Pre-Conference Workshops (pm only) and Training Course (full day) - PT (Pacific Time, GMT-08:00)
Add-on this pre-conference training course to your main conference registration package for an additional fee and gain a comprehensive overview of antibody engineering in an easy-to-follow classroom setting to help you prepare for the main conference program.
- Training course registration begins at 8:00am.
- Break Schedule:
- AM Break: 10:30-11:00;
- Lunch: 12:30-1:30;
- PM break: 3:00-3:30
TRAINING COURSE OVERVIEW
Today’s wealth of knowledge of protein structures will be reviewed along with the genetics of diversity generation of antibodies, to give insights into the best strategies for improving protein function. There is particular emphasis on the choice of a functional assay to effectively monitor the changes in a desired property, and the use of functional enrichment steps where a library approach is employed. Not only is amino acid sequence amenable to engineering, but glycan structures and other modifications may also be engineered. The course will focus on the engineering and enhancement of antibodies and antibody-like scaffolds. Examples will include work on antibody fragment affinity improvement by 100-fold to low pM affinity. Also, the engineering of bispecific antibodies by diverse approaches and the adaptation to generate Chimeric Antibody Receptor (CAR) constructs will be discussed. Expression platforms for producing antibodies for testing and for manufacture will also be covered. A background in biochemistry and molecular biology is useful, as the course is designed to progress rapidly from simple to advanced concepts.
INSTRUCTOR
David Bramhill, Ph.D., Founder, Bramhill Biological Consulting, LLC and Research Corporation Technologies
COURSE AGENDA
• Functions amenable to engineering: affinity, specificity, stability,
solubility, immunogenicity
• The measure of success: functional assays
• Engineering by design
• Engineering by random mutation
• Designed libraries
• Display technologies
• Improving manufacturing by protein engineering methods
• Glycosylation engineering – function and homogeneity
• Other protein modifications
• Immunogenicity engineering
• Bispecific antibodies
• Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
• CAR-T strategies
• Expression of antibodies and fragments for discovery and testing
• Manufacturing platforms for antibodies and fragments
- David Bramhill, PhD - Consultant, Bramhill Biological Consulting, LLC
- Peyton Greenside, Ph.D. - Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder, BigHat Biosciences
- Javier Chaparro-Riggers, Ph.D. - Vice President, BioMedicine Design, Pfizer
Immunogenicity of biopharmaceuticals can affect their safety and efficacy. Mitigation of this risk should start early in development, at the drug design phase. This presentation discusses incorporating advanced in silico and in vitro de-immunisation tools into protein engineering processes to select a lead candidate that balances immunogenicity risk and desired biophysical properties.
- Sophie Tourdot - Immunogenicity Sciences Lead, Pfizer
Therapeutic antibody design is a complex multi-property optimization problem that traditionally relies on expensive search through sequence space. In this talk, I will introduce “Lab-in-the-loop,” a new approach to antibody design that orchestrates generative machine learning models, multi-task property predictors, active learning ranking and selection, and in vitro experimentation in a semi-autonomous, iterative optimization loop.
- Nathan Frey, PhD - Machine Learning Scientist, Prescient Design, Genentech
Optimizing antibodies for efficacy requires careful consideration of several factors, including biology, modality selection, ADME (adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) and developability. In this workshop, I will provide an overview of these topics and share examples to highlight their importance.
- Javier Chaparro-Riggers, Ph.D. - Vice President, BioMedicine Design, Pfizer
Implementing high throughput developability workflows early in biologics generation guides optimized lead selection. Addressing sequence liabilities, chemical modifications, immunogenicity, and biophysical issues accelerates development and reduces failures. Complex formats like antibody-drug conjugates and bispecifics pose challenges requiring tailored strategies for successful developability and clinical outcomes.
- Laurence Fayadat-Dilman, Ph.D. - Director, Protein Sciences, Merck Research Laboratories
BigHat Biosciences is an AI/ML-guided antibody engineering company leveraging our automated wet lab to iteratively design and optimize next-gen biotherapeutics with superior safety and efficacy. By coupling ML algorithms with experimental data, our platform continuously learns from each design cycle, analyzing key properties such as affinity, function, and developability, to guide the discovery and selection of improved antibody candidates.
- Noelle Huskey Mullin, PhD - Associate Director, Discovery Medicine, BigHat Biosciences
The development, delivery, and efficacy of therapeutic antibodies are strongly influenced by multiple types of molecular interactions mediated by their variable regions, including both specific and non-specific interactions. Here we report interpretable machine-learning models for identifying high-affinity mAbs with optimal combinations of low off-target binding and low self-association, and demonstrate that these co-optimal antibodies display drug-like properties both in vitro and in vivo.
- Peter Tessier, PhD - Albert M. Mattocks Professor, Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan
- Jonathan Sockolosky, PhD - Senior Director, CSO Partner Team, Curie.Bio
- Jennifer Cochran, Ph.D. - Professor and Department Chair of Bioengineering, Stanford University
- Kelly Moynihan, PhD - VP, CSO Partner Team, Curie.Bio
- Mohit Trikha, PhD - President & COO, Kivu Biosciences
- Jonathan Sockolosky, PhD - Senior Director, CSO Partner Team, Curie.Bio
- Jennifer Cochran, Ph.D. - Professor and Department Chair of Bioengineering, Stanford University
Are you within 10 years of completing your Master’s or Ph.D. and under the age of 35? If so, unlock a range of exclusive benefits by selecting the "Early Career Scientist" pass when you register. This session will spotlight short, novel research presentations from early career scientists in the antibody engineering and therapeutics community. You’ll also hear an inspiring career journey from a distinguished mid-career scientist, plus enjoy the opportunity to connect and network with peers. You’ll also receive free admission to the afternoon pre-conferences workshops on December and the opportunity to present a free poster during the main conference. Please Note: Access to the early career scientists session is only available to those who register for the main conference by selecting the “Early Career Scientist” pass. All passes subject to approval by conference organizers.
To be considered for a short oral presentation in this session, or for general information about this session, please contact Michael Keenan at Michael.keenan@informa.com
If you are interested in sponsoring this session, please contact Blake Shuka at Blake.Shuka@informa.com