The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is hosting its 2025 AACR Annual Meeting from Friday, April 25 to Wednesday, April 30 in Chicago. Every year, scientists, clinicians, health care professionals, survivors, patients and advocates gather at the AACR Annual Meeting to discuss the latest breakthroughs. From population science and prevention; to cancer biology, translational, and clinical studies; to survivorship and advocacy; the AACR Annual Meeting showcases cutting-edge cancer science and medicine.
This year’s meeting is a little different as it’s set against a backdrop of unprecedented budget and personnel cuts that are heavily impacting cancer research. During the Trump Administration thus far, more than 1,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and grant administrators have been fired. The administration has also announced a plan to cut 10,000 more employees across Health and Human Services agencies.
As ACCR has noted, in 2024 alone, NIH’s two largest national clinical trial programs enabled more than 14,000 patients at hundreds of locations across the country to enroll in clinical studies. These clinical trials drive advancements and provide patients, including those with limited treatment options, access to novel, life-saving therapies.
“At a time when the scientific community is making unprecedented strides in cancer research—advancing precision medicine, immunotherapy, and early detection technologies—continued investments in biomedical discovery and research are more effective and promising than ever before. The weakening of NIH threatens to halt this momentum, delaying the development of new therapies and limiting access to some clinical trials,” the ACCR said in a statement regarding the Trump Administration’s recent cuts.
The Administration’s actions also threaten the 72 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers across the country that hold federal grants to coordinate research, conduct clinical trials, and deliver cancer care, screening and prevention. Notably, the death rate from cancer has fallen 34% in the last 30 years as hundreds of new therapies and prevention strategies have been discovered and validated with NIH funding. The death rate from breast cancer has dropped 42% since 1989, and survival of children with cancer is now 85%—up from 58% in the mid-1970s at the time when NCI cancer centers were formed as an integral part of the National Cancer Program.
Thus, cancer research must continue, fueled by the scientists, partnerships and products that all play a crucial role in turning research into life-saving treatments. Let’s take a look at some of the products that debuted at ACCR 2025.
Artificial Intelligence
Meteor Biotech CosmoSort
Dr. Tae Hyun Hwang from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) spoke about how AI-powered, 3D spatial technologies are transforming cancer research. In his research, Hwang used CosmoSort to analyze spatial tumor microenvironments. Unlike traditional platforms like laser capture microdissection (LCM), CosmoSort uses a proprietary infrared laser system with a punch-and-release mechanism that gently ejects target cells or regions into a 96-well plate, preserving tissue and sample integrity without the thermal damage seen in UV-based systems. While most spatial omics technologies—such as in situ hybridization and whole-slide transcriptomics—enable high-resolution molecular mapping, they are largely static, allowing only observation, not retrieval. CosmoSort features actionable spatial biology by allowing researchers to not only visualize, but also physically isolate, specific regions of interest, from single cells to 300-µm clusters, for downstream genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic analysis.
Genialis Supermodel
The Genialis Supermodel is a large molecular model trained on over 1 billion RNA-seq-derived data points that enables rapid development and validation of accurate and information-rich biomarker algorithms across a wide range of cancer drug targets to act as a recommendation engine for every cancer target, drug and patient. It can predict how a patient will respond to a specific therapy and help explain how drugs work in the body and how the tumor learns to resist treatment, as well as propose potential new drug combinations to improve outcomes. At AACR, Genialis scientists shared presentations with insights from Genialis’ own work with KRAS G12C NSCLC patient data. KRAS mutations drive approximately 25% of all human cancers, leading to an estimated 3.9 million new cases each year. Despite the recent approvals of two KRAS inhibitors (KRASi), these drugs show limited efficacy and durability. Response rates hover around 40 percent, and the median patient benefit lasted just 8 to 10 months, in part because the available biomarkers for patient selection rely on genotype alone. The Genialis Supermodel addresses this challenge by mapping over 20 biological modules relevant to KRASi-therapy in every tumor sample rather than focusing solely on the allele.
‘Omics
Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP Assay and Tagomics Interlace Multiomics Assay
Agilent partnered with Tagomics to gain early access to a novel, unbiased approach for epigenetic profiling. The combined workflow of the Tagomics Interlace Multiomics assay with the Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP assay offers a comprehensive genomic profiling solution, delivering genome-wide epigenetic signatures alongside targeted DNA variant detection. This enables novel and informative multiomic insights into cancer biology to accelerate disease understanding and diagnosis.
NeoGenomics PanTracer LBx
Scientists presented the validation study for NeoGenomics’ PanTracer LBx assay at the ACCR Annual Meeting 2025. The PanTracer LBx assay is a next-generation sequencing (NGS) liquid biopsy panel designed for comprehensive pan-solid tumor profiling. It is a blood-based test that analyzes circulating tumor DNA to identify key genomic alterations in patients with advanced-stage solid tumors. It is designed to support treatment decisions when tumor tissue is unavailable or insufficient—a common challenge in oncology care. In the validation study, PanTracer LBx demonstrated high performance in identifying key biomarkers—including MSI (microsatellite instability) and TMB (tumor mutational burden)—across multiple cancer types, reinforcing its potential to guide therapy selection and expand access to precision oncology.
Revvity, Inc. VivoJect Image-Guided Injection System
Paired with the Vega automated preclinical ultrasound system, the VivoJect system allows for real-time imaging and precise, nimble operation for researchers at a higher throughput compared with traditional techniques. It streamlines in vivo imaging workflows for applications such as tumor model creation, targeted drug delivery, gene therapy, stem cell research and cardiac studies.
BioSkryb Genomics and Tecan Single-cell Multiomics Workflow
The partnership between BioSkryb Genomics and Tecan Group empowers researchers to accelerate discoveries in cancer research, drug development and precision medicine by integrating precise reagent and digital cell dispensing with advanced multiomic chemistry. Together, the manufacturers have introduced a high-throughput single-cell workflow, combining BioSkryb’s 384-well format of the ResolveOMEn Whole Genome and Transcriptome Single-Cell Core Kit with the Uno Single Cell Dispenser. The integrated solution enables parallel high-resolution analysis of hundreds to thousands of individual cells, addressing demand for scalable, multiomics approaches in single-cell research. The fully integrated workflow simplifies cell isolation, reduces manual handling and delivers high-quality genomic and transcriptomic sequencing-ready libraries in under 10 hours—supporting increased throughput and consistency in single-cell studies.
Next generation sequencing (NGS)
IDT xGen Hybridization and Wash v3 Kit
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) has unveiled its xGen Hybridization and Wash v3 Kit, a newly designed target enrichment solution. The user-friendly workflow provides NGS cancer researchers an optimized approach for identifying variants and mutations, including rare variants, from low-input samples. The xGen Hybridization and Wash v3 Kit features a high-performing, high-throughput workflow that eliminates heated buffers and reduces hands-on time by 20 percent. The one-hour hybridization step delivers high-quality results and enables users to get from sample to sequencer in a single workday. The kit also supports library inputs as low as 100 ng to improve compatibility for challenging oncology research samples, and pairs effectively with xGen Predesigned or Custom Hyb Panels and xGen Blocking Oligos for a complete, automation friendly, high-quality target enrichment solution.
Agilent Avida DNA Cancer Panels
Based on cutting-edge next-generation sequencing (NGS) target enrichment solutions that enable simultaneous DNA and methylation profiling from a single sample, the Avida product portfolio has expanded to include three new DNA panels. Optimized based on the requirements of the European OncNGS Consortium, these catalog panels deliver ultra-sensitive and rapid detection of cancer-related genomic alterations from circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in liquid biopsy samples. The streamlined DNA workflow generates sequencing-ready libraries in just five hours, enabling scientists to go from cfDNA samples to sequencing in a single day shift. These DNA panels can be paired with an Avida methylation panel to provide deep multiomic insights.
Agilent SureSelect Cancer Pan Heme Assay
Co-developed with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, this new assay interrogates DNA and RNA to provide comprehensive genomic profiling for hematologic malignancies. It is the first kitted assay with walkaway automation via the Agilent Magnis NGS Prep System, and an integrated, optimized secondary and tertiary data analysis software powered by QIAGEN Clinical Insight (QCI). This significantly improves laboratory productivity, efficiency, and turnaround time.