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. 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
Robert is a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford, undertaking post-doctoral research alongside higher specialist training in medical oncology. Prior to this, he complete a DPhil (PhD) in Prof Ben Fairfax’s research group at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, funded by The Wellcome Trust. During this time he examined T cell repertoire and transcriptomic changes in patients with cancer following treatment with immune checkpoint blockade, uncovering several key findings which have been published in Nature Medicine and Science Immunology. His research won the McElwain/President’s Prize from the Association of Cancer Physicians. He also has an interest in medical education and is a Fellow and Director of Graduate Entry Medicine at Worcester College, University of Oxford.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Dr. Debora Souza da Costa, a seasoned scientist with over 20 years of expertise in genetics, biomarkers, biosamples, and clinical operations. Holding a PhD in Pharmacology, she honed her skills at Roche’s Genetics and Genomics laboratories. Over the past 7 years, Dr. Costa has excelled as a Senior Biosample Project Leader, orchestrating biosample strategies for clinical trials. Her extensive experience spans the entire spectrum of clinical development, seamlessly integrating science into operational activities. Driven by a profound passion for advancing Personalized Medicine, she remains committed to enhancing the lives of patients.
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.
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.
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
Eike started his career in the field of bioinformatics for cancer research as a Ph.D. student in one of the first oncogenomics-based drug hunting companies, metaGen in Berlin. After a short phase of academic research focusing on protein and genome evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, he joined Altana Pharma to continue developing analytical strategies to leverage oncogenomics data for drug research. In 2007, Eike joined Merck KGaA where he worked in various functions to analyze genome-scale data for drug discovery and development, using biostatistics, data mining & machine learning, for identification of new drug target concepts or patient selection strategies in late clinical drug development.
Since 2013 he has been leading Oncology Data Science at Merck Healthcare KGaA, a team that aims to apply data mining and AI/ML from early pre-clinical research to late stage clinical development, and also to deliver cloud-based computational infrastructure and self-service tools to the Merck R&D community
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
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 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.
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.
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.
Anders Eriksson serves as the Lead Field Application Scientist for ChipCytometry instrumentation in Europe. In this capacity, he serves as a vital link between scientific tools and researchers, providing technical and scientific support to existing and prospective customers of CellScape. His deep interest in spatial biology and proteomics has been honed over a successful career in neuroscience, during which he worked at both the prestigious A*STAR in Singapore and Uppsala University. Anders holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Uppsala University in Sweden.
Priyank Patel is a Senior Scientist in the Department of Immunology & Respiratory Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In this capacity he works in the Molecular Histopathology Lab where he implements computational approaches to perform integrative analysis of data generated by High-Plex/-Omics platforms in order to aide drug discovery and identify novel biomarkers. Priyank holds a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from State University of New York. Prior to moving to Boehringer Ingelheim, Priyank worked for a biotechnology start-up in Brooklyn, NY developing an immunohistochemistry-based biomarker test for CDK4/6 inhibitors such as Ibrance. He also supported drug discovery efforts for a hormone receptor status agnostic liposomal:peptide based therapeutic for breast cancer treatment.
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.
Thomas Göhl is a Market Development Manager at Roche Diagnostics Europe. He leads Europe- & Latin America-wide pilot projects in hospitals to evaluate digital algorithms & clinical decision support systems with a specific focus on building new business models & quantifying health economic outcomes in multiple healthcare systems. His passion in digital transformation & international health economics is based on more than 7 years of expertise in pharmaceutical brand management & strategy consulting.
Manlio Vinciguerra is European Research Area (ERA) Chair at the Medical University Varna; and holds Faculty positions at the Liverpool John Moores University and at the University of Liverpool. He obtained a PhD in Internal Medicine from the University of Geneva in 2004, followed by post-doctoral training at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). He has been Group Leader/Associate Professor at the Foundation for Liver Research and at the University College London (UCL) until 2016. He then led a 6.5 M euro project awarded by the European Development Research Fund (ERDF) to investigate the molecular determinants of aging, at the International Clinical Research Center (FNUSA-ICRC), Brno, Czech Republic. Manlio Vinciguerra’s research revolves around epigenetics, metabolism and aging, with a focus on the progression of liver diseases from fatty liver to hepatocellular carcinoma. He currently leads a multiinstitutional government-funded research program on the use of circulating histones for cancer and cardiovascular patient stratification.
Dr. Shidong Jia is the Founder and CEO of Predicine, a global molecular insights company that is committed to advancing precision medicine in oncology and infectious diseases. Predicine has developed a proprietary cell-free DNA- and cell-free RNA-based liquid biopsy technology enabling minimally invasive molecular diagnosis for treatment selection, therapy monitoring, and minimal residual disease and early cancer detection. Through its global business operations in the US and in China, Predicine partners with leading global biopharma companies, academic institutions, and government agencies to support global clinical trials, CDx development and commercialization. Predicine was granted the Breakthrough Device Designation by FDA in 2022.
Patrick Brossard has been working for over 20 years in the developments of products (e.g., small molecules, peptides, antibodies) across a wide range of indications, mainly in early clinical drug development stage, using different routes of administrations. During his career, his main focus was to optimised the dosing regimen of products by combining pharmacokinetics and biomarkers data. He is currently working at Sobi as director of clinical pharmacology and provides pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and biomarkers expertise to several programs, such as rare diseases, immunology and blood disorders. He has extensive experience with regulatory agencies such as FDA, EMA, PDMA or CDE.
Jelmar Quist obtained a PhD studentship in Translational Medicine from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’. After finishing his PhD in Cancer Bioinformatics, he worked on understanding how cancer testis antigens influence the tumour immune microenvironment and the DNA damage response in triple-negative breast cancers with the aim of improving patient stratification. He is currently working on predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy through spatial transcriptomics.
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)
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.
Christopher Peters went to medical school in Leeds and after completing basic surgical training moved to Cambridge to carry out a PhD with Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald. During his PhD he developed a four gene signature to predict outcome in oesophageal adenocarcinoma which was validated in 371 independent cases. He also set up the OCCAMS collaboration which went on to be selected to run the International Cancer Genome Consortium's Whole Genome sequencing project in oesophageal adenocarcinoma. OCCAMS has now recruited in excess of 4000 patients and resulted in over 35 publications including in Nature (2 papers), Nature Genetics (4 papers) and Nature Communications (4 papers).
After moving to London to complete his higher surgical training he was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Upper GI surgeon at Imperial College London with a specialist interest in transitioning new technologies to the patient. As the Biomarker lead for the NIHR London IVD Co-operative he has a programme built around trying to better understand which Biomarkers are likely to achieve clinical adoption- aiming to bridge the gap between the millions spent on Biomarker discovery and validation and the handful that achieve clinical success.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prof. Daniel Royston is a Consultant Haematopathologist at the University of Oxford with a specialist interest in myeloid blood cancers. His research focuses on quantitative image-based approaches to improve understanding of the initiation and progression of blood cancers arising in bone marrow. His group develops improved strategies to monitor therapeutic response in myeloproliferative neoplasms and support the evaluation of novel anti-fibrotics. Prof. Royston is a Consultant Clinical Advisor to Ground Truth Labs. GTL is a leader in AI-powered algorithms for the quantification of spatial biomarkers from digital pathology images, to uncover deep biological insights into disease and accelerate drug development.
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
Emmanuel Valentin is Vice President, Translational Medicine at ImChek Therapeutics, leading the design and execution of translational medicine strategies to develop and measure biomarkers associated with the clinical mechanism of action and drug response of ImCheck programs. Prior to joining ImCheck in 2018, Dr. Valentin was R&D Head of Diaccurate, a spin-off from Institut Pasteur, in charge of developing a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. Prior to that, he was CSO at Aterovax, where he was responsible for the discovery, validation and clinical evaluation of new diagnostic tests for the prediction of cardiovascular diseases. He has also held different positions in preclinical development at Genoway and Diaxonit. Dr. Valentin received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis.
The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) has risen dramatically for decades and is expected to rise further with a growing number of sedentary lifestyles. Obesity increases the risks of T2D, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Depending on BMI and associated risk factors lifestyle changes are available for excess weight loss and prevention of T2D. My research focuses on identifying epigenetic markers that can predict the benefit of lifestyle changes.
Pedro is a cancer biologist with a long-standing interest in the study of the tumour microenvironment (TME), as both a mediator of cancer progression and therapy resistance and an effective therapeutic target. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he initially developed new 3D models to study angiogenesis in solid tumours. Pedro then moved to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for a postdoctoral fellowship studying different cellular components of the TME. Specifically, he co-led a project developing new technology to assess spatial interactions between different components in the microenvironment. Through the development of this project, Pedro first appreciated the existence of local barriers to immune infiltration in solid tumours that limit the efficacy of existing immunotherapeutic strategies. This led him to return to the UK and work with Deep Science Ventures to co-found Neobe, an early-stage startup engineering bacterial products to remove these barriers to infiltration, with an aim to double the number of cancer patients that respond to immunotherapies
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.
Maria Dermit is a Computational Biologist in Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford where she works closely with translational teams identifying and elucidating biomarker mechanisms of action using different omics and ML approaches. Before joining Novo, she played a crucial role in several teams in biotech spearheading the implementation of computational biology pipelines across the value chain.
Dr Sreejith Raveendran is currently a Senior Lecturer in Biotechnology at the School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University, UK. He worked as a Project Coordinator for the India-Japan Bio nano mission phase-II project for the Collaborative research and education program at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD), has been pursuing cutting-edge research and teaching in the field of nanobiotechnology, and targeted theranostics via several multidisciplinary biological platforms since 2007. His prime areas of research include but are not limited to personalised medicine, nanomolecular targeting, biosensor development and novel therapeutics for cancers. He completed his PhD in Bionanoscience fusion under a MEXT fellowship from Japan and did 4.5 years of Postdoctoral research in cancer nanotechnology at Bio-Nano Electronics Research Centre, Toyo University, Japan. Later, he was awarded with Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Individual Fellowship (European Commission) for Glioma drug research and moved to the University of Brighton, UK. In his early career, he worked as a Research Associate in Infection Pharmacology at AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd., for drug discovery research against tuberculosis and served as a Junior Research Associate in the Bioresources division of Abl Biotechnologies Ltd., India for extraction and biopharmaceutical applications of marine products and secondary metabolites. He received several awards including IAAM young scientist award in 2018, the Nanosmat prize in 2014 and much extramural funding, including 2 prestigious global grants, and has published 23 research papers, 2 review papers, 2 book chapters, and presented 25+ international conferences, symposiums, and invited talks, so far. Sreejith has established an outstanding international research network with various premier research institutes and universities across US, UK, India, Europe, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Sreejith’s main scientific goal is to develop a therapeutic cancer nano vaccine and a wearable nanosensor for early-stage detection of cancers in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence. Using his sound knowledge in nanobiotechnology, nanofabrication, material science, cancer cell biology, microbiology, and immunology, he is interested to pursue more dvanced studies in disease targeting, bio-medical technology and bionanoscience.
Dr. Angela Vasaturo is the Director of Scientific Affairs at Ultivue. Prior to Ultivue, Angela was a Senior Researcher in Dr. Jerome Galon’s Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Immunology at the Cordeliers Research Center. In 2012, Angela was among the first postdocs in Europe to be involved in the development of multiplex IHC and multispectral imaging and analysis of up to six immunofluorescence markers, and today is considered a leading European expert in multiplex IHC techniques, digital pathology, spatial biology and tissue imaging.
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.
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.
Karen is operational leader of the Clinical PD Biomarker Group at the Institute of Cancer Research based at Sutton. The Good Clinical Practice compliant Clinical PD Biomarker group develops, validates and implements fit-for-purpose assays for the evaluation of pharmacodynamic biomarkers for academic, charity and commercially sponsored Phase I clinical trials of new oncology agents. Karen also manages the dedicated PD processing team that process clinical samples from trials at the ICR / Royal Marsden’s Drug Development Unit prior to PD analysis. Before joining the ICR in 2012, Karen obtained a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry with Toxicology and a PhD in Molecular Toxicology from the University of Surrey and then embarked on a successful 12 year molecular toxicology research career focused on investigating nuclear receptors associated with prevention of chemical insult.
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.
Paola is a Professorial Research Associate at the Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She studied Medicine specializing in Neurology and also gained her PhD at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, in Italy. During 1992-1995 she was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Neurology UCL, Queen Square in Department of Clinical Neurology, before returning to the Rome. In 2004 she was successful in gaining a Fellowship from Ataxia UK and was made a Senior Clinical Associate again in the Department of Clinical Neurology at Queen Square. In 2005 the Ataxia Centre she established was given a Centre of Excellence Award and based on this model, three additional Centres have been established in the UK. In 2009 she was promoted to Principal Clinical Research Associate based on her relevant contributions to research, funding, teaching and enabling activities. She serves on several National and International Steering Committees. In 2016 she was endowed with the Health Professional Award (Neurology Advocacy Awards) by the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA).
Collin is a Scientist at EpigenDx in product and business development. He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 2023 with his Ph.D. in Plant Biology with a focus in genetics, specifically in the accumulation and biogenesis of microRNAs and secondary small interfering RNAs.
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
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.
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.
