Main Conference Day 1 - BST (British Summer Time, GMT+1)
Main Conference Day 1 - BST (British Summer Time, GMT+1)
Available for Sponsorship. Please contact Blake Shuka at Blake.Shuka@informa.com
The cytosolic Fc receptor TRIM21 uses antibodies to target proteins for degradation inside the cell. This activity provides natural protection against viral infection and has been harnessed in the targeted protein degradation technology ‘Trim-Away’. In my talk I will discuss our recent work on the molecular mechanism of cytosolic antibody-mediated degradation and how we are exploiting this mechanistic understanding to develop TRIM21-based therapeutics.
- Leo James, PhD - MRC Programme Leader, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
IgG4 antibodies have the unique ability to undergo Fab-arm exchange: a process that results in functional monovalent and bispecific antibodies. I will provide an overview on how Fab-arm exchange and consequent antibody valency, influences the pathogenicity of MuSK IgG4 autoantibodies. I will furthermore highlight how this insight has led to the development of a novel first-in-class treatment for neuromuscular disorders suffering from impaired neuromuscular junctions.
- Maartje Huijbers, PhD - Associate Professor and Group Leader, Leiden University Medical Center
Radiolabeling antibodies with gamma- or positron-emitting radionuclides for imaging, or alpha- or beta-emitters for therapeutic radionuclide delivery, provides molecularly targeted approaches for diagnosis and therapy. Protein engineering has been used to optimize many characteristics of tumor-specific antibodies for immunoPET and radioimmunotherapy, particularly through PK-optimized engineered antibody fragments. Preclinical and clinical applications in radiopharmaceutical therapy of cancer and immune cell imaging demonstrate the broad potential of antibody-based theranostics.
- Anna M. Wu, Ph.D. - Professor and Chair, Immunology and Theranostics, Beckman Research of the City of Hope
By using combinatorial protein engineering and selection methods, proteins can be engineered and equipped with various functions. We are utilizing small, well characterized domains designed for purification, detection and therapy purposes. By tailoring the domains differently, the half-life as well as cell internalization can be manipulated to suit the intended use more efficiently. Here, the development, evaluation and use of these affinity domains in diagnostics and therapy will be discussed.
- Sophia Hober, PhD - Professor and Principal Investigator, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- Silvia Crescioli, PhD - Independent Consultant, The Antibody Society
- Christine Vuong - Senior Research Scientist, OmniAb
- Rebecca Hood, PhD - Prometheus Product Manager, NanoTemper Technologies
The classic drug development funnel for mAb-like protein therapeutics starts with thousands of binders derived from a discovery engine, and each subsequent developability assay reduces the lead pipeline until only a handful winners (hopefully) are left standing. Instead, ATUM's developability engineering approach relies on utilizing information-rich multidimensional testing of a modest number of lead variants. Systematic design of the variants enable the identification and characterization of causal vs simply correlating sequence-function information. The resulting data not only dictates the 'best' solution in the searched space, but also provides boundaries for developability attributes.
- Claes Gustafsson, Ph.D. - Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder, ATUM
In early-stage discovery of antibody-derived biologics, great emphasis is put on finding the ideal candidate with the desired binding and biological functions. Consideration for the developability of these molecules can be missed. Not evaluating the lead molecules for developability related attributes, such as homogeneity, stability, solubility and specificity could lead to significant CMC development challenges, resulting in extended development timelines and high manufacturing costs. Learn how and when to incorporate developability assessment and enhancement into the biologics screening and optimization phases of early discovery.
- George Wang, PhD - Vice President of Antibody Discovery, WuXi Biologics
- Cédric Weber, PhD - Director of Data Science and Bioinformatics, Alloy Therapeutics
We will discuss AbDiffuser, our latest equivariant and physics-informed diffusion model for the joint generation of antibody 3D structures and sequences. This will include general best practices we propose for development of such diffusion models. Laboratory experiments confirm that all 16 HER2 antibodies discovered using AbDiffuser were expressed at high levels and that 57.1% of selected designs were tight binders.
- Karolis Martinkus, PhD - Machine Learning Scientist, Prescient Design, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
De novo design methods promise a cheaper and faster route to antibody discovery, while enabling the targeting of predetermined epitopes and the parallel screening of multiple biophysical properties. I will present recent advances to design antibodies targeting structured epitopes, to humanise nanobodies, and to simultaneously increase stability and solubility.
- Pietro Sormanni, Ph.D. - Group Leader, Royal Society University Research, University of Cambridge
The emergence of ML-enabled technology platforms that aim to enhance molecule performance have the potential to revolutionize the way we approach drug discovery. However, without a purpose-built tech stack that puts data quality at the heart, many are destined to fail. This talk will focus on the deep integration of predictive assays, data generation, data capturing, and data pre-processing needed to enable iterative active learning cycles for lead optimization.
- Leonard Wossnig, Ph.D. - Chief Technology Officer, LabGenius
- Robert de Jong, Ph.D. - Director Antibody Research & Technology, Genmab
- Karen Silence, PhD - Head Preclinical Product Development, Argenx
- Matthias Peipp, PhD - Professor and Head of Research, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel
Fc γ Receptor IIIa binds antibodies and elicits multiple immune responses, including a cytotoxic response from natural killer cells. Our laboratory identified asparagine-linked (N-)glycosylation of this receptor as a key regulator of antibody-binding affinity and NK cell activity. Here we will define how N-glycan modification and mutagenesis affects affinity and the potency of NK cell responses.
- Adam Barb, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Bi, University of Georgia
- Karen Silence, PhD - Head Preclinical Product Development, Argenx
There are a plethora of novel ML protocols released, but an effort is still required to prove their benefit in therapeutic workflows. We develop and benchmark all the staple computational/ML protocols into integrated workflows, ranging from database compilation, NGS analysis, structural modeling, docking, developability, deimmunization, epitope/paratope prediction and more. We will present case studies of added benefit in bringing certain methods together as well as areas where ML underperforms.
- Konrad Krawczyk, PhD - CEO, NaturalAntibody
In this presentation we will present: 1) Design of a novel antibody format to induce agonistic activity of TNFSFR members, e.g. CD27 or OX40; 2) Preclinical studies demonstrating potent TNFSFR agonist activity, independent of FcγR-bearing cells and 3) Ongoing studies on the role of serum factors, e.g. C1q, as modulators of antibody-dependent TNFSFR agonism.
- Bart-Jan de Kreuk, Ph.D. - Senior Scientist, Antibody Format Discovery, Genmab
- Bubacarr Gibril Kaira, Ph.D. - Antibody Research Scientist, Scancell Limited
- Jeanette Leusen, PhD - Professor Antibody Therapy, University Medical Center Utrecht