The 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) centered on the theme “Personalizing Cancer Care Through Discovery Science.” The conference brought together basic, translational and clinical approaches to studying cancer, driven by next-generation techniques. In vitro experiments, animal models and randomized trials all emphasized the goal of improving individualized care and treatment of cancer patients while maximizing contributions to our understanding of the complex pathology of cancer as a whole.