Breakthroughs Begin with the Basics: A Recap of the 2025 Cold Spring Harbor Advances in Brain Tumor Research & Therapy Meeting
Featuring ABTA’s August Researchers of the Month: Dr. Derek Wainwright and Dr. Markus Siegelin
Last month, some of the brightest minds in brain tumor science gathered for a powerful and much-needed meeting: the inaugural Cold Spring Harbor Advances in Brain Tumor Research & Therapy course. Sponsored in part by the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA), the meeting was created to foster collaboration and open dialogue among researchers working to unlock better treatments and ultimately, a cure for brain tumors.
Unlike large medical conferences with packed agendas and multiple sessions at once, the Cold Spring Harbor meeting offered a single-track format, meaning everyone in the room engaged with every topic. The setting was intentionally small, fostering open, deeper conversations between early-career scientists and seasoned experts. “You could sit next to a giant in the field and have a one-on-one conversation,” said Dr. Derek Wainwright, an ABTA 2013 Discovery Grant and 2023 Research Collaboration Grant recipient and one of ABTA’s August Researchers of the Month. “That’s where collaboration really begins.”
Dr. Wainwright’s own research focuses on older adults with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. His lab is exploring how aging affects the brain’s environment and how that may contribute to poor outcomes. His team is also developing a new class of drugs that target IDO1, a molecule expressed in over 90% of glioblastoma tumors. Unlike earlier IDO1 inhibitors that failed in clinical trials, these new compounds are designed to degrade the entire protein. “We believe through this two-pronged strategy of neutralizing the effects of aging while attacking the tumor, we can offer real hope to the majority of glioblastoma patients who are over age 65,” said Wainwright.
Dr. Markus Siegelin, recipient of an ABTA 2013 Translational Grant and two Discovery Grants (2017 and 2021), and who is ABTA’s other August Researcher of the Month, shared key insights from the meeting that are shaping the future of treatment. This included cancer neuroscience or how brain tumors hijack normal brain activity and the role of the immune system in either supporting or suppressing tumor growth. His lab is zeroing in on a protein called CDK12, which appears to play a dual role in powering the tumor’s metabolism and helping it hide from the immune system. “If we can understand how glioblastoma resists treatment at a molecular level, we can develop smarter, more effective therapies,” said Siegelin.
Both researchers participated in the meeting as speakers, sharing their knowledge and research, and as attendees, to take in the cutting-edge findings from the other presenters and consider how they can work with others in the room to accelerate progress. They both emphasized one key point: basic science drives breakthroughs. Many treatments that patients benefit from today, like targeted therapies or immunotherapies, began with fundamental discoveries in the lab.
“Basic research takes time,” said Siegelin, “but it’s the foundation of every major advance in cancer care.”
For brain tumor patients and caregivers, that message brings both perspective and hope. Every grant funded, every experiment designed, and every meeting like this one moves the field forward. “Never give up. Never surrender. Always keep dreaming,” Wainwright added. “Until we find a cure, we must keep believing in the power of research.”
Discover how the ABTA supports brain tumor research and the scientists leading the charge at abta.org/research. For a deeper look into the specific initiatives driving progress in the field, visit abta.org/research/research-initiatives.
