Conference Day One

Wednesday 18th October 2023

7:30 am Coffee & Registration

8:20 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

Setting the Context – Bringing the Next Wave of Innate Immunotherapies to Market

8:30 am FIRESIDE DISCUSSION: Innate Cell Applications in Oncology and Beyond! – A Holistic Perspective

Synopsis

This fireside discussion will cover:

  • Assessing autologous vs allogeneic approaches for innate cell therapy development
  • Understanding how biopharma are coming to terms with the investment landscape in the industry
  • Proposing gold standard strategies for CMC scale up of innate immune therapies
  • Deducing key regulatory barriers that need to be overcome to accelerate the development of innate cell therapies

Utilising the Innate Immune System to Overcome Tumour Resistance Mechanisms & Improve the Endogenous Immune Response

9:00 am Case Study: Leveraging Dendritic Cell Biology to Improve NK-cell Based Therapeutic Approaches

Synopsis

  • Dendritic cell biology can be used to improve NK-cell based therapeutic approaches
  • Intratumoral allogeneic dendritic cells activate NK cells and broader antitumour immune responses
  • Leukemic-derived dendritic cells can be used to expand memory NK cells for therapeutic purposes

9:30 am Morning Refreshment Break & Speed Networking

10:30 am ADAPT-NK – An Allogeneic Adaptive NK Cell Therapy Platform to Unleash NK Cell Potential

Synopsis

  • Leveraging adaptive NK cell properties to circumvent inhibitory hurdles of NK cell therapies
  • Utilizing highly cytotoxic ADAPT-NK cells against liquid and solid tumor targets, and in combination with engages
  • Establishment of manufacturing protocol and cell banks to support dose-escalation and expansion of Phase I/II studies

11:00 am Case Study: Boosting NK Cells through Cytokine Conditioning: Promoting Ex Vivo Proliferative Capacity & Resistance to Immune Suppression in the TME

Synopsis

  • Utilising cytokines to drive proliferative capacity of NK cells
  • Leveraging stimulatory and inhibitory signalling to condition NK cells for increased cytotoxic capacity
  • Overcoming immune suppression and shaping the TME through altered signalling and cytokine release

11:30 am Case Study: Allogeneic Invariant Natural Killer T-Cells: Approaches for Solid Tumor Treatment

  • Marco Purbhoo Director, Translational Research, MiNK Therapeutics

Synopsis

  • Why iNKT cells are a highly effective and efficient platform for allogeneic cell therapy
  • Which approaches does MiNK Therapeutics pursue for the development of solid tumor therapy?
  • Recent MiNK preclinical and clinical data on ongoing programs

12:00 pm Case Study: Clinical Gamma-Delta T-Cell Therapies, Demonstrating Persistence & Durability for Positive Outcomes in Hematological & Solid Tumours

Synopsis

  • The first clinical data on gamma-delta T-cell therapies demonstrating persistence, durability and expansion in patients
  • Leveraging gamma-delta T-cell properties to evade the endogenous immune response
  • Intelligent engineering to maximise the tumor targeting ability of gamma-delta T-cells to bring cell therapies into solid tumours

12:30 pm Networking Lunch

Reconsidering Innate Cell Scarcity & Phenotypic Complexity to Promote an Effective & Efficient Engraftment Strategy

1:30 pm Developing the Next Generation of Myeloid Cell Targeted Therapies: Opportunities & Challenges

  • Subhankar Mukhopadhyay Senior Lecturer & Associate professor - Innate Immunity & Regenerative Medicine, King's College London

Synopsis

  • Novel strategies for myeloid cell-based therapies – how adoption of synthetic biology approaches can develop the next generation of genetically modified effector cells
  • Strategies for therapeutic targeting of myeloid cells in situ
  • Characterisation strategies and biomarkers for achieving an optimum phenotype of engineered myeloid cells to achieve a successful allogeneic therapy

2:00 pm ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: Building Industry Synchronisation for a High- Quality Engraftment Strategy

  • Evren Alici Head of Cell & Gene Therapy Group, Karolinska

Synopsis

With the innate cell therapy industry developing iPSC, cord and peripherally derived platforms the need for engraftment synchronisation has never been more important for leaders in this dynamic space. This roundtable provides an opportunity for industry leaders to state their views on aspects of innate cell engraftment and discuss key topics such as patient conditioning and material characterisation to help understand ways to elevate a safe and effective engraftment strategy.

3:00 pm Innovator’s Poster Session

Evaluating the Role of Genetic Engineering to Reduce Immunogenicity & Increase Persistence of Innate Cell Therapies

4:00 pm Case Study: Harnessing Autologous NK Cells for Personalised Immunotherapy

Synopsis

  • Engineering vs non-engineering strategies
  • Important aspects of repeat dosing
  • Strategies to increase cell potency, targeting and persistence

4:30 pm Case Study: Next Generation Engineering Platforms to Enhance Adoptive NK Cell Therapies

  • Rafet Basar Assistant Professor, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Synopsis

  • Improving the specificity, persistence, and antitumour activity of NK cells by engineering them with CAR
  • Precision genome editing of NK or CAR NK cells using CRISPR-cas9 technology to enhance their potency and circumvent tumour induced immunosuppression
  • Arming NK cells or CAR NK cells with antibodies to improve their cytolytic activity and allow multi-targeting

5:00 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

5:10 pm End of Day 1

WORKSHOP DAY
DAY TWO