Prof. Abhishek D. Garg was honored with the AI in Oncology Yvonne Award Named by ZS during the Yvonne Awards Ceremony at OncoDaily Party 2026, held on May 29 at Park West in Chicago.
Oncodaily
This awards highlights Prof. Garg’s work in immuno-oncology, cell death immunology, molecular stress responses, anticancer vaccines, tumor microenvironment research, biomarker discovery, spatial biology, and AI-powered translational oncology. During his career, he has dedicated himself to understanding how cancer cell death, immune resistance, antigen presentation, myeloid and T-cell interactions, and tumor states shape response to cancer immunotherapy.
The AI in Oncology Yvonne Award Named by ZS recognizes leaders whose work is helping define how artificial intelligence and data-driven science can improve oncology research, biomarker development, and patient care. In Prof. Garg’s case, that work is deeply connected to immunotherapy biology, spatial multi-omics, antigen presentation, and clinically meaningful prediction of immune checkpoint blockade response.
AI-Driven Biomarkers With Clinical Relevance
The development of an AI-driven signature of HLA antigen-presentation molecules with preference for cancer neoantigens, created by the lab of Cell Stress & Immunity, captures a novel spatial immune architecture involving antigen-presenting cancer cells, pro-inflammatory macrophages, and pre-exhausted or exhausted CD8-positive T cells. This work is especially important because antigen presentation is central to immune recognition. For immune checkpoint blockade to work, the immune system must be able to see tumor-associated antigens and mount an effective T-cell response. By using AI to identify patterns linked to antigen presentation and immune architecture, we can help advance a more precise understanding of which tumors may respond to immunotherapy.
The AI signature demonstrated cohort-independent biomarker efficacy in predicting patient response to immune checkpoint blockade across more than 1,000 patients. This represents a major translational step, moving biomarker discovery closer to clinically useful patient stratification.
Abhishek D. Garg Received the AI in Oncology Yvonne Award Named by ZS 2026 - OncoDaily
