Pre-Congress Workshops - Monday 1st April @ 10:00
RNA - From vaccines to therapeutics
How are we improving our understanding of RNA technology for next generation vaccines? How will RNA transform therapeutics and cancer treatment?
10:00 Chair opening remarks
Prof Jeffrey Coller, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University
10:10 mRNA vaccines of the future: Bridging the Knowledge Gaps
Dr Sudha Chivukula, AVP, Head of Discovery Biology, mRNA Centre of Excellence, Sanofi
10:25 Beyond respiratory vaccines
Dr Jacqueline Miller, SVP, Therapeutic Area Head - Infectious Disease Development, Moderna
10:45 Individualized mRNA vaccines
Ruben Rizzi, Senior Vice President Global Regulatory Affairs, BioNtech
11:00 Accessing vast design space with modular high throughput platform for RNA therapeutics and vaccines
Dr Sarit Schwartz, Head of RNA, Business Development Gingko Bioworks
11:15 Analytical challenges in characterization of multivalent mRNA vaccines
Dr Gautam Sanyal, Principal Consultant and Founder, Vaccine Analytics, LLC
11:30 RNABL: A Novel RNA Delivery Platform for Therapeutic Applications
Dr Micheal Breen, Scientist, Tiba Biotech
11:45 From a preventive vaccine to a therapeutic vaccine
Dr Jason Zhang, CEO and Co-Founder, ZipCode Bio
12:00 – 1:00 Panel: Beyond prophylactic vaccines: the future of RNA therapeutics
- What is the potential for RNA use in therapeutics?
- Cancer, immunotherapy, gene editing etc.
- What gaps remain to successfully utilize the potential of RNA beyond vaccines?
Moderator: Anna Rose Welch, Editorial and Community Director, Advancing RNA, Life Science Connect
Dr Gilles Besin, Chief Scientific Officer, Orbital Therapeutics
Dr Gopi Shanker, Chief Scientific Officer, Beam Therapeutics
Dr Andrew Geall, Chief Development Officer, Replicate Bioscience
Dr Kate Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer, Hopewell Therapeutics
Jeff Coller, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics,
Johns Hopkins University
Jeff Coller is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University. His lab has made seminal discoveries in the area of messenger RNA stability and translation. He received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin and ...
Kate Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer,
Hopewell Therapeutics
Dr. Zhang serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Hopewell Therapeutics, responsible for strategic planning and operation of all research and development activities at Hopewell.
Prior to join Hopewell, Dr. Zhang was VP of Biological Development at Editas Medicine, a clinical-stage gene editing...
Jacqueline Miller, Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head of Infectious Disease,
Moderna Therapeutics
Dr. Jacqueline Miller is currently the Therapeutic Area Head for Infectious Diseases at Moderna, and leads the Development teams for Vaccines. She received her M.D. from Northwestern University and trained in pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She later joined Merck Research...
Jason Zhang, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder,
Zipcode Bio
As the CEO and Founder of Zipcode Bio, Dr. Jason Zhang is leading a paradigm shift at the crossroads of chemistry, immunology, and pharmaceuticals. His collaborative efforts with Nobel Laureate Dr. Drew Weissman and Prof. Virgil Percec in co-founding the startup, Zipcode Bio, reflect a strategic...
Gautam Sanyal, Principal Consultant,
Vaccine Analytics, LLC, USA
Gautam Sanyal is a scientific leader in development of analytical and biophysical methods that are essential to batch release and characterization of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. His expertise extends to rational formulation design, as demonstrated by delivery of several safe and effective...
Gopi Shanker, CSO,
Beam Therapeutics
Dr. Gopi Shanker is the Chief Scientific Officer of Beam Therapeutics. Dr. Shanker has more than two decades of broad drug discovery experience at Novartis, Amgen, Tevard and Regeneron ranging from developing target concepts to advancing molecules through clinical development. He has contributed to ...
Andrew Geall, Chief Development Officer,
Replicate Bioscience, Inc.
Dr. Andrew Geall is the Chief Development Officer at Replicate Bioscience and co-founder of the company. Dr. Geall has over 20 years of professional experience in the development of drug delivery systems and is a pioneer in the fields of mRNA vaccines and nucleic acid delivery. He is an inventor on ...
Sarit Schwartz, Head of RNA, Business Development,
Ginkgo Bioworks
Sarit Schwartz holds a PhD and serves as the Head of RNA at Ginkgo Bioworks. She has over 15 years of experience in scientific research and business development. Sarit has held significant roles across various sectors, including her position as a Senior Business Development Leader at Atomwise, an...
Michael Breen, Scientist,
Tiba Biotech, LLC
Michael Breen is a Scientist at Tiba Biotech. He joined Tiba after finishing his Ph.D. in Microbiology at Boston University in 2023 where he studied lung-resident B cell populations that arise after influenza virus infection. At Tiba, Michael has initiated multiple therapeutic and vaccine research...
Gilles Besin, Chief Scientific Officer,
Orbital Therapeutics
With more than 15 years of research experience in immunology and vaccines for infectious diseases, oncology, and metabolic disorders, including rare diseases, Dr. Gilles Besin is now the CSO of Orbital Therapeutics. Prior to joining Orbital Therapeutics, Dr. Besin led all discovery research efforts ...
Anna-Rose Welch, Editorial and Community Director, Advancing RNA,
Life Science Connect
Anna Rose Welch is the Editorial and Community Director of Advancing RNA. In this role, she writes thought leadership and hosts conversations with the leading voices and organizations in the RNA therapeutics industry. Prior to launching Advancing RNA, Anna Rose headed up publications covering the...
Sudha Chivukula, Head Discovery Biology,
Sanofi
Sudha is a Ph.D in Biochemistry and received her academic training from India, Malaysia and US. Enthusiastic about public health interventions, Sudha joined Sanofi Vaccines R&D to work on viral and combination vaccines targeting unmet medical needs for low- and middle-income countries. Her...
Ruben Rizzi, SVP Global Regulatory Affairs,
BioNTech SE
Ruben Rizzi, physician by training, VP of Global Regulatory Affairs at BioNTech. I joined the company in December 2019 just before the pandemic, and I have been the global regulatory lead for BioNTech for our COVID-19 development. Currently, I am still supporting the lifecycle of our COVID-19...