The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) Summit 2026 brought together the people shaping the future of cancer treatment: pioneering researchers, clinicians, biotech and pharma leaders, investors, and cancer patients whose lives have been transformed by cell and gene therapy. Held in New York City during a milestone year, the Summit marked a quarter-century of ACGT advancing some of oncology’s most ambitious science. Across two days of candid debate, the conversation spanned the full arc of the field, from the engineering of smarter, more durable immune cells to the very real questions of cost, manufacturing, and policy that determine whether breakthroughs reach the patients who need them.

What united the diverse sessions was a shared focus on the field’s defining challenge of extending the remarkable success of cell therapy in blood cancers to solid tumors, which make up the vast majority of cancer cases.

The mood was equal parts celebratory and focused. Participants were proud of how far the science has come yet determined to move faster and further ahead. From novel approaches to outmaneuver a tumor’s defenses to innovative models for funding and collaboration, the Summit offered a vivid snapshot of a field accelerating toward its ultimate goal: making more cancers survivable, and ultimately curable.

Read the full recap of Summit 2026 on the ACGT website!

Join us for the 20th anniversary of Swim Across America (SAA) – Fairfield County! Since 2007, SAA-FC has donated nearly $6.7 million to fund groundbreaking research through Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT).

This year, ACGT and SAA-FC are deeply honored to welcome guest speaker Laurie Adami, a cancer survivor who represents the very heart of our mission. After a grueling 12-year battle with follicular lymphoma and six unsuccessful lines of treatment, Laurie finally found her cure through a CAR T-cell therapy clinical trial, a revolutionary approach pioneered with early funding from ACGT. Today, she is completely cancer-free and a passionate advocate for the cell and gene therapy research ACGT and SAA-FC support makes possible.

You can help enable more success stories like Laurie’s by participating as a swimmer or by donating to SAA-FC! Swimmers of all ages and skill levels are invited to SAA-FC’s open water swim on Saturday, June 20, in Stamford, CT. Prefer the pool? Join one of the many pool swims in Fairfield County throughout July and August. SAA-FC also welcomes enthusiastic land and water volunteers to sign up and participate.

Register today to swim, volunteer, or donate, and let’s continue to Make Waves to Fight Cancer!

ACGT has partnered with the Sontag Innovation Fund and the Brain Tumor Investment Fund to back Altido Therapeutics, an investment that underscores our dedication to bringing cell and gene therapies to people living with brain cancer. The agreement was finalized in May, a fitting achievement during Brain Cancer Awareness Month. Altido was launched to develop CARv3-TEAM-E T Cells, an innovative cell therapy aimed at treating glioblastoma, among the most aggressive and deadly brain cancers. The therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 1 clinical trial, and the science behind it originated at Massachusetts General Hospital in the lab of ACGT Research Fellow Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, serving as another powerful example of researchers’ progress towards groundbreaking cancer cell and gene therapies for solid tumors.

ACGT is proud to announce three new research grants to tackle the central challenge of bringing cell and gene therapy to solid tumors. These projects address the field’s toughest problems, from surviving the hostile tumor microenvironment to pushing the boundaries on how these therapies are made.

Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, received an ACGT Investigator Award in Cell and Gene Therapy for Gynecological Cancer Research. Dr. Brentjens is “armoring” CAR T cells to improve their ability to remain active within hostile ovarian tumors, an approach he is exploring in a phase I clinical trial with ACGT support.

Sidi Chen, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, received the ACGT-Cinelli Family Foundation Award for Cancer Cell and Gene Therapy Research in Breast Cancer. Dr. Chen seeks to enhance T-cell fitness from the inside out by knocking out internal suppressive pathways, while also pursuing in vivo CAR T-cell generation to help solve the manufacturing bottlenecks that limit access today.

Joseph Fraietta, PhD, of University of Pennsylvania, received an ACGT Investigator Award in Cell and Gene Therapy for Gynecological Cancer Research. Dr. Fraietta is using an oncolytic virus and bispecific antibodies to prime ovarian tumors and make them more susceptible to CAR T-cell therapy while enabling other immune cells to engage in the anticancer response.

To learn more about their research, stay tuned for our stories on the three new fellows!

We are excited to share that over 150 scientists submitted applications for the 2026 ACGT Investigator Awards. This level of interest reflects the robust and innovative academic research pipeline driving cancer cell and gene therapy forward and underscores the critical importance of philanthropic funding in today’s challenging funding climate.

If you would like to discuss partnering or co-funding grant opportunities, please get in touch!

June is National Cancer Survivor Month, a time to celebrate the resilience of patients and the scientific milestones making their survival possible.

This month’s E-News highlights the undeniable momentum of ACGT and cancer cell and gene therapy. From the collaborative energy of Summit 2026 to our strategic investment in Altido Therapeutics for glioblastoma and the enthusiastic response to our recent request for research grant applications, ACGT remains committed to a cancer-free future free.

However, pushing the frontier of cancer therapies through pioneering science depends entirely on philanthropic support. Every breakthrough we champion is fueled by your generosity.

And remember, 100% of your donation to ACGT goes directly toward ACGT’s research and programs.

As we celebrate survivorship this month (and ACGT’s 25th anniversary), we invite you to help ACGT during this pivotal time to advance our mission and catalyze cures.