Conference Day Two
Thursday, February 27

7:30 am Morning Registration & Coffee

8:20 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

  • José Carballido Executive Director – Translational Medicine & Preclinical Safety, Novartis

Novel Technologies for Enhanced Tissue Specificity in Inducing Immune Tolerance

8:30 am Developing LNP/mRNA Therapeutics to Achieve Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance

  • Heather Denroche Director - Preclinical Development, Integrated Nanotherapeutics

Synopsis

• Highlighting the unique benefits of using a Multi-Cargo LNP approach to deliver autoantigens and modulate the immune system

• Discussing the biodistribution and mechanism of LNP/mRNA in inducing immune tolerance

• Showcasing the therapeutic potential of LNP/mRNA technology in type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases

9:00 am Harnessing Antigen Specific CAR-Treg Cells for Enhanced Specificity Autoimmune Diseases

Synopsis

• Engineering CAR-Treg cells that recognize self-antigen specific to the site of inflammation

• CAR-Tregs to enhance localization and the potency of Treg therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease

• Discuss the potential advantages of antigen-specific CAR-Treg cells compared to Polyclonal Treg therapies

9:30 am New Insights into the MOA for Systemic Tolerance Induction With IM Administered SNAP-TI Nanoparticles and Updates on the Clinical Candidate VTP-1000

  • Geoffrey Lynn SVP, Head of Innovation and Strategy, Barinthus Biotherapeutics

10:00 am Morning Refreshments & Networking

Nanoparticle Technologies for Enhanced Tissue Specificity in Inducing Immune Tolerance

10:30 am Discussing a Biomolecular Assembly for “SupA-boosting” Immune Tolerance

  • Ken Howard Associate Professor, Aarhus University

Synopsis

  • Targeted cell delivery is required to induce immune tolerance
  • Our SupA-Booster solution boosts immune tolerance by directing immune cell and lymph node trafficking

11:00 am Pioneering the Use of Nanoparticles to Enable Disease-Specific Immune Modulation

  • Joanne Tan Senior Vice President & Head, Research and Development, Parvus Therapeutics

Synopsis

• Uncovering the biologic and chemical components of targeted nanoparticles for disease specific effects

• Engineering nanoparticles to bind to specific autoantigen-experienced T-cells

• Outlining the advantages of tissue-specific targeting for a larger expansion of disease specific Tregs

11:30 am Showcasing the Antigen-Specific CNP Nanoparticle Treatment Regulates CD8+ T Cells in a Model of Type 1 Diabetes

  • Joe Podojil Director - Immunology, COUR Pharmaceuticals

Synopsis

• Developing nanoparticles that bind to monocytes and enhance uptake

• Ensuring optimal, targeted delivery of ASIT therapies through nanoparticles

• Harnessing COUR’s nanoparticle technology to reprogram the immune system for a breakthrough approach to treating autoimmune disease

12:00 pm Exploring the Nanodisc Platform for the Induction of Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance

Synopsis

• Developing a proprietary technology that can effectively stimulate dendritic cells to orchestrate immune responses

• Manipulating dendritic cells to induce either immune activation or tolerance, depending on the stimulation they receive

• Efficiently delivers antigens to lymph nodes, where dendritic cells are concentrated, enhancing the immune response

12:30 pm Lunch & Networking

Demonstrating Tolerance Induction in Preclinical Models to Propel Immune Tolerance Therapies from Bench to Bedside

1:30 pm Antigen-Specific Cell targeting for Antigen Discovery and Cell Reprogramming

  • Michael Birnbaum Associate Professor, Associate Professor – Biological Engineering

Synopsis

• Understanding the targets of T and B cells is key to determining the mechanism of disease

• Targeting viral vectors via pMHC-TCR interactions can provide a means of decoding immunity as well as reprogramming cells for desirable function

2:00 pm Validating the Safety & Efficacy of Antigen Specific Immune Tolerance Therapies Using In Vitro & In Vivo Assays

  • Fiona McCann Associate Director - Pipeline Biology & Autoimmune, Immunocore

Synopsis

• Evaluating the ability of APCs to present the target antigen to T-cells

• Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of animal models to study the autoimmune diseases

• Establishing a correlation between in vitro and in vivo findings to identify consistent trends and patterns to validate the efficacy

2:30 pm APC-Targeted Vaccines Deliver Antigen Specific Immune Tolerance

Synopsis

• Latest updates on the development of Nykode's APC-targeted tolerogenic vaccines

• Novel pre-clinical PoC and MoA data in autoimmune disease models using different APC-targeting vaccine approaches 

Future Directions: What’s Next in Antigen Specific Immune Tolerance?

3:00 pm Panel Discussion: Practical Approaches for Creating a Compelling Preclinical Data Package for IND Submission to Move ASIT Therapies from the Lab to the Clinic

  • Kristie Grebe CSO, Anokion
  • Joanne Tan Senior Vice President & Head, Research and Development, Parvus Therapeutics
  • José Carballido Executive Director – Translational Medicine & Preclinical Safety, Novartis

Synopsis

• Highlighting the importance of robust clinical data to secure funding, partnerships, and regulatory buy-in in a new area with limited proof-of-concept studies

• Turbocharging the development of humanized mouse models and organoids to accurately replicate human autoimmune diseases for increased preclinical data

• Evaluating strategies for the first in-human trials: when and where should the first patient be dosed?

3:30 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

  • José Carballido Executive Director – Translational Medicine & Preclinical Safety, Novartis

3:40 pm End of Conference

DAY ONE
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