Conference Day One
Wednesday, 26th February
7.30 Check-In & Morning Coffee
8:30 am Welcome from the Programme Director
8:35 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Moving With the Field: Exploring the Way Forward to Turbocharge Cell Therapy Development & Be the Best in Class
8:45 am Industry Leaders Fireside Chat: Exploring the Different Approaches to Cell Therapy Development to Gain a Holistic Overview of the Field
Synopsis
- Discussing exciting developments like approvals and commercialisations of TIL and TCR therapies for solid tumours and what it means for the field
- Looking towards gamma delta cells, NK cells, TIL therapies and more to target multiple autoimmune and cancer indications
- Identifying novel approaches to cell therapy development
9:30 am Manufacturing of ACTengine® IMA203 to Support a Registration-Enabling Phase 3 Trial in Melanoma (SUPRAME)​
Synopsis
IMA203 is an autologous TCR-T therapy targeting PRAME, an intracellular protein displayed as peptide antigen at high density on the surface of multiple solid tumors, including melanoma​
IMA203 delivers durable responses with favorable tolerability in melanoma patients with unmet medical needs, IMA203CD8 is a second-generation approach to expand PRAME-targeting TCR-T to other solid tumor types; recent clinical Phase 1 data will be presented
In-house manufacturing for the supply of TCR-T products for early-stage and registration-enabling clinical trials
10.00 Morning Speed Networking Break
Exploring Novel T-Cell Engineering Techniques to Improve Cell Fitness & Durability
Chair: to be Confirmed
11:30am: Engineering CAR-T Cells to Thrive in Hostile Tumour Microenvironments
- Potency-enhancing vs TME suppression-preventing edits in CAR-T cells
- AI-driven optimisation of synergistic gene editing combinations for TME resistance
- Developing GBM-targeted CAR-T iterative design from bedside insights to bench solutions
Aaron Edwards, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, KiraGen Bio
12:00pm: Group Discussion: Triple Engineered T-Cells: Are They the Answer to Improved Durability & Persistence?
- Understanding what triple engineered T-cells are
- Analysing how triple engineering can improve durability and persistence
- Exploring what each step of engineering entails
12:30pm: Panel Discussion: Screening Through Multiple Armouring Technologies to Find the One Fit for Your Purpose
- Identifying the different armouring technologies
- Understanding how each technology differs and how to select the appropriate one
- Matching the required armouring technology to your cell therapy product
Peggy Sotiropoulou, Chief Scientific Officer, T-Knife Therapeutics
Raphaël Ognar, President & Chief Executive Officer, NKILT Therapeutics
Rudolf Ãœbelhart, Chief Scientific Officer, Vanudis
1.00 Networking Lunch
2:00pm: Transforming Cell & Gene Therapy from Ex Vivo to In Situ
- Description of our polymeric delivery platform to target and reprogram cells in situ
- In vitro and in vivo preliminary data showing the efficacy of the platform
- New targeting agents to increase the flexibility of the platform
Cécile Bauche, Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder, Alaya.bio
2:30pm: Group Discussion: Exploring Novel Combination Therapies Such as Checkpoint Blockades & Chemotherapy to Circumvent Tumour Defence Mechanisms & Improve CAR-T Efficacy
- Understanding how to go about combining checkpoint blockades with CAR-T cell therapy
- Analysing the dosing levels for chemotherapy and CAR-T cells when used in conjunction with each other
- Exploring how using combination therapy can help avoid tumour defence mechanisms
3:00pm: Development & Clinical Readiness of Novel Armoured Adaptor CAR T-Cells for the Treatment of Solid Tumours
- Re-design of the CAR structure to recapitulate a more physiological architecture dramatically enhances potency, persistence and proliferation
- Chemokine receptor armouring results in better trafficking and infiltration into solid tumours, achieving high remission rates across a broad range of solid tumour models
- GMP-grade manufacture of these armoured adaptor CAR T-cells has been successfully achieved at scale using whole blood as the starting material
Marc Davies, Vice President, Research & Development, Leucid Bio
3:30pm: Discovery of Fully Human VH-Based CAR-T to Mitigate Immunogenicity & Enhance Efficacy
- Heavy-chain only CAR-T with lower immunogenicity and coded with short constructs in cell therapy
- Anti-BCMA-based CAR, discovered in partnership with Dana Farber Cancer Institute, delivers a potent and sustained anti-tumor efficacy in a mouse model
- Powerful platform for the discovery of fully human VH-based CAR enabled by NonaCarFxTM platform based on Harbour Mice®, the world’s first clinically validated fully human HCAb transgenic mouse
Bradley Delaney, Scientist, Nona US
3.40 Afternoon Networking Break
Highlighting Different Cell Types & Their
Advantages to Target Different Disease
Indications & Increase Cell Therapy Efficacy
4:40pm: Overcoming Tumour Heterogeneity with MAGE-A4 Specific TCR-NK Cells: Development of Lead Product ZIMA4-1
• Leveraging dual targeting of TCR-NK cells to potently attack heterogenous solid tumour cells
• Avoiding tumour escape mechanisms
• Delivering an allogeneic off-the shelf NK cell therapy
Luise Weigand, Head of Research, Zelluna Immunotherapy
5:10pm: A Stem Cell-Derived Vδ1 CAR γδ T-Cell Platform for Haematological & Solid Tumour Malignancies
- Vδ1 γδ T-cells have some distinct advantages over other cell types for tumour immunotherapy but are difficult to source in high numbers
- We are developing a platform technology to generate highly functional Vδ1 γδ T-cells in high numbers from stem cells
- The cells have shown high levels of activity in T-ALL models, which is further enhanced by a dual-CAR against T-ALL specific antigens
Stefanos Theroharis, Chief Executive Officer, OneChain Immunotherapeutics
5:40pm: End of Discovery Track
6:10: Tracks Close
6.15 Drinks Reception & Scientific Poster Session
7:15 pm End of Scientific Programme Day One
