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7:30 am
Morning Coffee
8:30 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Navigating Regulatory & Ethical Guidelines, Compliance & Patient Tissue Accessibility
8:40 am Access To Patient-Derived Cancer Models: Data, Services And Collaboration.
Synopsis
- How to search for specific patient-derived cancer models (PDCMs): current PDCM data repositories
- Outline of available PDCM-related services provided by European Research
- Infrastructures for academic and industrial research
- Discussing the potential benefits of collaboration with academics for advanced research on PDCMs
9:10 am Humanised Models for Pre-Clinical Antibody Development
Synopsis
- Immunodeficient mice for immune system engraftment
- Genetic modifications for humanised antibody targets
- Bi-specific antibody development
9:40 am Gamma Delta T-Cell Therapy: Development of ICT01, A First-In- Class, Anti-BTN3A Antibody For Activating Vγ9Vδ2 T Cell–Mediated Antitumor Immune Response
Synopsis
- Preclinical models for the development of monoclonal antibody targeting BTN3A, a membrane receptor with no ortholog in mice
- Biomarker package to support Phase 1 clinical studies with a first-in-class therapeutic activating Vg9Vd2 T cell–mediated antitumor immune response
- How biomarkers allow to define the best combination strategies
10:10 am Best Study Conduct and Data Management Practices for Improving Animal Study Reproducibility
Synopsis
- Overcoming the challenges of in vivo research of generating results with a high level
of integrity, detail, and reproducibility on a consistent basis - How to critically examine, improve, and standardize processes for
animal study conduct - Understanding the factors contributing to poor data quality and irreproducible
study results and implement effective “best practices” for data integrity, study
conduct, and scientific rigor - Reviewing practical approaches, and study workflow software approaches to make
animal studies more reproducible
10:40 am
Morning Break & Networking
11:00 am Identification of Target Candidates for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Immunotherapy
Synopsis
- Miltenyi Biotec has combined high-throughput flow cytometry with a novel highcontent
cyclic immunofluorescence instument “MACSima” for the early identification
of target candidates for cellular immunotherapy - Learn how MICS technology enables you to visualise hundreds of markers from fixed
tissue to lift your sample analysis to the next level - Get insights on our recent scientific findings and related cutting-edge tools,
ranging from the preparation of primary and xenografted tumor specimens to the
comprehensive antigen screening and deep phenotyping
Immuno-Involvement? How Do We Turn The Tide On Tumours
11:30 am T-Cell Therapy: How to Model a Trispecific T-cell Engager For MM: Lessons from ISB
Synopsis
- Discussing the efficacy, safety of T-cell engagers
- Assessing the benefits and restrictions of collecting data in vivo vs in vitro for a T-cell engager
- Overviewing the translational relevance of various datasets
12:00 pm MC38: Exploring Immunomodulation in the Tumour Model We Love to Hate
Synopsis
- MC38 is a very popular tumor model due to its characteristics as an immunologically warm tumor and response to immunotherapies.
- Using the MC38 murine model of colon cancer, NanoString® and flow cytometry were used to provide gene and cell-specific signatures of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in response to immunomodulatory agents.
- NanoString® and flow analyses were complementary and demonstrated evidence of T cell recruitment and upregulation of genes associated with a number of immune-related pathways following treatment of some, but not all, agents tested. These data can be used mechanistically as well as to inform rational combination strategies.
12:15 pm
Networking Lunch
1:15 pm Fireside Chat: Organ-on-a-Chip in IO – Where Are We Today?
Synopsis
- The potential of creating an autologous environment, conversely limitations of
personalisation using organ-on-a-chip - Can we replicate/recapitulate the TME?
- Understanding the complexity of layering of specific cell lines and components
1:45 pm Searching for Tumor Models can be Tedious – How to Cut Your Sourcing Time from Weeks to Minutes
Synopsis
- Leverage the Disease Model Finder’s bioinformatic tools to search for and
compare tumor models across industry-leading suppliers at no cost - Connect with suppliers you already work with and, perhaps more importantly,
suppliers you haven’t worked with yet - Source the exact models you want without delay thanks to Scientist.com’s preestablished
supplier legal and finance agreements
2:00 pm 3D Tumour Modelling of Non-Canonical T Cell Immunotherapy
Synopsis
Credible modelling of innate lymphocyte immunotherapy in animals has been
a bottleneck affecting clinical translation of novel products. As scientific and
regulatory emphasis moves away from murine models, ex vivo organoid models
present an exciting path forward:
- Types of preclinical evaluation which organoids have been shown to be
reproducible in: Efficacy, replicability, toxicology, immune interaction? - Can organoids and Tumouroid mimic the human immune system?
- Is it worth the hype/investment?
- Depicting a standardised protocol which can increase reproducibility
2:30 pm Precise and translational preclinical models for assessment of immune-targeting agents
Synopsis
- Outlining BRGSF-HIS mice: immunodeficient mice displaying functional human lymphoid and myeloid compartments, without side effects
- Assessing efficacy and toxicity induced by immune checkpoint inhibitors, cell engagers and combo therapies in BRGSF-HIS mice, which displays a wide therapeutic window
- Showcase of assessment of immune targeting agents in syngeneic humanized models
3:00 pm Panel Discussion: How to Predict Your Immuno-Modulation & Immuno-Stimulatory Response?
Synopsis
The potential of using IO, combinational or cell therapy to dial up another biologic to aid in the anti-tumour response. Could this be the next phase of development for immuno-oncology and what are the potential limitations of this approach? This panel will discuss:
- Methods of stimulating/dialling up a biologic
- Understanding of the differences between alternate types of biologics: Cytokine, Macrophage, NK cell
- What are the benefits of utilising these biologics instead of an ADC/cell-therapy?
- Sharing examples of effective and less effective biologic stimulation
- Drawbacks of specific biologics
- Understanding if this improve the clinical success?
3:30 pm Combination Approach: Using Chicken Egg In vivo assay for High-Value Identification of Oncology and Immuno-Oncology drugs Candidates
Synopsis
- How to use INOVOTION’s technology to open new perspectives of in vivo screening in oncology and immuno-oncolog
- Why does the chicken embryo model have several advantages for drug discovery of anti-cancer treatments over traditional in vivo models?
- The chicken embryo model fills the gap between in vitro studies and in vivo mouse models, but is it possible to predict mouse data from chicken embryo results?
4:00 pm
Afternoon Refreshments & Networking
Next Gen Preclinical Models to Maximise Clinical Success
4:30 pm Optimising clinical therapeutic window using modelling and simulation, validating with nonclinical translational models and utility in an ongoing clinical study
Synopsis
- An example of a cross-functional collaboration between clinical and non-clinical functions enabling dose and schedule optimisation for clinical testing
- Illustrates the importance of translational understanding in light of increasing probability of successful drug development
- Highly relevant considering recent regulatory moves towards optimisation of clinical dose and schedule.
5:00 pm Application of a Bone Marrow Microphysiological System to Quantify Haematological Risk for Oncology Drug Combination
Synopsis
- Leveraging the use of microphysiological systems (MPS) to generate safety data
for drug development - Assessing the capability of MPS to improve clinical relevance over more
traditional 2D cell culture and animal models.
5:30 pm Understanding Gene Signatures if Macrophage Activation to Access Immunological Memory
Synopsis
- Bone marrow and spleen monocytes represent the main source of Tissue Macrophages in infection and malignancy
- Monocyte derived macrophage activation programmes are plastic and single biomarkers are not adequate to characterise their activation
- Gene signatures enable to understand the activation history of cells and point tophenotypic mosaicism in complex milieus such as tumours