingham Exchange Buildings, Stephenson Place, Birmingham B2 4NH – approx. 3-minute walk from the venue 

• Premier Inn Birmingham City Centre (Waterloo Street), 3-6 Waterloo Street, Birmingham, B2 5PG – approx. 6-minute walk from the venue 

• EasyHotel Birmingham City Centre, 81-91 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BL – approx. 4-minute walk from the venue 

We appreciate that it may be difficult to cover the costs of attending this event and we’d like to help where we can. We are pleased to offer a limited number of bursaries on a first come, first served basis, to assist with travel and accommodation for early career researchers. 

The bursaries are only available to early career researchers who have no other sources of funding for conferences, and who live outside of Birmingham. 

Please note there is a limited budget available and as such the bursaries are not guaranteed. 

If you require a bursary, please tick the box when you register. We will send you further information and you will need to complete an application form.