This is a transformative time in cancer research and its impacts on advanced therapies. Basic knowledge of DNA Damage Reponses (DDR) and their functional integration with the therapeutically relevant immune responses are fundamentally advancing cancer biology and medicine. Besides being classified by tissue origins, cancers are increasingly being understood at the cellular and molecular level, allowing effective targeting with synthetic lethality for precision oncology. Precision therapies can offer enhanced efficacy with reduced toxicities but come with the major challenge of preexisting or developed resistance. Clinically, most resistance to DDR inhibitors arises from the restoration of DNA repair pathways through reversion mutants or rewiring the DDR network. Thus, DDR regulation and repair pathway choices can drive therapeutic sensitivity and resistance responses. These findings underscore the critical need to develop actionable structural and mechanistic knowledge, spanning from nanoscale of individual enzymes to the mesoscale of regulated protein-complexes and their network responses.

Recent breakthroughs in experimental methodologies (particularly cryo-electron microscopy, electron tomography, mass spectrometry, X-ray scattering, and single-molecule biophysical techniques) have enabled the studies of increasingly complex and dynamic biological systems. These cutting-edge tools enable the integration of in vitro and in situ studies to reveal the detailed mechanisms underpinning cellular processes. Furthermore, transformative advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and its expanding applications in structural and mechanistic investigations are driving efforts toward the integration of atomic-level structural data with physiological outputs. These advances present game-changing opportunities to tackle increasingly complex and challenging scientific problems, while also requiring fresh approaches.

 The 7th DNA Replication/Repair Structures & Cancer Conference (7th DRRSC) will bring together scientists to exchange cutting-edge research findings and stimulate new ideas and approaches to address the critical challenges in cancer research. Conference talks and discussions will center on developing actionable mechanistic knowledge of DNA replication, transcription and repair stress responses and their inflammation impacts suitable to guide cancer research and intervention for biology and medicine.