Saturday, 21st November Australasian Melanoma Conference 2026

Title: Updates in the clinical & translational management of Merkel Cell Carcinoma  
Speakers include:
- Prof Shahneen Sandu (Chair)
- Prof Jurgen Becker ( MCC Clinical Updates)
- Prof Richard Tothil ( MCC translational updates)

• Sunscreen: the burning topic in 2026 - Rachel Neale
• The future of skin checks: can technology and A.I. help? - Victoria Mar
• New medicines, new paradigms: the evolving treatment landscape in melanoma and skin cancer - Grant McArthur
• Advocacy Workshop: Lived Experience is Expertise: Advocacy & Influence - Craig Lawn, Peter Gourlay, Anne Gately and Melissa Sheldon

Panel Discussion: Melanocytic Lesions in Focus: Melanocytomas, Lentigo Maligna and Clinical Vignettes – A Multidisciplinary Clinicopathological Discussion.

Panellists:

• Dr Hugh Roberts
• Dr Mostafa Khalafalla
• Dr Pascale Guitera
• Dr Alan Pham
• Dr Louise Jackett

• Beyond Checkpoint Inhibitors: The Emerging Role of TIL Therapy in Melanoma - Muhammad Khattak
• Developing the next generation of tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapies for melanoma - Hannah Newnes
• Beyond Checkpoint Inhibitors: T-Cell Engager Therapy in Melanoma - Damien Kee
• Understanding the role of gut microbiota in T cell immunity against melanoma - Annabell Bachem
• Immune Cell Dynamics and Outcomes in Neoadjuvant-Treated Stage III Melanoma  - Tina J Hieken

• Risk prediction models for subsequent new primary melanoma: a systematic review. - Deonna Ackermann
• Organ-Specific Microenvironments Shape Clonal Selection and Cell State Plasticity in Metastatic Melanoma Under Immunotherapy Pressure - Veronica Aedo Lopez
• Deciphering the complex pathways in Lentigo Maligna through Proteomics in scarless biopsy - Raquel Ruiz Araujo
• Impact of routine skin cancer screening on morbidity and mortality: An Updated Systematic Review - Shannon Baker
• What is the evidence for follow-up and surveillance after melanoma in situ? A systematic review of guidelines and evidence  - Molly Carter
• Autophagy as a driver of phenotypic heterogeneity in an MITF-rheostat spheroid model - Gisella Edny
• Paraneoplastic Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris in the setting of Melanoma - Holly FitzGerald
• Keratinocyte cancer accumulation after solid organ transplantation: a longitudinal trajectory analysis - Cody Frear
• Who misses a skin check? Sociodemographic predictors of physician-led skin examinations prior to high-risk melanoma diagnosis - Danielle Gavanescu
• Characterising the Tumour Microenvironment in Melanoma Patients Treated with Combination Anti-TIGIT + Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapies - Tuba N Gide
• Conjunctival ultraviolet autofluorescence as a potential ocular biomarker of cumulative UV exposure in skin cancer risk assessment: a pilot study - Mojtaba Golzan
• Early support matters: Embedding supportive care at melanoma diagnosis. - Lisa Gomes
• Assessing the relationship between FDG‑PET/CT parameters and tumour glucose metabolism in melanoma - Daniel S Gu
• MELGROUP: A pilot group therapy for people diagnosed with stage III melanoma - Claire Gore
• Modulating phenotypic melanoma heterogeneity and immune cell infiltration - Nikolas K Haass
• Phase 2, multicenter, single-arm study of belvarafenib in combination with cobimetinib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic neuroblastoma-RAS mutant melanoma   - Seong-jung Kim
• Melanoma and Confocal Microscopy: Time consuming and expensive but is it a game changer? Literature review regarding diagnostic accuracy in melanoma detection. - Madeleine Kelly
• Specialist Melanoma Nurse impact on immune-mediated toxicity management in regional Australia - Esther Langford
• The genomic and transcriptomic landscape of skin adjacent to a prior melanoma is distinct from clinically similar skin without an adjacent melanoma - Katie J Lee
• Circular RNAs as Biomarker and Therapeutic Targets for Uveal melanoma - Jason S Lee
• Predicting Cutaneous Toxicity in Melanoma Immunotherapy: Insights from Peripheral Immune Profiling and Baseline Clinical Characteristics - Yuyang Liu
• Trial in progress: A randomised phase II trial of concurrent stereotactic body radiotherapy with immunotherapy versus immunotherapy alone in patients with 1-5 extracranial melanoma oligometastases (AXIOM) - Serigne Lo
• Q-Inform: A randomised control trial of risk-stratified screening advice for melanoma – study design and recruitment - Lillian Macfarlane
•   Five Years of a Visible Nail Melanoma: Implications for Public Awareness and Early Detection   - Vanessa Rigoni Marcato
• Melanoma of Unknown Primary with Cutaneous Regression and Poliosis: A Diagnostic Challenge - Vanessa Rigoni Marcato
• Paradoxical rapid-onset eruptive cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas during vemurafenib therapy with concurrent tumor response and regression after drug withdrawal in advanced BRAF-mutated melanoma - Daniele M Marqui
• Risk prediction models for first primary melanoma: a systematic review - Ellie B Medcalf
• Melanoma in Skin of Colour: A Review of Diagnostic Challenges and Implications for Australian Practice - Brenda Ngo
• Persistent Facial Lentigo Maligna: A Multidisciplinary Management Challenge - Brenda Ngo
• Nodular melanoma versus superficial spreading melanoma: a comparative analysis of clinicopathologic features and prognosis - Daniel D. Oh
• Regression of Benign Melanocytic Naevi Following Immunotherapy: Regimen-Specific Differences and Implications for Ongoing Surveillance - Olga Pawlik
• Artificial intelligence Dermoscopy scoring system (DEXI) against histologically proven melanoma in situ : a primary care cohort study . - John E Prossor
• A novel DNA minicircle-based model of melanocortin overexpression enhances cutaneous pigmentation: implications for MC1R signalling in melanoma biology - Gardner Robinson
• Interrogating the biomarker potential of methylated cell-free DNA in melanoma patients  - Aydin Raei sadigh
• GWAS meta-analysis provides new insights into uveal melanoma risk - Huanwei Wang
• Investigating therapy-induced isoform-switching in melanoma using CRISPR-Cas13 - Naomi Warren
• Value and access to melanoma clinical trials: a consumer perspective 2014 - 2024 - Karen Winch

• Tissue specific metabolic cues driving melanoma metastasis and anti tumour immunity  - Amaya Viros
• From Immune States to Immune Niches: Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Merkel Cell Carcinoma Immunotherapy - Jürgen Becker

• Five-year survival with tebentafusp in previously untreated metastatic uveal melanoma in a phase 3 trial - Mark Shackleton
• Decoding the dark immunopeptidome for melanoma immunotherapy - Chen Li
• Effectiveness of melanoma surveillance photography for the early detection of melanoma: Results from the IMAGE trial - Victoria Mar
• Predicting who benefits from immunotherapy in advanced melanoma: a blood-based multi-omic signature - Nurudeen A. Adegoke

Title: RELATIVITY in the Real World: Real world outcomes with nivolumab and relatlimab in metastatic melanoma
Speakers include:
- A/Prof Rachel Roberts-Thomson presents real-world outcomes with first-line nivolumab + relatlimab in metastatic melanoma from two tertiary centres in South Australia, connecting trial evidence with Australian practice.

• Update from the national targeted melanoma screening roadmap - Anne Cust
• Modelling a potential screeing program - Daniel Lindsay
• ACEMID cohort characteristics and excision outcomes - Simone M Goldinger
• Embedding skin cancer prevention in melanoma screening: SunSmart in ACEMID pilot results - Anna Nicholson
• Additional risk loci and a comprehensive polygenic risk score for melanoma from the largest GWAS to date: Towards melanoma risk‑based screening - G J M Shanika R Jayasinghe
• Factors associated with a diagnosis of thick invasive melanoma: findings from the QSkin prospective cohort - Nirmala Pandeya
• Panel Discussion: Towards a National Targeted Screening Program - Alison Button-Sloan

Additional Session Chairs: Lavinia Spain & Miles Andrews

• Panel Discussion: What is ideal supportive/survivorship care post systemic therapy? - Richard Kelly
• Cardiovascular Risk in Long-Term Melanoma Survivorship after Immunotherapy - Sean Tan
• The Role of Exercise in Patients Receiving Immunotherapy - Eva Zopf
• Beyond Survival: Caring for the Psychological Impact of Melanoma - Claire Gore
• Towards Safe Discontinuation of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy: Integrating Digital Pathology and Gene Profiling in Melanoma - Oana-Diana Persa
• The melanoma school: safe and effective discharge of early-stage melanoma patients to community care - Edward M Clarke
• MPA nurse-led survivorship service and role in providing survivorship care beyond the acute setting - Peta Holly

• Mechanisms of tumorigenesis in acral melanoma - Yeye Gao
• Nail apparatus melanoma with comparison of biopsy technique - Cliff Rosendahl
• Periocular melanoma: Management challenges - Alex Chamberlain
• Ocular melanoma: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges - Roderick O'Day
• Ocular melanoma therapies and clinical trials - Malaka Ameratunga
• Targeting Epigenetic Enzymes in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma - Jason S Lee

Session Chair: Grant McArthur

• Individualised neoantigen vaccine therapy in melanoma - Muhammad Khattak
• Curing the Third Space - Georgina Long