Mark Klempner | Professor of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Mark S. Klempner, MD, is the executive vice chancellor for MassBiologics and professor of medicine at UMass Medical School. Dr. Klempner joined UMMS in July 2012 from the Boston University School of Medicine, where he served as associate provost for research, Conrad Wesselhoeft Professor of Medicine and the founding director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.

Klempner is internationally known for basic infectious disease research and the development of therapeutics and vaccines to combat infections. From 2003 to 2011, he served as principal investigator on a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to design the scientific programs and build one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories. Known as NEIDL, these laboratories study newly emerging infectious diseases such as hemorrhagic fever viruses and re- emerging diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. The focus of research is on basic and translational studies leading to development of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
Klempner’s own research includes investigations into the molecular biology and pathogenic mechanisms of Lyme disease; patient-based clinical research on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease; molecular methods for detecting and identifying microorganisms; and connections between neutrophils and cytokines, leading to therapies for inflammatory disorders.
Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Klempner was the Louisa C. Endicott Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. A graduate of the Cornell University Medical College, he trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at NIAID. He is the author of more than 260 publications, chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the NIH Clinical Center and has served as associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine for the past 10 years. He has been recognized with numerous awards including the Young Investigator Award and the Excellence in Research Achievement Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

Appearances:

Pre-Congress Workshops - Monday 30th March @ 10:00

ANTIBODIES FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES WORKSHOP

10am Workshop Chair’s Opening Remarks: Dr Mark T. Esser, Chief Scientific Officer & Head, Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology

Topics

Development of mAbs for infectious diseases
mAb design
Reducing the cost of mAb manufacturing

MEASURING BREADTH & EMERGING TARGETS

10:10am A Long Acting Monoclonal Antibody for Seasonal Prevention of Lyme DiseaseDr Mark Klempner, Professor of Medicine & Principal Investigator, University of Massachusetts

10:40am Multiplexed Neutralization Assays: A Unified Platform for Evaluating Breadth Against Priority PathogensDr Nigel Temperton, Chair in Molecular Virology, Director of Research and Innovation, Medway School of Pharmacy, University of Kent

11:00am Developing mAb therapies that keep pace with rapidly evolving viral threatsDr Robert Allen, CSO, Invivyd

TRANSFORMING DELIVERY & CLINICAL ACCESS

11:20 Breaking the Cycle: A Novel Anti-Toxin B Antibody Against Recurrent C. difficile InfectionsDr Christine Tkaczyk, Director, Bacteriology early Vaccines & Immune Therapies, AstraZeneca

11:50am Novel DNA-Encoded Monoclonal Antibody Technology: Durable and Tolerable In Vivo Expression of mAbs Targeting COVID Dr Laurent Humeau, CSO, Inovio

12:10am The Sepsis Antibody Breakthrough: restoring immune function with hCitH3-mAb Dr Jianjie Ma, Professor, Surgery, University of Virginia

12:30pm From Bench to Broad Access: The journey of Nirsevimab, a long-acting mAb against RSVDr Sachin Paranjapi, Sanofi *TBC

1pm NETWORKING BREAK

ANTIBODIES FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES (PM)

2:00pm Panel: Next-Gen mAb Manufacturing: Beyond CHO & Protein A *Title TBC
Process Intensification: Adopting continuous bioprocessing (perfusion) to reduce facility CapEx and achieve savings.
Downstream Disruption: Replacing expensive Protein A chromatography with alternative, high-throughput purification platforms.
Digital Biomanufacturing: Leveraging Machine Learning and PAT for real-time process optimization and consistent product quality.
Novel Expression Systems: Utilizing non-mammalian hosts (e.g., fungi/C1) and in vivo technologies like DMAbs for radical cost reduction.
The $10/g Goal: Discussing the technical and regulatory pathways required to make mAbs globally accessible.

Moderator: Dr Michael Caldwell, Meharry Medical CollegeDr Antonio DiGiandomenico, Senior Director, Head of Microbial Antibodies and Technologies, Early Vaccines and Immune Therapies, AstraZeneca

Dr Huub Glederblom, Fred Hutch

THE MULTI-SPECIFIC FRONTIER

3:00pm Beyond Monoclonals: Harnessing Recombinant Polyclonals to Future-Proof Against Viral EscapeDr Sheila Keating, Vice President, Immunology, GigaGen

3:20 – 3:40pm Development of unique tetravalent antibodies for COVID and Flu Dr John Mascola, CSO, Modex Therapeutics

3:40pm Next-Generation HIV mAbs: Optimizing Potency, Duration, and Global AccessDr Jon Heinrichs, Vice President & Head of Discovery Science, IAVI

4:00pm Multi-specific Antibodies and Cocktails: The Future of Complex ID Intervention
The technical hurdles of discovering, engineering, co-manufacturing and co-formulating multiple mAbs or multi-specific formats.
Designing mAbs that target multiple mechanisms (e.g., neutralizing toxin and facilitating pathogen clearance).
Clinical trial design challenges for combination products in infectious disease settings.
Regulatory challenges

Moderator: Dr Huub Glederblom, Fred HutchDr John Mascola, CSO, Modex TherapeuticsDr Sheila Keating, Vice President, Immunology, GigaGenDr Peter Marks, Head of Infectious Diseases, Eli Lilly

5pm End of Workshop