Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 3rd Annual
SYMPOSIUM: (Re) Discovering Protein Expression Platforms
January 18, 2027
How best to express? As breakthroughs in drug discovery and biologics pipelines accelerate, protein-production teams face mounting pressure to deliver more targets, faster timelines, and higher-quality proteins with uncompromising consistency. Selecting the right expression platform remains one of the most important early decisions in recombinant protein production, with each choice shaped by the protein’s folding requirements, post-translational modifications, solubility, toxicity, stability, throughput needs, and downstream application. Meeting these demands requires more than incremental gains—it calls for a more informed and flexible approach to how proteins are expressed. From navigating the expanding landscape of cell-free and IVTT systems, to making data-driven decisions about cell-based hosts and leveraging AI and computation to engineer platforms for improved production outcomes, every decision presents an opportunity for optimization. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 3rd Annual (Re) Discovering Protein Expression Platforms symposium brings together protein-expression specialists to share practical strategies, case studies, platform-selection frameworks, and emerging computational approaches for producing proteins better and faster—starting with the host.
Coverage will include, but is not limited to:
CELL-FREE AND IVTT EXPRESSION
- Cell-free kits vs. custom lysates
- How to select a cell-free kit from the many commercially available options
- E. coli, wheat germ, insect, mammalian, and plant extracts
- IVTT system selection
- Non-canonical amino acid incorporation
- Cell-free for toxic or unstable proteins
INFORMED SELECTION OF CELL-BASED EXPRESSION SYSTEMS
- Choosing the right host for your protein:
- CHO & HEK
- Fungal expression
- Baculovirus
- Insect cells
- Yeast, plant, and microbial hosts
- Prokaryotic secretion beyond E. coli
- Host selection for folding, PTMs, and solubility
- AI tools for host selection
- When to consider switching expression systems
- Matching your host to your protein of choice
COMPUTATION-GUIDED HOST ENGINEERING
- AI and data-driven host engineering to improve secretion, folding, viability, and consistency
- Building better datasets from successful and failed expression efforts to support engineering decisions
The deadline for priority consideration is June 26, 2026.
All proposals are subject to review by session chairpersons and/or the Scientific Advisory Committee to ensure the overall quality of the conference program. Additionally, as per Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s policy, a select number of vendors and consultants who provide products and services will be offered opportunities for podium presentation slots based on a variety of Corporate Sponsorships.
Opportunities for Participation: