Talk of the Town: Sessions to Watch for at BioProcess International and Cell & Gene Therapy 2026
Tailored Tracks
Expert Speakers
Minutes of Content
Our goal at BioProcess International and Cell & Gene Therapy International 2026 is to introduce you to the latest research and offer you the opportunity to be in the same room as industry experts and leaders. The conferences are designed around eight tracks that offer you a holistic view of the most recent breakthroughs in the discovery, scale-up, and delivery of advanced therapies. We heard your feedback and this year have introduced even more practical workshops and case studies that will leave you with insights you can apply to your pipeline immediately.
BPI & CGT 2026 offer a breadth of exciting sessions in different tracks – from cell line development and engineering, upstream and cell culture, downstream processing, digital biomanufacturing and CMC strategy to development of emerging cell and gene therapies, cell therapy manufacturing and analytics, and gene therapy. Beyond your topic of interest, how do you choose which sessions to attend this year?
We asked our expert speakers to share which talks they are most excited for and this is what they chose:
Jin Yu, Senior Scientist, Process Development Downstream at Amgen:
“The session I'm most looking forward to is Rapid Polishing Chromatography Optimization for Challenging Bispecific Antibodies Using Automated High Throughput Screening by Dr Lei Wang. Designing effective elution methods for polishing chromatography is critical for process performance and product quality control. I'm particularly interested in learning how automated high-throughput screening approaches can accelerate process development and optimize polishing chromatography for challenging bispecific antibody molecules.”
You can join Jin Yu in attending this session, part of the Downstream Processing track, on 23 September, Wednesday at 9:30am ET.
Visit Jin's speaker profile to see what sessions he will be talking at.
Yifeng Xu, Principal Scientist at Pfizer:
“I’m looking forward to the keynote AI-Driven Cell Line Development Beyond Conception: Digitalization, Prediction & Data-Enabled Decisions by Dr. Nathan Lewis.”
Find this session as part of the Cell Line Development & Engineering track on 24 September, Tuesday, from 12:00pm ET.
You can also check out Yifeng Xu's speaker profile.
Matthias Mullner, CEO at bespark*bio:
“A presentation I am really looking forward to is Journey from R&D to Clinical Manufacturing keynote by Nelly Viseux. The challenge of translating a promising R&D asset into a manufacturable clinical product is often underestimated. This keynote addresses many of the critical questions around manufacturing strategy, platform approaches, and clinical acceleration. I'm particularly interested in hearing how larger pharma organizations are tackling these challenges today and what lessons can be applied across the broader cell therapy ecosystem.”
Join us for this keynote, part of the Development of Emerging Cell & Gene Therapies track, on 25 September, Friday, at 09:00am ET.
Explore Matthias' speaker profile here.
Martin Kockx, Principal Manufacturing Systems Engineer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals:
“I am most interested in the Cell Therapy Streams in general. Specifically:
- An Integrated Analytical Control Strategy - Execution Roadmap to Support Automation for Cell Therapies by Stephan Krause on 24 September, Thursday at 2:15pm ET – part of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing and Analytics track,
- Case Study: Harnessing AI & Digitalization for Cell Therapy Manufacturing Optimization and Process Control by Rashed Harun on 24 September, Thursday at 3:15pm ET – also part of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing and Analytics track.
I'm sure the Keynote on Scaling Cell Therapies & Panel Discussion: Decentralized Manufacturing in Cell Therapy: Overcoming Implementation Challenges and Enhancing Patient-Centric Solutions will be interesting as well.”
You can attend the Scaling Cell Therapies keynote on 24 September, Thursday at 9:00am ET and the Panel Discussion on Decentralized Manufacturing in Cell Therapy on 25 September, Friday at 9:00am ET. Both these sessions are part of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing and Analytics track.
Check out Martin's speaker profile for his session on biomanufacturing.
Jin Xu, Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca, shared a list:
- Data Automation and Model Predicted Control for Cell Culture by Alexander Wu, Associate Scientist at Amgen (23 September, Wednesday at 9:00am ET, Cell Culture and Upstream Processing track)
- Advancing dual-payload bispecific ADCs: Strategies to overcome process and quality challenges by Dr Rose Xu, Vice President, Head of Global Quality at Altrusit (23 September, Wednesday at 11:45am ET, part of the CMC Strategy and Manufacturing Performance)
- How gassing strategies and specifically pCO2 impact production CHO cell culture by Jesse Fisher, Senior Associate Scientist at Gilead (23 September, Wednesday at 11:45am ET, Cell Culture and Upstream Processing)
- Keynote: In Vivo CAR-T Therapies Product Development and Clinical Advances by Hari Pujar, Chief Operating Officer at Tessera Therapeutics (24 September, Thursday at 9:00am ET, belonging to the Development of Emerging Cell and Gene Therapies track)
- Keynote: What we have learned and also refined by using AI and ML in Upstream process development by Sarwat Khattak, Head of Cell Culture and Cell Line Development at Biogen (24 September, Thursday at 9:00am ET, part of the Cell Culture and Upstream Processing track)
- Digital Twins in Action: De-Risking Scale-Up, Accelerating CMC, and Enabling Smarter Biomanufacturing by Mark Duerkop, CEO at Novasign and Matthias Müllner, CEO at bespark*bio (24 September, Thursday at 9:00am ET, as seen on the Digital Biomanufacturing and Data Driven Operations track)
- Keynote: Engineering ADC Success from the Start: The Critical Role of Cell Culture by Andrea Little, Associate Research Fellow – Cell Culture at Pfizer (25 September, Friday at 09:30am ET, Cell Culture and Upstream Processing track)
- Upstream Matters for ADCs: Locking High-Performance Upstream to Simplify Downstream by Dr Xiaolin Zhang, Associate Principal Scientist at Merck & Co (25 September, Friday at 09:30am ET, also Cell Culture and Upstream Processing track)
Check out Jin Xu's profile.
This year at BioProcess International and Cell & Gene Therapy 2026 we have eight tracks you can choose from, some of them specially introduced for this year’s edition:
Digital Biomanufacturing and Data-Driven Operations [NEW]
Hear from industry leaders on transforming manual, disconnected workflows into validated, GMP-compliant digital operations with measurable ROI including analytics, real-time PAT control, and achieving end-to-end data integration for seamless manufacturing.
Cell Line Development & Engineering
Get insights into accelerating first-in-human (FIH) readiness through integrated workflows, high-throughput clone selection, and cutting-edge automation technologies with a focus on regulatory compliance and reducing development cycle times using advanced expression systems and digital tools.
Learn how to optimise high-cell-density perfusion processes through advanced cell retention methods and how to achieve robust cells with tailored media and feeding strategies.
We will cover biologics purification through membrane chromatography, innovative precipitation techniques for Protein A replacement, and real-time PAT monitoring.
CMC Strategy & Manufacturing Performance
Explore how to predict and mitigate manufacturability risks for complex proteins through early optimisation, advanced analytics, and innovative manufacturing approaches. We will discuss how to align regulatory expectations to innovative manufacturing and how to transform your CMC processes with advanced analytics.
Development of Emerging Cell & Gene Therapies
Dive deeper into navigating scaling challenges for in vivo CAR-T therapies, optimising LNP and non-viral delivery platforms, and advancing dene editing precision. Explore cutting-edge R&D innovations for solid tumours, autoimmune applications, and new therapeutic modalities to expand treatment accessibility.
Cell Therapy Manufacturing & Analytics
This track goes beyond theory with case study insights for integrating end-to-end automation, AI, robotics and fully closed systems at scale as well as how to tackle the COGs crisis and scalability challenges for autologous and allogeneic cell therapies.
Gene Therapy Manufacturing & Analytics
Learn how you can reduce costs and enhance enhance manufacturability for rare and common diseases through breakthrough upstream/downstream innovations and CDMO best practices.
Plan your BPI experience in advance with our agenda and don’t miss out on any of your key sessions.