Tuesday, January 16: 3:15 – 4:15 pm
BuzZ Table 1: Challenges Faced with Screening Biologics for Function
Moderator: Elizabeth England, PhD, Associate Director, Biologics Engineering, AstraZeneca
- Types of assays used for functional screening
- Biochemical function versus cell-based function
- Sample types and modalities
- Use of disease relevant cells
BuzZ Table 2: T Cell Receptors as an Emerging Modality
Moderator: Govinda Sharma, PhD, Founder, Immfinity Biotechnologies
- What's the difference? Differing design principles between cell-based and soluble TCR therapeutics
- Can TCR-T cell therapies fill in the gaps that CAR-T cell therapies are struggling to address?
- Target selection for TCR development. Choosing the best HLA allele, finding the right peptides.
- Manufacturing in soluble and cell-based TCR therapeutics. Can we learn from antibody and CAR-T manufacturing by analogy?
- Improving predictive ML/AI tools for modeling TCR interactions. What are the current limitations?
BuzZ Table 3: When will Computationally Designed Proteins Become Common in the Clinic?
Moderator: Erik Procko, PhD, Director, Discovery, Cyrus Biotechnology; Adjunct Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana
- Current status: high yields, high stability, fast development, complex functionality
- Stumbling blocks: immunogenicity prediction. need better ex vivo assays to assess immunogenicity before going into humans
- Can de novo protein binders compete with monoclonal antibodies?
BuzZ Table 4: Enhancing Bispecific T Cell Engager Discovery, Potency, Safety, and Developability with Machine Learning and Mammalian Display
Moderator: Matthew P. Greving, PhD, Vice President & Head, Machine Learning & Platform Technologies, iBio, Inc.
- Improving discovery productivity and diversity for the bispecific T Cell engager's immune cell arm
- New advancements in the discovery of difficult tumor-antigen arm targets and epitopes
- T Cell engager safety enhancement with ML-derived mammalian display libraries and conditional activation
- Large-scale bispecific activity and developability screening with mammalian display
BuzZ Table 5: Which Formats are Most Developable
Moderator: G. Jonah Rainey, PhD, Senior Director, Protein Engineering, Eli Lilly and Company
BuzZ Table 6: Understanding and Overcoming Challenges with Automation in Analytical Laboratories
Michael Poltash, PhD, Senior Scientist, Janssen Pharmaceuticals
- Should you just a full-scale automation system or automate single tasks?
- How do you future-proof your hardware for automation?
- Does automation make mistakes?
BuzZ Table 7: Leveraging LinkedIn for Scientific Advancement: Optimizing Digital Presence, Building Networks, Driving Innovation
Moderator: Nandini Kashyap, M. Pharm, Senior Director, Conferences, and Social Media Strategy, Cambridge Innovation Institute
- Strategies for Crafting an Impactful digital persona
- Building global networks and collaborations
- Driving innovation and advancement through thought leadership
BuzZ Table 8: Recent Advancements with Viral Vectors
Moderator: Lizz Carey, Senior Scientist, Vaccine Process Development, Merck
- Applications to gene therapy
- Emerging technologies
- Challenges and ethical considerations
- CRISPR and viral vectors
BuzZ Table 9: Strategies for Optimizing AAV Production
Moderator: Kathy Ngo, PhD, Associate Director, Cell Engineering, CHO Plus
- Engineering better clones and pools
- Vector design strategies and TGE optimization
- Media and feed development for AAV production
- Case studies
BuzZ Table 10: Automation in Cell Line Optimization
Moderator: Vel Murugan, PhD, MBA, Associate Research Professor and Director, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University
- Role of gene synthesis technologies
- Automation in cell engineering
- High throughput culturing environments
- Functional genomics in cell engineering and optimization
BuzZ Table 11: Prokaryotic Innovation
Moderator: Simon A. Messing, PhD, Scientist II, Frederick National Lab & Protein Expression Lab, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.
- E.coli has been the dominant prokaryotic recombinant expression system for 50 years
- Improvements in use of chaperones and temperature in E.coli production
- New expression line Vibrio Natriegens
Friday, January 19: 7:45 - 8:45 am (Over Continental Breakfast)
BuzZ Table 1: Intelligent Antibody Discovery & Engineering
Moderator: Christopher R. Corbeil, PhD, Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada
- What is the future of AI in Ab Discovery?
- What data are we currently missing to push the field further?
- Where should we focus? Discovery vs Optimization vs Manufacturing
BuzZ Table 2: Applications of Molecular Dynamics for Machine Learning
Moderator: Darcy Davidson, PhD, Structural and Computational Biologist, Genentech
- Using MD for training data for ML, introducing physics into ML
- Generalizing beyond training data for ML
- Experimental data vs QM calculations as training data
- What are people's expectations and aspirations for ML-augmented simulations?
BuzZ Table 3: Strategies to Improve T Cell Responses to Treat Patients with Solid Tumors
Moderator: Mark L. Chiu, PhD, CSO, Tavotek Biotherapeutics
- Engineering higher selectivity to solid tumor tissues
- Breaking the barriers to get into solid tumors
- Handling dysfunctional immune cells in the solid tumor microenvironment
BuzZ Table 4: Challenges in Developing Immune Modulating Therapeutics for Autoimmune Diseases—Will the Opposite (Inhibition of the Activated Immune System) from an Oncology Strategy (Activation of the Immune System) Work?
Moderator: Rakesh Dixit, PhD, President & CEO, Bionavigen
- To treat autoimmune disease, potential benefits in enhancing (agonism) immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) signaling, e.g., CTLA4, PD1, LAG3, TIM3, and TIGIT
- Alternatively, inhibition (antagonism) of immune activation by OX-40, GITRR, and CD-137 may relieve autoimmune diseases
- Discussion on inhibitory immune checkpoint homeostasis in controlling infections and defenses against cancers
- Challenges of developing agents that promote defenses against autoreactive T cells vs. activation of cytotoxic T cells against cancers?
- Long-term safety risks in activating inhibitory ICI targets or antagonizing immune activation pathways in promoting cancers, chronic immune suppression, and infections
BuzZ Table 5: Beyond Host-Cell Protein ELISA
Moderator: Alois Jungbauer, PhD,
Professor & Head, Biotechnology, Institute of Bioprocess Science and
Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)
- Understanding host cell protein profiles with modern
proteomics tools
- Are the limits state-of-the-art and which proteins are relevant?
- Fast methods for host cell protein profiling
BuzZ Table 6: Non-Viral Methods for Protein Production and Delivery
Moderator: Lauren E. Woodard, PhD, Assistant Professor, Nephrology, Vanderbilt University
- Transposons, integrases, and other integrating vectors
- Exosomes and exosome loading
- In vitro and in vivo delivery considerations
- Intellectual property navigation
BuzZ Table 7: Viral Vectors vs Non-Viral Vectors: Which Is Optimal for Your Needs?
Moderator: Pranav Sharma, PhD, Founder & CSO, R&D, Xosomix
- Efficacy and Safety Profiles
- Scalability and Manufacturing Challenges
- Targeted Delivery and Tissue Specificity
- Clinical Translation and Therapeutic Applications
BuzZ Table 8: Protein Interest Group (PIG) – Online Community of Protein Scientists
Moderator: Oleg Brodsky, Senior Principal Scientist, Structural Biology & Protein Sciences, Pfizer Inc.
- What is the Protein Interest Group (PIG), and what it isn’t
- How do we share our knowledge and experiences pre-competitively, aside from published manuscripts
- Logistics, topics covered, group remit
- How to become a member
BuzZ Table 9: Common Issues with Transient Protein Production
Moderator: Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Moderator: Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director General Manager, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific
- What are the current challenges to transient protein production?
- How do we optimize the whole protein expression workflow process?
- How can we maintain volumetric yields while scaling transient expression up or down?
- What cell line(s) should we use and when?
- What parameters can impact the quality or physical attributes of transiently produced proteins?