CTC Talks Showcase: ‘AllClear’ - Innovation in Breast Cancer Research

Join Dr Kristy Robledo and the AllClear team to explore innovation in breast cancer research, with expert speakers and discussion.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 12 March 2026
• Location: Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, Education Centre, Level 5

Showcase Schedule

• 10:00am – Welcome & introductions - Dr Kristy Robledo
• 10:10am – Locked in the Bone: How the Tumour Microenvironment Shapes CDK4/6 Inhibitor Treatment Resistance in Breast Cancer - Prof Kathy Weilbaecher
• 10:35am – Overcoming age‑related immune dysfunction and chemoresistance in triple‑negative breast cancer - A/Prof Sandra McAllister
• 11:00am – Morning tea
• 11:15am – Learning single‑cell level cancer dynamics with neural and graph ODEs - A/Prof Smita Krishnaswamy
• 11:40am – Panel discussion - Dr Kristy Robledo
• 12:00pm – Close

About the speakers:

Katherine Weilbaecher, MD, is the Oliver M. Langenberg Distinguished Professor for the division of oncology at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Weilbaecher serves as co-director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and is also a professor of medicine and cell biology and physiology. She is a practicing breast cancer medical oncologist and her laboratory research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of tumour cell metastasis to bone. She has developed several clinical trials that have directly translated from her laboratory to either treat or prevent breast cancer metastasis including targeted immunotherapy and nano-therapy approaches.

• Research interests: https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/persons/katherine-weilbaecher/
• Publications: https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/persons/katherine-weilbaecher/publications/

Sandra McAllister is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Scientist at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, and Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. She also holds memberships with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Breast Oncology/Immuno-Oncology Working Group. Following her Ph.D. at Washington University School of Medicine and postdoctoral work in Robert Weinberg's laboratory, she conducted pioneering research to uncover the complex, systemic biology behind breast cancer relapse and recurrence. Her contributions to the field were recognized with the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honour for early-career science professionals in the U.S. Associate Professor McAllister is a Scientific Advisory Borad member for AllClear.

• Research interests: https://mclab.bwh.harvard.edu/research/
• Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/sandra.mcallister.1/bibliography/public/

Smita Krishnaswamy is an Associate Professor in Genetics and Computer Science. She is affiliated with the applied math program, computational biology program, Yale Center for Biomedical Data Science and Yale Cancer Center. Her lab works on the development of machine learning techniques to analyse high dimensional high throughput biomedical data. Her focus is on unsupervised machine learning methods, specifically manifold learning and deep learning techniques for detecting structure and patterns in data. She has developed algorithms for non-linear dimensionality reduction and visualization, learning data geometry, denoising, imputation, inference of multi-granular structure, and inference of feature networks from big data. Her group has applied these techniques to many data types such as single cell RNA-sequencing, mass cytometry, electronic health record, and connectomic data from a variety of systems. Specific application areas include immunology, immunotherapy, cancer, neuroscience, developmental biology and health outcomes. Smita has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.

• Research interests: https://krishnaswamylab.org/
• Publications: https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/smita-krishnaswamy/academic-publications/

About CTC Talks: Learning

CTC Talks: Learning (previously CTC in Learning) is an NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC) led education initiative aimed at FMH and University of Sydney staff as well as external academics and clinical research professionals. The program provides a convenient and unique forum for academics, researchers and clinical trials professionals to learn from experts in clinical trials science, methodology, and operational research.