The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 was held between 5 and 10 April in San Diego, California, United States. More than 20,000 participants and many other researchers from all around the world convened in downtown San Diego for a few days of intense dissemination and discussions of the latest scientific discoveries. In addition, this meeting served as an opportunity for networking and collaborating, with the common aim of driving cancer research for the advancement of patient care. Combining both academic and industrial forces, the AACR Annual Meeting is the largest global cancer research meeting organised by the leading cancer research organisation, the AACR. This yearly event premieres ground-breaking pre-clinical and clinical studies presented by scientists and medics, each specialising in specific areas of cancer research.

Mr Nathan Vella is a third year PhD student carrying out his research on lung cancer therapy within the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. During the AACR Annual Meeting, Mr Vella attended several symposia and gave his contribution to the scientific community by delivering a poster presentation on his studies involving the development of lung cancer 3D spheroid models for the advancement of pharmacological research. Mr Vella’s studies are supervised by Dr Vanessa Petroni Magri and Prof. Anthony G. Fenech, both academics within the mentioned department at the University of Malta. Work was carried out in close collaboration with the Tumour and Microenvironment Interactions (TMI) group at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, in Porto, Portugal, most notably Mr Diogo Estêvão (PhD student), Dr Tânia Cruz (researcher) and Prof Maria J. Oliveira (TMI group leader).

Mr Vella has been appointed as an ambassador within the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) last January.