We are ushering in an unprecedented era of therapeutic development enabled by live cell engineering. Genetic engineering of cells goes beyond a simplistic ́ ́ hit-and-kill ́ ́ approach to enable smart decisions using synthetic biology that allows transgenic cells to respond to systemic cues and tumor-microenvironments aimed at expanding anti-tumor directed. immune response.
GMP-production, safety, target-specificity, and longevity of transformed cells targeting an autologous immune-cell graft are key unmet needs in designing cell therapies for patients with solid cancer. Innovative solutions include the possibility of repurposing transgenic cells in terms of quality and potency of relevant immune effector functions as well as epigenetic programming.
Preclinical and clinical implementation transcends individual public, non-profit or industrial organizations and calls for cross-fertilizing collaborations. The opportunity for stakeholders to develop a pre-competitive consortium can provide a nurturing environment to discuss challenges, outline solutions and foster collaboration to achieve the ultimate goal of significantly improving survival for patients with cancer.
Location: San Diego
address San Diego Convention Center, Meeting Room 11AB
Activities:
Introduction
Dr. Marcus Maurer, Chief Immunotherapy Champalimoud Foundation,
Lisbon, Portugal and Eye Medical Clinic University of Mainz, Germany,
and Dr. Franco Marincola, CSO, Sonata, Boston, USA
key notes
Accelerate the application of synthetic biology tools to develop smart cell therapies
Dr. Qi Cai | Director of Cell Biology, Kite Pharma, Santa Monica, CA, USA
Pathways to accelerate cell therapy for cancer patients
Dr. Jason Buck | CEO, CTMC, Houston, Texas, USA
perspective
Fatigue management in the context of TIL therapy
Dr. George Cucos Dir. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Oncology, UNIL-CH Lausanne, CH
T cell therapy targeting clonal neoantigens in solid tumors
Dr. Sergio Quezada Pof Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, UCL, London, UK and Achilles