8:00 am Registration & Coffee
8:50 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Comprehensively Characterizing the Autoimmune Response to Ensure Relevant Antigens are Selected to Induce Antigen Specific Immune Tolerance
9:00 am Panel Discussion: Current Approaches for Profiling the Autoimmune Response to Inform the Development of ASIT Therapies
Synopsis
• Utilizing autoantigenic peptides to promote tolerogenic APCs and Treg cells to induce antigen specific immune tolerance
• Depleting autoreactive B cells, providing a targeted approach to minimizing autoimmune responses without suppressing the immune system
• Discussing current approaches to T-cell sequencing to enable a detailed understanding of the immune repertoire and aid the identification of disease-specific TCRs
10:00 am Addressing the Role of Epitope Spreading in Antigen-Specific Immune Tolerance to Promote Durable ASIT Therapies
Synopsis
• Diving into underlying mechanisms of inducing immune tolerance
• Addressing epitope spreading to induce tolerance to non-specific antigens
• Overcoming bystander tolerance to target specific antigens in autoimmune diseases
10:30 am Round-table: Harnessing Antigen-Specific T-Cell Analysis to Successfully Characterize the Autoimmune Response
Synopsis
This session provides the opportunity for smaller groups to come together, share learnings, analyze, debate, and discuss the below topics, and then feedback to the larger group and chair.
Identifying antigen specific T-cell clones
Analyzing the diversity of TCR responses
Isolating HLA peptides
11:00 am Morning Refreshments & Networking
Selecting the Optimal Target in Antigen Specific Immune Tolerance Therapies – How Specific is Too Specific?
11:30 am Encoding active antigen-specific immune tolerance using mRNA-LNPs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases
Synopsis
• Discussion of the benefits gained by including an active immune modulator in antigen-specific tolerance approaches
• Considerations when using an mRNA-LNP approach for autoimmunity
• Pre-clinical data in models of autoimmune disease.
12:00 pm Panel: Debating the Need for Autoantigens Vs Tissue Specific Antigens
Synopsis
• Understanding the interplay between disease-specific and tissue-specific antigens
• Addressing the challenges posed by antigen heterogeneity using T1D as a case study
• Is having a strong pancreatic antigen to induce Tregs in the pancreas enough to trigger antigen-specific immunity in T1D patients?
1:00 pm Lunch & Networking
Standardizing Platform Technologies to Enhance the Durability of ASIT Therapies
2:00 pm Discussing a Biomolecular Assembly for “SupA-boosting” Immune Tolerance
Synopsis
• Targeted cell delivery is required to induce immune tolerance
• Our SupA-Booster solution boosts immune tolerance by directing immune cells and lymph node trafficking
2:30 pm Roundtables – Turbocharging the Development of Standardized Platform Technologies
Synopsis
This session provides the opportunity for smaller groups to come together, share learnings, analyze, debate, and discuss the below topics, and then feedback to the larger group and chair.
Platform Technologies for Identifying T-cell Epitopes
Humanized Animal Models for Autoimmunity
Enhancing Sensitivity and Specificity of TCRlmmune Assays
3:30 pm Panel Discussion: Harnessing Technologies for Antigen Discovery & Selection
Synopsis
• Reviewing the landscape of technologies for antigen discovery and selection in development
• Approaches for antigen selection in diseases with well-defined antigens such as Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis
• Evaluating the potential for tackling complex, heterogenous diseases with antigen-specific immune tolerance approaches