Conference Day Two - Thursday, 10 April
8:00 am Registration & Morning Coffee
8:55 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Leveraging Advanced Technologies to Revolutionise Oncology Therapies
9:00 am Reverse Engineering Clinical Success: Leveraging Sequencing Data & In Vitro Models to Decode TIL Therapy Mechanisms
Synopsis
- Providing an overview of CuraCell’s strategy to work backward from clinical outcomes of their TIL therapy
- Utilising TCR sequencing and advanced omics data to uncover the mechanisms of TIL therapy
- Applying findings to enhance in vitro strategies and refine therapeutic protocols
9:30 am Advancing Oncology Therapies: Overcoming Membrane Protein Challenges & Developing Targeted CXCR4 Antibodies
Synopsis
- Overcoming challenges in stabilizing membrane proteins for oncology research
- How to preserve the structure and function of membrane proteins using nanomembrane technology
- Developing best-in-class CXCR4 antibodies for enhanced specificity and therapeutic potential.
10:00 am Patient-derived Tumor Spheroids to Model the Tumour Microenvironment & Accelerate Drug Development
Synopsis
- Applying patient-derived tumour spheroids to model the tumour immune microenvironment including T cell infiltration and function, tumour fibrosis, CAF and endothelial cell biology
- Modelling the specific treatment response of compounds on the patient tumour immune environment and cancer epithelial cells using single cell RNASeq and proteomics
- Understanding how patient-derived tumour spheroids accelerate drug development using liver and pancreatic cancer as examples
10:30 am Morning Break & Networking
11:30 am Human 3D in vitro Models for the Assessment of Cancer Immunotherapy Mode of Action
Synopsis
- Utilising 3D infiltration platform to assess Cancer Immunotherapy mode of action and comparison to in vivo data
- Assessment of immunological synapse formation in 3D and comparison to in vivo data
- Next-generation 3D in vitro human models: organoid models for CRCÂ
Accelerating Drug Discovery with Robust Preclinical Models for Precision Oncology
12:00 pm Targeted DNA Damage in Glioblastoma: Efficacy, Toxicology, and Clinical Advancements
Synopsis
- Exploring innovative mechanism of action through targeted DNA damage to selectively kill cancer cells
- Discussing results from orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft studies showing significant efficacy over standard therapies
- Highlighting progress in clinical readiness with completed toxicology studies and upcoming trials
12:30 pm Developing a Comprehensive Platform for Identification of Synthetic Lethal Targets Using Patient-Derived Cells
Synopsis
- Combining the scalability of high-throughput technologies with the unmatched precision and translational relevance of advanced primary models in Ryvu’s cutting-edge drug discovery platform
- Leveraging human stem cell-derived models, patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), and clinical samples to establish a groundbreaking approach in uncovering synthetic lethal (SL) targets uniquely tied to oncogenic pathways
- Using our proprietary ranking algorithm to identify and validate novel drug targets missed in conventional immortalized cell lines, overcoming limitations caused by genetic and epigenetic drift in long-term cell culture system
1:00 pm Lunch & Networking
Maximising Syngeneic & GEMMs Tumour Models for Better Tumour Microenvironment Simulation & Optimised Therapeutic Strategies
2:00 pm Roundtable: Are GEMMs Worth the Investment? Evaluating Their Value in Cancer Research
Synopsis
- Evaluating whether the significant financial and logistical investment in GEMMs yields reliable, actionable insights that justify their use in drug discovery
- Investigating the gap between GEMM preclinical results and clinical trial outcomes, questioning their true predictive capacity for human patient responses
- Discussing the evolving role of GEMMs in precision oncology, exploring their potential to refine personalized medicine strategies in drug discovery and clinical trials
2:30 pm Modeling Active Immunotherapy Strategies Targeting Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs)
Synopsis
- Exploring mechanisms to break immune tolerance against HERV antigens for effective therapeutic targeting
- Developing and evaluating active immunotherapy approaches using innovative mouse models for HERV-associated diseases
3:00 pm Using Syngenic Models to Understand the Molecular Pathways Leading to Improved STING Therapy Using vps34 Inhibitors
Synopsis
- Inhibiting VPS34 enhances T-cell-recruiting chemokines through the activation of the cGAS/STING pathway
- Combining VPS34 inhibitors with STING agonist ADU-S100 improves tumour control in syngeneic mice models
- Exemplifying the use of syngeneic models in preclinical drug discovery to investigate molecular mechanisms that define the rationale for combination therapy