Phillip is a Senior Scientist in the Translational Biology team at Crescendo Biologics. He specialises in the conceptualisation and implementation of novel in vitro assays to interrogate the pharmacology of bi- and tri-specific molecules for the treatment of solid cancers. He has developed several 2D and 3D models to support Crescendo’s portfolio of first in class immuno-therapeutics. Phillip holds a BSc degree in pharmacology and a PhD in immunology, both from King’s College London.
Originally an Organic Chemist, I moved into the commercial world of Life Sciences in the 1990s. Over the last 25 years, I've led customer-facing teams in different areas ranging from Surface Plasmon Resonance, Protein Separation, Proteomics, Cell Therapy and Automation. Since January 2023 I've enjoyed leading a new team at Canopy and immersing myself in spatial biology.
Sebastian Lickert, equipped with a background in biomedical engineering, earned his PhD at ETH Zurich in the advancing field of mechanobiology. His research aims to identify and further explore the role of mechanical forces in the behaviour and signalling of blood cells. Sebastian is the author of several peer-reviewed publications in international scientific journals and is currently a lecturer and group leader at ETH Zurich. He and his team are developing a new technology to induce physical T-cell activation using nanopores, with the ultimate goal of translating this concept into clinical practice.
Dr. Daria Paruzina serves as the Senior Manager of Product Development and Platform Expansion at TC BioPharm, where she works on the translation of immunotherapy advancements from the laboratory to clinical application. During her medical training at the Russian State Medical University, she was captivated by the therapeutic potential of stem cell therapy. This fascination led her to pursue postdoctoral studies at the University of Edinburgh, where she studied the onset of definitive haematopoiesis in human embryos. Daria now applies years of experience in innovative immunotherapy initiatives at TC BioPharm aimed at combatting cancer and infectious diseases. This research will ultimately improve the quality of patient lives.
Dr Jonathan Fisher is a clinical academic, recently awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship; his main research focus is the development of novel immunotherapies for solid cancers. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Southampton and his PhD from University College London. Clinically, Dr Fisher works as a consultant Paediatric Oncologist at University College London Hospital, and his laboratory is based at the UCL-Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. He has undertaken research both at UCL and the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute (New York).
Of particular interest is the way that rarer types of immune cells such as gamma-delta T cells can be harnessed to attack cancer. Jonathan designs new pieces of cellular machinery to augment gamma delta T cell function with a view to developing therapies which are not only effective but also cheaper to manufacture, making them potentially accessible to more patients.
Lindy is a Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Nottingham and CSO of Scancell Ltd. She has developed a panel of mabs recognised tumour associated glycans and has pioneered a new antibody engineering technology which enhances the avidity of mabs, termed Avidimabs. This has been applied to the anti-glycan mabs resulting in direct killing mabs. These mAbs are also good at drug delivery making strong ADCs with duocarmycin and PBD payloads. She has developed two vaccine platforms ImmunoBodyTM and ModitopeTM which induce potent killer CD8 T cells and cytotoxic CD4 T cells to post-translational modifications respectively. The first ImmunoBodyTM, SCIB1, has completed a phase I/II clinical trial in which 14/16 patients with melanoma have been disease-free for five years. The first product from the ModitopeTM platform will enter the clinic next year. Lindy has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and is also the inventor of 66 patents. She was awarded the Waldenstrom Prize for cancer Immunotherapy in 2019.
Louis is the CSO and Management Board Member of JJP Biologics, an innovative new Polish Company backed by the Starak family. JJP Biologics develops the next generation of novel therapeutic biologics around personalized medicine and companion diagnostics (JJP Biologics: Overview | LinkedIn). Louis obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam. He was the founder of various companies focused on the generation and development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, primarily in the field of cancer and inflammation. Louis is an author of over 360 publications in international scientific journals in the field of medical immunology/biotechnology and an inventor at more than 20 patent applications.
Professor Sophia Karagiannis is a translational B cell and cancer immunologist with academic and biotechnology experience in the USA and UK. Her cancer antibody discovery team focuses on dissecting the crosstalk between human immunity and solid tumours and understanding the impact of antibody isotype on antibody therapeutic efficacy for melanoma, ovarian and breast cancers. Research areas include cancer patient-derived B cells and their expressed antibodies, antibody-engaging immune effector cells such as monocytes/macrophages and basophils, and engineering antibodies of any specificity, class/isotype, Fc-optimised antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. Sophia is founding member and Secretary of the AllergoOncology Working Group in the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, focused on the interface between Th2 immunity, allergy, IgE and cancer. Her group is the first to design and translate IgE class antibodies to clinical testing. She is author of several patents and founder of Epsilogen Ltd, the first immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing IgE-based cancer immunotherapies.
Dr. Nathalie Steinhoff is a Biomarker Scientist and Group Leader for Pharmacology & Toxicology in the field of Cancer Immunotherapy and Inflammation at Numab Therapeutics AG. Numab Therapeutics AG applies a proprietary antibody discovery and engineering technology to generate highly potent and stable antibody Fv fragments as building blocks to create multispecific antibody fragment-based therapeutics. In her role, Nathalie supports non-clinical and clinical development and implements biomarker and experimental medicine strategies for compounds in the portfolio. Prior to her current role, she investigated the mode of action of T-cell bispecific antibodies, with a focus on safety and acquired resistance mechanisms at Roche. Her research in this area dissected the cellular and molecular players of T Cell Bispecific antibody-mediated Cytokine Release Syndrome. She earned her PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Fribourg in collaboration with the Roche Innovation Center Zurich, where her research focused on the analysis of the tumor immune contexture and T-cell infiltration in poorly immune-infiltrated gastric cancer induced by pharmaceutical intervention
Serial entrepreneur that combines strong strategic, technological and managerial experience with proven track record of deal-making and fund-raising. During his career he achieved together with his different teams to bring four drug candidates from research to the clinics (up to phase IIb). Overall, Eric has raised as of now a total of more than €170 million from VCs and strategic partners in Europe, USA, Japan and Korea and have had numerous successes in the sale and initial public offering of biotechnology companies. He is CEO of the biotechnology company PDC*line Pharma and board member of Essenscia (Bio.be). Eric is co-founder of four biotechnology companies called Myosix (bought by Genzyme mid-2002), Murigenetics, HairClone and Digital Orthopaedics. He is co-Inventor of the first GMP approved mobile manufacturing unit for cell therapy. Eric worked for 12 years in the Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice of Arthur D. Little. Eric holds two master’s degrees in pharmacology and Molecular Biology and a MBA from ESSEC business school (Paris, France), with an advanced degree from the Health Care ESSEC chair.
Raj is a serial entrepreneur with passion for identifying, nurturing and launching spin-out companies with over 20 years track record of building lasting partnerships.
Raj currently serves as CEO and NED of Adendra Therapeutics, a company he co-Founded as Entrepreneur in Residence at Apple Tree Partners (ATP). Raj is also co-founder and serves on the board of Revitope Oncology and on SAB of Hawk Biosystems.
He joined ATP from GammaDelta Therapeutics – a company he co-founded, served as interim CEO, board member and latterly as Director of Business Development. At GammaDelta, Raj led the efforts to raise >$100M, establish innovative partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, acquisition of Lymphact and spinning out of Adaptate Biotherapeutics. Takeda subsequently acquired both GammaDelta and Adaptate.
Prior to GammaDelta Therapeutics, Raj spent over 18 years at Cancer Research Technology (CRT) where he served in a variety of leadership roles. Whilst at CRT, Raj founded and served as interim CEO/NED of BliNK Therapeutics
Daniela Kleine-Kohlbrecher, PhD, is a skilled expert with over 15 years of experience in biomedical and cancer research. Having previously specialized in small molecule inhibitors, Daniela shifted her focus to the forefront of personalized neoantigen immunotherapies upon joining Evaxion in 2019. Now, as a member of Evaxion's clinical development team, she is project manager for a phase 1 clinical study and leads all Translational Medicine efforts, overseeing immune monitoring of therapy-induced responses and Biomarker discovery.
Mark is an enthusiastic and passionate biotechnology entrepreneur with over 25 years experience in the sector. He holds a PhD in Polymer Chemistry for biomedical applications a degree in chemistry.
He was one of the first BBSRC funded scientists to complete the Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship Schemes run by Scottish Enterprise and was awarded an MBA (entrepreneurship) from the University of Dundee in 2008.
Mark is a scientific founder and Chief Technology Officer at Volition. He is an inventor on several Volition patents, including those related to enrichment of tumour derived cell free circulating nucleosomes and COVID-19 prognosis and both diagnostic and therapeutic patents related to NETosis.
Volition is a multinational epigenetics company, powered by Nu.Q®, our proprietary nucleosome quantification platform. Nu.Q® Discover enables drug developers and researchers access to a range of state-of-the-art assays for rapid epigenetic profiling in disease model development, preclinical testing, and clinical trials.
Stephen Beers is Professor of Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Centre for Cancer Immunology, University of Southampton. He leads a research group studying antibody drugs and their mechanisms of action. The group’s research is currently focussed on two main areas: 1) the mechanisms of action of immunomodulatory mAb, and 2) how the tumour microenvironment affects antibody therapy and how this might be manipulated to enhance patient outcomes. Their work utilises a portfolio of complimentary models incorporating in vitro 3D modelling, appropriate in vivo model systems and primary clinical material.
I specialise in Macrophages, monocytes and their role in disease. I am particularly interested in clinical applications, and we work on new and existing therapeutic targets in the cells. Monocytes in blood are a window to what is occurring in the bone marrow and periphery. In cancer monocyte numbers and activation are informative. In our laboratory we explore avenues to use and correlate the information we find in blood to prognosis and treatment outcomes. We have a solid Clinical set up and in vitro and ex vivo systems for advanced molecular and cellular studies on how monocytes and macrophages support cancer, stromal growth and angiogenesis. I am originally from Havana, Cuba, where I graduated as a Biochemist to then pursue a doctorate in Molecular Medicine and Immunology in Mario Negri Institute and University of San Raffaele in Milan, Italy; I then joined Oxford University and now the University of Surrey.
Dr. Jo Brewer has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since May 4, 2022, and is a member of our Executive Team. Most recently, Dr. Brewer served as Senior Vice President of allogeneic Research at Adaptimmune since December 2019. In this role, she built the Allogeneic Research organization from the ground up and took the concept of iPSC-derived allogeneic T-cell therapies from an idea into the potential for an allogeneic candidate in the clinic. Prior to her SVP role, Dr. Brewer held a series of senior managerial roles within Adaptimmune’s research organization. Her experience in immunotherapy and cell therapy at Adaptimmune and its predecessor companies spans more than 20 years and includes roles across the breadth of discovery. Before focusing solely on the allogeneic platform, Dr. Brewer was one of the founding scientists at Adaptimmune who built multiple research teams working on the development of SPEAR T-cell therapies including NY-ESO (transitioned to GSK in 2018), ADP-A2M4 and ADP-A2AFP, as well as early next-generation approaches including the ADPA2M4CD8 construct. Prior to joining Adaptimmune in 2009, Dr. Brewer held positions at Avidex, Medigene and Immunocore. She holds a master’s degree in Natural Sciences, and a Ph.D. in cellular signaling, both from the University of Cambridge, U.K
Dr. Jianming Xu received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Münster, Germany. He has extensive experience working with preclinical mouse models in the field of Immunology and Oncology. He joined GemPharmatech in 2021 as a principal scientist to design and generate humanized mouse models for the preclinical evaluation of novel therapeutics specifically targeting the tumor microenvironment. He is currently the Director of in vivo pharmacology at GemPharmatech. His team accomplishes more than 1,000 preclinical efficacy tests per year and has served internationally well-known Pharma and biotech all over the world.
Dr John Maher is the scientific founder and chief scientific officer of Leucid Bio. He is also a clinical immunologist who leads the "CAR Mechanics" research group within King's College London. He played a key role in the early development of second generation (CD28) CAR technology while a visiting fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an approach that has achieved clinical impact in haematological malignancies. His research group is focused on the development of adoptive immunotherapy using CAR engineered and gamma delta T-cells, with a primary emphasis on solid tumour types. In addition, he is a consultant immunologist within King's Health Partners and Eastbourne Hospital.
Dr Epstein has worked at Evotec since September 2022 and is VP, Head of Translational Research in Innovate Oncology. At Evotec he is responsible for shaping the Translational programmes for Evotec's iPSC-derived early-stage oncology assets for their path forward into the clinic. Previously to joining Evotec, he was Director of Translational Science at Achilles Therapeutics, where he responsible for the Translational Science programme for Achilles’ tumour infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy from their first in human trials. Dr Epstein holds a PhD in Systems Biology from UCL and completed postdoctoral work at Imperial College London and Cambridge, prior to moving into the biotech industry.
Anne-Sophie Pailhes-Jimenez is the R&D Director at ANGLE Europe Limited. She is responsible for all R&D laboratory activities and projects. She has over 15 years of experience in cell biology and cancer research in the biotech and biopharma space. Expert in cellular biology and immunofluorescence technology, AnneSophie has been managing multiple projects to develop downstream assays including immunofluorescence staining and molecular analysis, and leading R&D activities on further characterization of CTCs. Previously, she worked as a senior scientist for 6 years at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris, France where she gained a wealth of experience in cellular biology in the oncology area. Before joining ANGLE, Anne-Sophie managed the biology team at a biopharmaceutical company that focused on the development of innovative immunotherapy solutions for cancer treatment. Anne-Sophie has an MSc in biotechnological engineering specialising in molecular biology from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse (INSA Toulouse)
Dr. Corvaïa joined MaaT Pharma in October 2022 as Chief Scientific Officer and brings more than 20 years of experience leading drug discovery and development programs in oncology and guiding the advancement of product candidates into the clinic. She will oversee MaaT Pharma’s non-clinical research and development strategies as well as the Company’s proprietary, multidisciplinary MET drug design and development platform, gutPrint®. Prior to joining MaaT Pharma, Dr. Corvaïa was the Head of Immuno-oncology Research at The Pierre Fabre Immunology Center (CIPF) in France where she was responsible for the institute’s research activities in immuno-oncology from early-stage product discovery to Phase 1 entry, including GMP production of its products including biologics and live products.
Elizabeth is currently Director, Oncology Market Access and Pricing- Diagnostics at AstraZeneca in Cambridge, UK. She provides diagnostic market access oversight for new biomarker companion diagnostics related to the AZ drug portfolio. Prior to her current role she was Head of Global Market Access Roche Diagnostics. She also held other key positions within Roche diagnostics during her tenure that included launch optimization and commercialization of new FDA approved products. She also has a scientific background as Director of the Anatomic Pathology Laboratories at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, US. Elizabeth received her undergraduate degrees at State University of New York and Masters of Business at Wake Forest University.
Elizabeth has authored numerous publications and is frequent invited speaker at state, regional, national and international congresses. She is a voting member and committee representative with the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and member of the ISO/TC212 Clinical Laboratory Testing and in vitro Test Systems, Committee member HQIP College of American Pathologists (CAP) , Board member of the Anatomic Pathology Patient Interest Association (APPIA).
Dr John Maudsley trained at UCL with Professor Avrion Mitchison and Professor Sir Marc Feldmann, during which time he was one of the first people to make monoclonal antibodies to T cells and T cell cytokines and use them to modulate immune responses. He post-doc-ed at the University of Warwick looking at immune responses to oncogenes and viruses and the mechanisms by which oncogenes and viruses inhibit immune responses. He lectured in Immunology at Coventry University. He is co-founder and CEO of Cancer Vaccines. Here he has developed an innovative allogeneic cellular vaccine for treating cancer that is undergoing clinical trials. He is also CEO/CSO of Revax developing disruptive technology for respiratory infection vaccines.
Ian Pike is the Chief Scientific Officer at Proteome Sciences and has over 30 years’ experience working in the diagnostics and biotechnology sectors. Since joining Proteome Sciences in 2002 he has held a number of roles covering intellectual property management, business development, operational management and is now focused on leading the Company’s scientific strategy to offer clients a flexible, high-quality service.
Having studied at the universities of Aberdeen and Sussex, Farzin’s postdoctoral career was supported by Beit Memorial Fellowship, MRC and EMBO. He was appointed to the faculty at King’s College London (KCL) in 1985 and appointed to the Chair of Molecular Medicine in 1996, where he established the Rayne Cell & Gene Therapy Suite in 2001, producing about 200 GMP batches of gamma-retro and lenti viral vectors for clinical trials. He is a co-founder and CSO at ViroCell Biologics (https://virocell.com), an innovation driven CDMO, for GMP manufacture of viral vectors. ViroCell is developing intuitive vectors for targeted delivery and expression of therapeutic genes. Farzin holds Honorary Chairs at University College London, Imperial College London and at the Technical University of Dresden. He received the Distinguished Scientist Award, of the US Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine in 2016. He has published >250 scientific papers with an average citation of >50
Andrew Sewell initially trained in Chemistry before undertaking a PhD in Genetics at the University of Liverpool (1991). After postdoctoral training in Utah, he returned to the University of Oxford in 1995 where he became a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow. He relocated to Cardiff University in 2006. His research group focuses on T-cell ligands and the receptors that recognise them. Of relevance to this meeting, the Sewell group has been identifying dominant anti-cancer T-cells in individuals that successfully clear end-stage solid cancers and applying three different successful pipelines to establish what the receptors on these cells recognise. Some cancer survivors have dominant anti-cancer T-cells that see shared antigens that are found in a wide range of other cancer types. We hope to use these antigens and the T-cell receptors that recognise them to build a new generation of successful therapies for cancer.
Dr Ali Roghanian is an Associate Professor in Cancer Immunology & Immunotherapy at the University of Southampton, UK. Ali obtained his PhD degree in immunology from the University of Edinburgh in 2007. He specialises in experimental models of cancer, such as humanised mouse models, as well as developing and investigating the MoA of novel therapeutics. Following a postdoctoral position at Cambridge University (2006-2008), he joined the University of Southampton in 2009, where he was a lead scientist on a key translational project, which involved extensive characterisation of novel human FcγRIIB monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in collaboration with a biotech company. The lead candidates (BI-1206 and BI-1607) are currently in Phase I/IIa clinical trials for treatment of haematological and solid malignancies with promising prospects. In 2015, Dr Roghanian was awarded a highly competitive Visiting Fellowship to spend 2.5 years at MIT, USA, before relocating to Southampton in 2018 to establish his independent research group at the Centre for Cancer Immunology
Valerie Balme is Associate Director, Pharma Business Development at Veracyte. She has over 10 years of experience working in the diagnostics and biotechnology industries. First at Ipsogen, then at Qiagen and HalioDx and now with Veracyte, she has held several roles covering customer service, manufacturing and operations management and is currently focused on business development in Veracyte’s Biopharma Business Unit offering partners a flexible and high-quality service.
Konstantin joined Secarna as CBO in June 2023. Over the last 10 years, Konstantin has held senior management positions at several biotech and pharma companies.
Before becoming part of the Secarna team, he was CEO of AMW GmbH, a revenue-generating specialty pharmaceuticals company. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in business development as well as commercialization at several biotech and pharma companies, including Leukocare AG, Bayer AG and MorphoSys AG. He also currently serves as CEO of sterna Biologicals GmbH.
Konstantin has a PhD in oncology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany and holds an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management.
Iris Hecht is an immunologist equipped with 20 years of experience in Pharma and Biotech industry, focused on development of innovative therapeutics for cancer immuno-therapy and for treatment of autoimmune diseases. She held various R&D roles from early program validation to preclinical development, translational medicine, clinical development, and biomarker discovery.
Iris joined Teva Pharmaceuticals in November 2021 after 18 years at Compugen Ltd. At Teva, she serves as a Senior Project Leader in the Innovative Medicines R&D unit. In this role she works in tight collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams to define and lead the global strategy of drug development, with a particular focus on cancer immunotherapy.
Etienne has received his PhD from the Medical Faculty in Brest (France) and was awarded a postdoc fellowship from the German Cancer Center in Heidelberg where he joined Andreas Trumpp’s lab. During his second postdoc at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, with George S Vassiliou and Kosuke Yusa, he has performed several genome wide CRISPR screens and validated several potential therapeutic targets. Now in AstraZeneca, as a senior Research Scientist, Etienne is the scientific lead of the lung organoid program. He has developed several organoid capabilities to support various oncology and biopharma programs.
