演講者

Emmanuel Abate works to bring out the best in his team so they can better serve the scientific community working on the next medical breakthrough. The Genomic Medicine business includes solutions to help advance the discovery and manufacturing of viral vector, cell therapies, and nucleic acid-based therapies. As he is deeply connected to nature, our surroundings, and our role in protecting people and the planet, Emmanuel also leads the company-wide Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. This role involves continuous improvement in the way the company looks after customers and associates and enables positive societal change. Emmanuel’s career began in 1999 with GE Healthcare, where he worked in business development and eBusiness. He earned his MBA in 2004 and joined the Boston Consulting Group from 2004 - 2007, based in Paris. When he returned to GE Healthcare in 2007, he served in product and commercial leadership positions for Interventional Imaging, Women’s Health Imaging, and Radiology. In 2018, Emmanuel became the General Manager of Genomics and Cellular Research, when the business was part of GE Healthcare Life Sciences, now Cytiva. Emmanuel was appointed to his current position in September 2022. He lives in Paris with his wife and son.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Dr. Frank Agbogbo has over 18 years of experience in process development, biotechnology, gene, and cell therapy industries. He is currently the Vice President of Process Development at Forge Biologics, responsible for rAAV process development and plasmid DNA production. Previously, Dr. Agbogbo was the Senior Director of Process Development at Cytovance Biologics for over 7 years where he took increasing responsibilities as Director of Process Development with oversight responsibilities over the Upstream and Downstream teams. Frank’s experience includes process development, Design of Experiments (DoE), process optimization, process characterization, and scale-up from R&D to manufacturing (cGMP and non-cGMP). He has co-authored over 15 peer-reviewed publications and contributed to 5 patents. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, PhD in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, and an MBA with a certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Price College of Business, Oklahoma University, OK.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Neeraj is a Director in the Process Development organization of Amgen and leads a data science team. This group is accountable for end-to-end digital strategy for the Attribute Sciences department. Since joining Amgen 10 years back, Neeraj has worked in both Discovery & Development organizations and has expertise in applying in silico and data science tools to a variety of drug discovery and development problems from biologics design & optimization and molecule assessment, to process, product, and method monitoring. Neeraj received his M.S. in Chemical & Process Engineering from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and PhD in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Neeraj then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for this postdoctoral research on computational antibody engineering and assessment. The in silico predictive models developed by Neeraj during his postdoc have been licensed by a number of biotech & life science companies. He has also co-authored 26 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 4 book chapters and is listed as an inventor on 27 patent applications.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Christian Airiau is the Global Head of Data Science in Sanofi R&D, Biologics Development, based in the Boston area. He has over 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, working on Data Science, Process Modeling, and Process Analytical Technologies (PAT). His remit is to drive alignment across the global Sanofi network to develop data science, process modeling and control in Biologics development. Christian is also the Advanced Analytics lead in the iCMC-Digital Transformation program in Sanofi. In this role, he is developing and implementing the program strategy to maximize the use of data across the CMC perimeter, as Sanofi implements its digital transformation. Trained as a chemist, he holds a Masters and a Ph.D. in Data Science/Chemometrics from the University of Bristol in the UK.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Dr. Caraugh Albany is an accomplished cellular immunologist and flow cytometry SME in the Analytical Development team at Autolus Therapeutics, a late-stage CAR T cell biotech company based in London, UK. Caraugh has an unwavering passion to deliver high-quality flow cytometry data and teaching the technique has gained her an Associate Fellowship in Higher Education (AFHEA). Caraugh has worked to transform flow practices within Autolus Product Delivery and Quality Control, ensuring the implementation of QbD and alignment with current and emerging regulatory guidelines. As the AD flow cytometry SME, Caraugh draws on her extensive background in both immunology and flow cytometry. Having completed a British Heart Foundation PhD studentship at Kings College London supervised by Professor Giovanna Lombardi, focusing on the role of Regulatory T cells in Atherosclerosis, Caraugh became well versed in developing both functional and phenotypic assays. Through this work she was exposed to multi-parameter (20+) flow cytometry , developing numerous panels for use with primary human T cells, B cells and monocytes. With a special focus on identifying and sorting rare T cell populations, she gained expertise in best practice QC strategies. This work contributed to the technical publication ‘OMIP-090: A 20-parameter flow cytometry panel for rapid analysis of cell diversity and homing capacity in human conventional and regulatory T cells’. Passionate about ‘bedside to bench side’ innovation, following a post-doc placement Caraugh elected to move into industry where she continues to use her flow cytometry experience in a GMP setting, supporting Obe-Cel commercialisation.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Niamh Alix joined Prime Medicine in June 2022 as Chief Human Resources Officer. Niamh is a passionate human resources leader who brings her experience, of helping to grow teams from small, early-stage organizations to global enterprises, to Prime. She has vast experience across multiple biotech and pharmaceutical organizations, where she led HR and Talent Acquisition teams from a couple of people to over 120 talented individuals. Niamh joins Prime from Orchard Therapeutics, where she was Global Vice President, Talent, and HR Business Partner. She partnered with the leaders across all departments such as Research, Regulatory Affairs, Technical Operations and Commercial. Niamh and her team developed and deployed important people practices like Talent Management, Diversity and Inclusion and Learning and Development to the employees. Prior to that, Ms. Alix held global and regional roles at Lonza, including HR Business Partner for Americas, Mexico, and Canada where she led a large HR team and people strategy for a 5,000+ employee population across corporate and manufacturing clients. Niamh also held the Global Head, HR Business Partner role for the Cell and Gene Technology’s group which spanned three continents and grew rapidly. Prior to that, Niamh was the Ireland Country HR Head for Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Oncology. Before this, she held additional senior roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb across Manufacturing and Commercial organizations.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Nadia Amharref is a senior scientist at the Vaccine Production Program in the Vaccine Research Center, NIAID/NIH. She is a member of the Upstream cell line development group where she focuses on production efficiency and platform optimization. In her current role, she is leading a team in charge of engineering cell lines supporting the development of novel vaccines and biologics targeting infectious diseases of global public health importance. Prior to this role, Dr. Amharref was a Research Fellow at the FDA/CBER campus in the Washington DC area and completed her postdoctoral studies on the characterization of Ebola entry into host cells and the evaluation of the antibody response elicited by experimental vaccines against filoviruses. She obtained her PhD in molecular biology from the University of Reims, France where she worked at the interface between pharmacology and biophysics laboratories. She defended her thesis on “Discriminating healthy from tumoral tissue on a glioma model by spectroscopy imaging and characterization of spectroscopic modifications induced by antitumoral treatment in vitro and in vivo.”

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

David joined Ampersand in 2010. Previously, David spent six years with Covington Associates, a specialty investment bank focused on middle-market M&A in the healthcare sector. Prior to Covington, he spent five years as a consultant for Boston Healthcare Associates. David's current and past board seats include Vernal Bio, Genezen, Arranta Bio, StageBio, Protogene, BioClinica, Brammer Bio, Cellero, and Vibalogics. David holds a B.Sc. In Immunology from the University of Aberdeen, a Ph.D. in Tumor Immunology from the University of Sheffield and a M.B.A. from Babson College.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Rosalind grew up in Singapore. She went to college in Liverpool, U.K., and then completed Master of Science in National University of Singapore. Rosalind received her PhD from Mount Sinai School of Medicine - New York University, U.S.A.. Her graduate research focused on delineating the mechanism of actions of hallucinogens with the goal to understand cognition (Neuron 2007 and Nature 2008). She completed her post-doctoral training in Precision Immunology Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC, U.S.A.. In her post-doctoral training, her research focused on understanding the impact of cellular deaths on immune system and development of diseases (e.g. Cell Death & Disease 2020, JCI Insights 2021 and PNAS 2021). In 2018, she joined Cell Therapy Development Operation, Celgene, as a Scientist. She supported the development of early CAR-T drug candidates and commercialization of drug products. Rosalind then continued her career in MERCK, as an Associate Principal Scientist in Biologics-ARD. Working with a multi-functional team, her primary focus is on analytical strategy and method development (with heavy emphasis on residuals, purity and adventitious virus) and authoring specific BLA/IND sections. She enjoys hiking and traveling.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Kathryn Aron, PhD is a Director of Process Development at Obsidian Therapeutics. She has been in her current position for more than 2 years, overseeing process development and technology transfer for Obsidian’s lead-engineered TIL (tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte) therapy program. Kathryn has over 15 years of cell culture process development experience in biologics and cell therapy. Prior to joining Obsidian, she spent 8 years in biologics process development at Bristol-Myers Squib (Devens, MA), where she contributed to the development of multiple pipeline biologics programs, including participating in BLA preparations for Opdualag. Kathryn earned a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University Medical School and completed post-doctoral work at Wyeth (Cambridge, MA).

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Anthony graduated from Old Dominion University with a Master’s and PhD where he worked in the Center for Bioelectrics focusing on how the cell microenvironment affects cell differentiation and tissue development through electrophysiological responses. He then joined the NIH as a postdoc fellow investigating ubiquitin signaling pathways involved in stem cell fate decisions. Anthony then joined NIST as a Biologist working to develop faster and streamlined imaging pipelines to advance live cell imaging capabilities of stem cells combined with AI-based approaches for single cell tracking of cell dynamics.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Throughout his decades-long career in the biopharmaceutical industry, Morrey has contributed his expertise in the development and commercialization of multiple modality therapeutics across all aspects of preclinical, clinical and commercial manufacturing including small molecules, biologics and cell therapies. He joined Vertex in 2020 and serves on the Executive Committee as Chief Technical Operations Officer and Head of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Manufacturing Operations. In his role he oversees all aspects of our preclinical, clinical and commercial biopharmaceutical sciences, manufacturing operations and global supply chain functions. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University and his doctoral degree in biological sciences from Stanford University. Prior to Vertex, Morrey was the Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and was responsible for the global network of internal and external manufacturing for BMS commercial products. He joined BMS in 2012 as the Vice President of Biologics Development and progressed through various roles, including Vice President of Biologics Manufacturing and the Integration Leader for Manufacturing, Product Development and Cell Therapy during the Celgene-BMS Integration. Prior to BMS, Morrey’s career included various scientific and management roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and Company, Cook Pharmica (now Catalent) and Targeted Genetics Corporation. Morrey serves on the board of directors for 89bio and is active in advocating for LGBTQ+ equality, including serving on the National Leadership Council for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. He is the executive sponsor for Vertex PRIDE, our employee resource network that supports, provides visibility of, and celebrates our LGBTQ+ employees and allies.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Jared R. Auclair, Ph.D. is currently the interim Dean College of Professional Studies, Vice Provost Research Economic Development, and Director of Bioinnovation in the Office of the Provost at Northeastern University. As Vice Provost Research Economic Development, Dr. Auclair works to strengthen the bonds between our education and research missions by strengthening the integration of work-integrated credentialed learning and use-inspired research, co-creating with communities and partners while expanding our global mindset. As Director of Bioinnovation, Dr. Auclair works to leverage important University activities around biotechnology, bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds to advance the expansion of Northeastern life sciences programs. In addition to these roles, Dr. Auclair holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology where he collaborates with academic researchers, industry and government in the area of biopharmaceutical development and analysis.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Meisam

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

I am currently leading the Research Materials Group at Genentech which uses high throughput automation to produce research grade proteins to support Discovery and Early Development. I did my PhD in Biotechnology at the Swiss Federal Institute (EPFL) with Professor Florian Wurm, on application of transposon systems for Cell Line Development. I then did my post-doc at Eli Lilly and worked at ATUM as a Scientist/Team Lead in Cell Line Development.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Patrick D. Banzon, MS, is a purification scientist, specializing in aqueous purification methods for oligonucleotides. He received his BS in Chemistry in 2017 at East Carolina University and his MS in Chemistry in 2020. His previous work includes the physiochemical understanding of collagen unfolding through fluorescent probes, analytical development of proteins and antisense nucleotides, and manufacturing of GMP-scale oligonucleotide drug substances. While a scientist by trade, he is an avid photographer and hopes his trade can further fund his hobby.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Aishwarya is a scientist in Process Development at Moderna focusing on LNP separation and enzyme studies. Before Moderna, she worked at Ring Therapeutics in Analytical Development and Boehringer Ingelheim in Viral Platforms (DMPK). She has experience in biophysical method development, particle characterization, and molecular biology. She received her Bachelors in Pharmacy from the University of Pune (India) and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

William Barrett, Ph.D. is a Product Specialist with Gore & Associates. He has over 20 years combined experience in biotechnology, chromatography and the medical device industries. Most recently at Gore, Bill’s focused on affinity purification chromatography with membranes. He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois and completed his fellowship in the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Heath, Lung and Blood Institute at the NIH.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

No bio available.

• Accelerating Analytical Development
• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing
• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics
• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing
• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Dr. Bauer joined the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2022 as Chief Regulatory Science Affairs Program Officer after 31 years at FDA as Chief of the Cellular and Tissue Therapy Branch (CTTB). CTTB staff review cell therapy products and conduct research to improve characterization of products. At WFIRM, Dr. Bauer supports regulatory science and participates in the Regenerative Medicine Development Organization (ReMDO) and the Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Sean is a specialist in nonviral RNA delivery with work spanning multiple platforms. He is currently in Lilly’s Genetic Medicine division working in early discovery efforts for delivery platform technologies. He leads a small team in a blend of internal platform development, external collaborations and vetting external technologies. Lilly’s interests are broad and ambitious in genetic medicine, as highlighted by their public partnerships including Dicerna, Verve Therapeutics, Scribe Therapeutics, Entos Pharmaceuticals, Evox Therapeutics and acquisitions such as Prevail and Akouos. Receiving his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, his publications include high impact papers in relating to intracellular assay development, RNA delivery leveraging targeted nanoparticles, protein engineering applications (now licensed by Anchor Biologics), and nanomedicine-related material science investigations. Prior to this role, he worked as a technical lead in business development for Pendant Biosciences. Sean lives nearby in Cambridge, MA. He enjoys audiobooks (all genres) and meeting the many local enthusiastic scientists.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Ahmet Bekdemir is a formulation scientist at Novartis since 2023. Before joining Novartis, he gained experience in the field of immuno-oncology while working at Xilio Therapeutics. Ahmet completed his PhD in Material Science and Nanotechnology at EPFL in Switzerland and subsequently pursued postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research expertise lies in the interdisciplinary fields of nanomedicine and oncology, with a specific focus on drug delivery and formulation.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

No bio available.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Ravi is a Scientific Director with a focus on the Cell Technology department at Jansen R&D. Leading a dynamic process development team, he spearheads autologous CARt cell therapy, lentiviral vector process development, and cGMP manufacturing of autologous cell therapy products. At Jannsen R&D, Ravi played a pivotal role in successfully leading the team for CAR-t cell therapy process development and lentiviral vector, contributing significantly to the commercial approval of Carvykti (autologous cell therapy product for multiple myeloma). Prior to this, he demonstrated innovation and leadership by implementing the industry's first large-scale single-use bioreactor (1000L) and single-use fluidized bed centrifuge technology for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Ravi's expertise extends to cell culture process development and scale-up, managing up to 10,000L bioreactors. He has also been instrumental in the development and implementation of single-use technologies for clinical material production. He has delivered numerous presentations on single-use technologies for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and authored publications on cell physiology and single-use technologies.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Jay is currently the Vice President of People and Culture at RoslinCT an innovative CDMO delivering advanced cell-based therapies that improve and save patient lives. Prior to RoslinCT, Jay was the Vice President of People and Culture at Spero Therapeutics, a global, multi-asset, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative antibiotics where he was responsible for Human Resources, Facilities, and Administration. Jay also held an executive Human Resource leadership position at InVivo Therapeutics, a research and clinical-stage biomaterials and biotechnology company with a focus on the treatment of spinal cord injuries. In addition, Jay has lived and worked Globally in Human Resources leadership positions at EMC Corporation, Avid Technology, State Street Corporation and Monsanto Chemical Corporation. Jay has a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Science in Management from Lesley University.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Mariluci (Toloza)Bladon was born in Brazil. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Catholic University. She was awarded the International Fullbright Fellowship for her Graduate studies in the United States and received her Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan. Her post doctoral work was done in human genetics at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation and at Harvard Medical School, Pathology Dept. Mariluci worked as an Adjunct Professor in Human Genetics at Northeastern University for 10 years and at the same time she worked at the Biotechnology Industry (Dupont, Genentech and Matritech). In 1990, she was hired by Middlesex Community College to start the first Biotechnology Program in Massachusetts for a two years College. This initiative was the idea of the late Senator Paul Tsongas, who wanted to have technicians trained in Massachusetts, rather than “import” workers from the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, and other states. 34 years later, this Program has trained technicians conferring them certificate as well as associate’s degree in biotechnology. Middlesex Community College, Biotechnology Program started the “Learn and Earn” option for the Internship component of the Biotech Program. This option allows the students to work mainly on the rotating 12 hours shift, but at the same time the students are able to continue with their classes. Dr. Bladon is a Professor and Chair of the Biotechnology Department of Middlesex Community College. Besides teaching the students, she places them in Biotechnology Companies all around Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The departments biotechnology facility is a “state of the art” laboratory, complete with “Clean Room” and the most modern equipment. In 2014 , Middlesex Community College Biotechnology Program received the highest endorsement from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Education Consortium - The Platinum endorsement for both the certificate and the associates’ degree in biotechnology.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Anthony Blaszczyk is in the Pipeline Development group within USP’s Global Biologics department. At USP, he works with scientific experts and stakeholders to develop new standards to support biopharmaceutical quality assessment and development. Prior to USP, Anthony worked at Catalent Cell and Gene Therapy, where he managed an analytical development team responsible for the development, qualification and transfer of methods. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Penn State University in 2018.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Jonathan received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Dublin City University in 2007. Jonathan then moved to NIBRT - The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, working under the mentorship of Prof. Pauline M. Rudd within her GlycoScience Laboratory. In 2010, Jonathan was appointed the John Hatsopoulos Research Scholar within the Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis at Northeastern University, Boston, working under the mentorship of Prof. Barry L. Karger. Jonathan returned to NIBRT in 2012 and is the Principal Investigator of the NIBRT Characterization and Comparability Laboratory and an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering at University College Dublin.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Rajeev has PhD in Biochemistry. He worked as bioassay and analytical lead for various gene therapy programs supporting method development and tech transfer to internal and external QC labs. In addition, he worked closely with the CMC and manufacturing team to support all their activities.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

I am a modelling expert with 10+ years of experience across different fields, including robotics, power grids, medical devices, and bioprocesses. At DataHow, I’m specialized in upstream processes for mammalian and microbial cell cultures, and work on scale-up and transfer learning projects, for many multinational pharma companies. I’m passionate about transfer learning and eager to apply the learnings from other fields to the challenges in the pharma industry, to advance the processes and truly push for Pharma 4.0. I hold a BSc and MSc in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Bern.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Michael Boyd has been working on gene therapy at Novartis for the past four years, with a focus on rAAV molecular biology. Before working at Novartis, he gained experience in viral vector development through roles at Homology Medicines in the rAAV process development group and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center focusing on vectorized adenovirus vaccine development. He completed his BS in Biochemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a MS from Northeastern University.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Richard D. Braatz is the Edwin R. Gilliland Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He leads the modeling, control, and systems activities in many biopharmaceutical manufacturing efforts at MIT, including for vaccines, gene therapy, and monoclonal antibodies. Most activities are in automated process development workflows and modeling, design, and control of fully automated modular manufacturing unit operations and end-to-end systems, which are experimentally validated. He has consulted or collaborated with more than 25 companies including Novartis, Pfizer, Merck, Biogen, Sanofi, and Amgen. Honors include the AIChE PD2M Award for Outstanding Contribution to QbD for Drug Substance, the AIChE Separation Division Innovation Award, the AIChE Excellence in Process Development Research Award, the Research Collaboration Award from the Council for Chemical Research, and the IEEE Control Systems Society Transition to Practice Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

No bio available.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Christopher founded Consulting on Advanced Biologicals Ltd. at the end of 2009, in order to focus his activities within the Regenerative Medicine sector. Advbiols Ltd. provides EU regulatory services to the regenerative medicine industry in addition to business and regulatory research and analysis to identify and focus on the real barriers to commercialisation of regenerative medicine. Christopher has a PhD in xenotranplantation immunology and spent 8 years in biotech (Imutran Ltd., a Novartis Pharma AG Co., and Intercytex) before joining the MHRA as a quality (CMC) assessor (biologicals and biotechnology unit). During this time, Christopher was involved with national implementation of the new Advanced Therapies Regulation and also involved through his participation in the CHMP’s cell products working party (CPWP) in implementation at the EMA level including drafting guidelines.

• TS9B: Comparability and Potency Assays for Cell, Gene and Biotech Products
• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics
• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

I have received my PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from Northeastern University, Boston, MA, and did the post-doc at Boston University Medical Center. I worked for 14 years at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA in research and development focusing on the development of protein, peptide and heparin-based therapies for the broad spectrum of the inflammatory and autoimmune indications. Some of the activities I was involved in were: translational research, analytical methods development of the complex biologics, bioprocess development and bioassays for preclinical and clinical development including d potency. For the last two years I have worked at Ultragenyx Gene Therapy supporting several programs for the rare and ultrarare diseases for the AAV-based therapies. My major focus is on the potency matrix development during clinical development and registration.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Scott R. Burger, MD, is the Principal of Advanced Cell and Gene Therapy, a consulting firm specializing in cell and gene therapy product development, manufacturing, and regulatory affairs. Dr. Burger has over 30 years of experience developing cell and gene therapy products and has consulted for over 190 companies in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has directed or consulted on process development, manufacturing, and CMC regulatory aspects of a wide range of cell therapy and gene therapy products for immunotherapy and regenerative medicine. Prior to founding Advanced Cell & Gene Therapy in 2002, Dr. Burger was Vice-President for R&D at Merix Bioscience, and director of the University of Minnesota Cell Therapy Clinical Laboratory. His regulatory background includes numerous regulatory submissions and productive interactions with FDA-CBER Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies, now OTP. Dr. Burger is a member of several scientific advisory boards, and has served on the USP Cell, Gene and Tissue Therapies Expert Committee, the ISCT advisory board, and multiple ISCT committees. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Burger completed training in clinical pathology and transfusion medicine at Washington University in St. Louis and is author of over 200 scientific publications and presentations, and the recipient of numerous honors and awards.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

No bio available.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Qinjingwen Cao is a Technical Development Principal Scientist in the Protein Analytical Chemistry department at Genentech. Her primary focus is on advancing mass spectrometry techniques and software infrastructure to fulfill unmet needs in the development of therapeutic antibodies and emerging drug modalities. Previously, she worked at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where she developed quantitative proteomics methods and digital solutions to accelerate drug discovery and development. Qinjingwen has a PhD in analytical chemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

John, a 3-year veteran at CYTENA, joined at its establishment in 2021. Supporting US and Canada operations, he aids pharma, CROs, and academia in CLD and cell/gene therapy. With a focus on equipping clients with cutting-edge instruments like single-cell dispensers and microbioreactors, John ensures seamless implementation through his diverse experience in sales, service, installation, and training.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Giorgio Carta is the Lawrence R. Quarles Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia. He has published over 180 archival journal articles, and co-authored the book “Protein Chromatography - Process Development and Scale-Up”, Wiley -VCH (2010, 2020), and Section 16 “Adsorption and Ion Exchange” of Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook. He has served as a member of the Organizing Committee of the International Symposium on Preparative and Process Chromatography (PREP) since 1997 and as the PREP Symposium Chair annually from 2009 to 2022. His research is focused on understanding biochromatography focusing on resin structure and function, mechanistic modeling, and bio-process design and scale-up.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

David Cetlin is the Senior Director of MockV Products at Cygnus Technologies, LLC. Mr. Cetlin founded MockV Solution in 2013 and was CEO until its acquisition by Cygnus in 2020. His lab is dedicated towards establishing a series of BSL-1 compatible viral clearance prediction kits. These kits aim to benefit downstream purification scientists as they develop, characterize, and validate their downstream purification processes. Prior to MockV, David spent 7 years at Human Genome Sciences (now GSK) helping to develop and establish several monoclonal antibody purification processes.He has worked with various separation techniques including column chromatography, tangential flow filtration, nano-filtration. He executed several viral clearance validation studies and nanofilter design of experiment (DOE) studies.  

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

I am a scientist in downstream process development at Ultragenyx. My work focuses on CMC activities that support the development of rAAV-based assets. Active areas include early-stage process development and late-stage process characterization. Interests include integrating high-throughput platforms, process analytical tools, and user-friendly software applications and modeling approaches to enable efficient and effective bioprocess development.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Michael Cheng graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor's in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and from Harvard University with a Master's in Biotechnology. He began his career as an automation scientist, developing an automation platform for high-dimensional optimization of basal cell culture media formulations used in the cultured meat industry. His work focused on applying lab automation technologies to explore complex formulation design spaces and developing analytical technologies for the qualification of raw materials in large-scale biomanufacturing. Currently, Michael works at Cellino as an automation engineer. In this role, he supports analytical development scientists and bioprocess engineers by designing integrated automation solutions for autologous cell therapy biomanufacturing. Through ongoing close collaboration with analytical development scientists, his team aims to expand the throughput and scope of Cellino's analytical capabilities.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

No bio available.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Twinkle Christian is a Process Development Senior Scientist at Amgen. She has 20 years of experience in drug product development across diverse modalities and has led the advancement of multiple programs from early discovery to clinical trials and commercialization. Twinkle’s expertise encompasses high concentration formulation development and drug delivery of biologics, investigating protein-protein interactions, and macromolecular crystallography. She is an inventor on multiple patents related to formulation and drug delivery. Twinkle is an adjunct lecturer at California State University, Channel Islands. She holds a Master’s in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and was employed at Alza (Johnson & Johnson) and VaxGen prior to Amgen.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Head of Business Development 3PBIOVIAN

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Felicia Ciuculescu is serving as the Tech Transfer Director of the Cell Manipulation Core Facility (CMCF) at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Harvard Medical School (HMS). Felicia joined CMCF in April 2023 and is overseeing technology transfer for the Novel Cell Therapy Program at CMCF/DFCI. Prior to joining CMCF, Felicia spent 4 years in the translational clinical research program at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), where she co-directed the program and contributed to the development/advancement of multiple pre-clinical studies, on-going clinical studies and biorepository studies. Felicia earned her MD from UMFT, Romania, followed by a Doctor of Medicine degree at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 2012, Felicia joined Dr. David Williams's program at BCH, HMS where she completed post-doctoral trainings in fundamental stem cell biology research, followed by clinical research in the gene therapy program at BCH/DFCI. Felicia is a very dedicated and heart-passionate physician-scientist, who hopes to bring many preventive/curative treatments to those in suffering.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Ben Clarke supports USP’s portfolio of documentary and physical reference standards for the Global Biologics group. He specializes in cell and gene therapy, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies. Before joining USP, Ben developed analytical bioassays at GSK Vaccines for RSV and self-amplifying mRNA vaccines. Before GSK Vaccines, he pioneered the development of mouse models of sphingolipid biology using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology at the National Institute for Health. Before NIH, he optimized upstream PER.C6 cell culture for the production of adenovirus at Janssen. He received his PhD from Cornell University for his work on mammalian membrane biology and lipid remodeling enzymes. He received his BS from Pennsylvania State University for Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Alex has a BSE in Chemical Engineering and a MSE in Pharmaceutical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has worked at Eli Lilly and Company since 2012 in Manufacturing Technical Services and transitioned to Bioproduct Research and Development in 2015. Alex has supported upstream and Primary Recovery processing in the development pilot plant and leads the Engineering Technology Group.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Diana M. Colleluori, PhD, MBA is an Accomplished Executive Leader with 20 years of domestic and global experience in analytical methods, quality control, CMC regulatory affairs, and strategic planning in both start-up and growth organizations focused on biotechnology products, including cell and gene therapy products. Key technical experience includes potency assays, release and characterization assays, stability, specifications, and raw materials. Previous head of Quality Control for several innovator companies including Iovance Biotherapeutics, bluebird bio, and Merck. PhD in Biochemistry from Temple University School of Medicine and MBA in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

With over 10 years of experience in biology education, Angela is the co-founder and CEO of Bioscience Core Skills Institute (BCSI), an innovative, skills-first microcredential program that provides certification of skills in laboratory techniques, cGDP, and safety through performance-based practical testing. Angela's core competencies include curriculum and assessment development, online teaching, laboratory management, and bioscience education research. My mission is to empower learners with the essential skills and knowledge to pursue careers and opportunities in the bioscience field, with or without a degree. She values innovation, collaboration, and quality in her work, and strives to create a diverse and inclusive workforce by working with education and employers to tap into previously untapped wells of talent.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Louis Coplan is a bioprocess engineer with five years of experience in gene therapy manufacturing. He received his Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Biological Sciences, and a Master of Engineering in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a bioprocess engineer at Regeneron, Louis focuses on upstream preclinical process development for adeno-associated virus vectors.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Lindsay Cox is the Director, Talent at Biohaven, known for her expertise in employee engagement and performance management within the life sciences sector. Backed by credentials from SHRM and certified in leadership and performance coaching, Lindsay brings over a decade of experience to her role. She excels in enhancing workforce productivity and satisfaction through innovative HR strategies. Her commitment to creating an inclusive workplace culture prioritizes continuous learning and professional growth, allowing employees to excel and drive the company’s success. Lindsay serves as a trusted thought partner to senior leaders and employees alike, providing strategic insights that align HR practices with business objectives. Her expertise facilitates innovation and sustainable growth, making her a key player in transforming the life sciences landscape. Lindsay's forward thinking in HR is often sought after in speaker panels and forums, where she discusses the transformative role of HR in life sciences and how it can significantly impact organizational outcomes.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Madalene is a Senior Product Manager at Genentech, where she leads cross-functional agile teams and scientific stakeholder engagement to design and deliver a range of innovative technology solutions. Her passion lies in fostering collaboration and driving operational excellence within dynamic environments, making meaningful contributions to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries to enhance patient outcomes and quality of life.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Susan D’Costa, PhD, is the CTO at Genezen. She is a molecular virologist with extensive expertise in viral vector analytics, process development, and manufacturing. She has built a considerable amount of this experience in the contract manufacturing industry (Thermo Fisher/Brammer Bio) working with different viral vectors, liaising with diverse biotech clients, and building teams with scientific and operational excellence. Prior to Genezen, Susan was the CTO at Alcyone Therapeutics, where she oversaw both internal and external CMC (chemistry, manufacturing, and controls), device development operations, and building out new technologies for both gene therapy and precision delivery. In her current role, Susan is working on building out the AAV business unit at Genezen, a reputed CDMO for lentivirus and retrovirus development and manufacturing. Dr. D’Costa holds a PhD in Biology (specializing in molecular virology) from Texas Tech University, an MS in Biochemistry from Mumbai University (Grant Medical College), and a BS in Microbiology/Biochemistry also from Mumbai University (St. Xavier’s College).

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Hussain Dahodwala earned his PhD from RPI in 2007 and has an extensive research background. He has worked at SUNY Polytech, NIH VRC labs, and the University of Delaware. His focus lies in understanding how culture conditions and cell physiology impact living systems used in industrial processes. Specifically, he explores mammalian cell systems for therapeutic protein production. His numerous publications delve into the use of modern cell and molecular biology, as well as “omics” approaches, to optimize production systems from both engineering and biological perspectives.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Avinash Dalal Ph.D. is director of data science at Lumilytics. His team works to build fit for purpose solutions for pharmaceutical drug development by applying generative AI and computational modeling. Prior to Lumilytics, Avi worked as a principal data scientist leading development and deployment of AI and modeling solutions in biotherapeutics at Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer, he worked in forecasting for the retail market and was also a tenure-track professor in mathematics & statistics. He has his Ph.D. in mathematicsfrom Drexel University where his work was in algebraic combinatorics and geometry.

• TS8B: Introduction to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Bioprocessing Applications

Varsha Daswani, Ph.D. PMP, is the senior director of analytics and data science at Lumilytics. Her team works to adapt and advance generative AI, natural language processing, and machine learning tools to create fit for purpose solutions for pharmaceutical drug development. Prior to joining Lumilytics, Varsha worked at both Pfizer and Janssen. Most recently at Pfizer, she led the large molecule data science group. She has her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Temple University where she developed a novel liposome encapsulation method for small molecule chemotherapeutic agents.

• TS8B: Introduction to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Bioprocessing Applications
• Accelerating Analytical Development

Principal at Avant Bio focused on investing in the Life Science Industrial sector - the tools, technologies, and services for the life science industry. Before completing my MBA at Columbia Business School, I was a consultant at Accenture in the Health practice supporting a multiplicity of private, state, and national payers across a variety of functional roles. I specialized in growth strategy, business process and operations transformations, change management, and technical implementations.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Alex De Winter is with Danaher Ventures, where he invests in life sciences tools and clinical diagnostic startups. Prior to Danaher, he was at GE Ventures, where he invested in precision medicine startups like Labcyte, Raindance, Singular Genomics, Syapse, and Veracyte. Alex previously worked at Mohr Davidow Ventures, Pacific Biosciences, and 454 Life Sciences. Alex earned a PhD in Chemistry from Stanford, MBA from UC Berkeley, and BA from Amherst College.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Niels Delamotte holds a Master’s Degree in biotechnology from the University of Ghent, which he received in 2001. He began his career at Sanofi, where he worked for 14 years in a range of positions within Quality Control & Manufacturing Science and Technology. In his last role at Sanofi, he was the Analytical Lifecycle Management Project Lead for enzyme products at the Geel Facility in Belgium. In 2019, he joined etherna and moved from commercial protein to GMP clinical-stage mRNA manufacturing with the aim of bringing mRNA therapeutics to the clinic. As Director Analytical Development, he is currently responsible for the Analytical Lifecycle programs within etherna on both mRNA Drug Substance and Drug Product formulated in Lipid Nanoparticles. Furthermore, he is a member of the mRNA working party established by the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) Commission which has the task to develop a consolidated strategy for future standards on mRNA vaccines and their components.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Dr. Francesco Destro is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Chemical Engineering and at the Center for Biomedical Innovation at MIT, where he conducts research into process systems engineering and advanced biopharmaceutical manufacturing. He obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Padova in 2022, with a dissertation on the use of mechanistic modeling and machine learning for optimizing pharmaceutical systems. He is the first author of 11 peer-reviewed publications, and complemented his research training in systems engineering and (bio)pharmaceutical manufacturing as a Visiting Scholar at Siemens Process Systems Engineering (London, UK) in 2019 and at Purdue University in 2020 and 2022.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

No bio available.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Nicholas holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. and has over 7 years of experience in the biotech industry developing biologics manufacturing processes. He got his start supporting commercial manufacturing at Sanofi and has since held roles of increasing responsibility in the process development groups at Bristol Myers Squibb and LogicBio therapeutics. He is currently serving as a manager of genomic medicines process development at Alexion pharmaceuticals.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Jinpian is an Engineer who loves developing new technologies to make medicines. She worked on developing and scaling-up the manufacturing processes of more than a dozen of biologics and was involved in the process development and global filing of Opdivo and Sarclisa. Since joining Spark Therapeutics in 2021 as Spark’s technical development head, she has been helping advance gene therapy manufacturing technologies to deliver gene therapies to many more patients at lower cost.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Felix is a PhD student at Takeda and member of the Bioprocess Engineering Doctoral School at BOKU University (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences), Vienna. His PhD thesis focuses on environmental sustainability of biologics and the improvement of Green Metrics. Felix has several years of industry experience in downstream process development for recombinant complex proteins. Felix holds a Master's Degree in Medical Biotechnology from BOKU University.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Principal scientist with over ten years’ industry experience for biologics, and with extensive hands-on expertise in the full cycle of upstream process development from R&D phase of small scales DoE experiment, to scale up at pilot scale up to 2000 liters, and technical transfer and support for full scale commercial production at up to 40,000 liters.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Terrence has led the Biotherapeutics Technology Development and Implementation group at Takeda since 2023. His group focuses on establishing Process, Automation, and In Silico tools to advance process performance, control, as well as overall development for Biologics programs. Prior to joining Takeda he led the Gene Therapy Drug Substance Development group at Biogen. His group has supported the development of multiple programs, enabled by multiple industry and academic collaborations as well as internal development. Throughout his career, Terrence has contributed to program and technical initiatives for Biologics programs including early phase development, mid-phase optimization and late-phase process characterization. Terrence earned B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2005 and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2010 where he focused on characterizing lentiviral adhesion kinetics.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

A talented and motivated Scientist with 6+ years of laboratory experience. Proficient in molecular biology techniques (ddPCR, RT-qPCR, NGS), assay design, troubleshooting, leadership, mentoring, and project management. Experienced professional in drug discovery research & development. Progressing my career in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry by continuously being curious and creative.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Mike currently works as a Staff Engineer at Takeda, where he specializes in the downstream process development of protein therapeutics. His efforts largely focus on harvest, chromatography, filtration, and UF/DF development of monoclonal antibodies and engineered proteins, spanning from early manufacturability through process performance qualification and commercialization. In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, Mike is pursuing his PhD in Chemistry & Chemical Biology under the direction of Prof. Sunny Zhou at Northeastern University. Through their industry-academia collaboration, Mike and Sunny are investigating and characterizing host cell protein impurities to better understand their interactions with therapeutic proteins and to develop practical solutions that can aid the industry at large.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Serena Dollive is a Senior Scientist and leads the NGS team at Oxford Biomedica (US) LLC in Bedford, Massachusetts. Her team develops and executes novel wet and dry methods to better the understanding of the inputs and outputs of AAV production. With over a decade of industry experience, Serena has worked in gene therapy and clinical sequencing. She holds a PhD in Genomics and Computational Biology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

No bio available.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

No bio available.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Victoria Drake Carnein is a senior associate scientist in upstream process development at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. She has expertise in cell culture, cell clarification, bioreactor automation, and data analytics. Victoria has experience leading the development of upstream cell culture processes during early and late stages of process development. She has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MSE in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Princeton University.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Boro received his PhD from the University of Western Australia and his MBA from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU). He has been in the gene therapy field since the late 1980s. As CEO, Boro brings 30+ years of leadership and experience in the design, development, manufacturing, clinical translation, regulatory, clinical implementation, and commercialization of Lentiviral vector technology. After a Fogarty Fellowship at the NIH, he joined the faculty at JHU where he worked on developing Lentiviral vectors as delivery systems for gene therapy. After 4 years in academia, he founded his first company, ViRxSys, and led the team that first demonstrated the safety of Lentiviral vectors in humans with his UPenn colleagues. Later he founded Lentigen, which first developed the Lentiviral vector used to produce Kymriah, the first FDA-approved gene therapy product. He implemented and directed the company’s CDMO business model and therapeutic pipeline of gene therapy products. He led Lentigen until 2021, and then left to co-found and launch Caring Cross, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, and serves as the Executive Director. Lentiviral vectors are critical to produce many gene therapy products such as CAR T cells and gene-modified Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) for the treatment of an increasing number of important diseases. Presently there are huge bottlenecks in obtaining high quality Lentiviral vectors in a reasonable time that motivates investigators and investors alike. This delays and puts at risk the development and commercialization of innovative and potentially curative gene therapies that are desperately needed. Seeing a need to help investigators improve and accelerate their medicinal concepts needing Lentiviral vectors into the clinic, Vector BioMed was launched and Boro serves as the CEO.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Zhimei Du has extensive experience in the fields of Cell/Gene Therapy and Biologics with significant experience in both early and late-stage development. Currently assuming the role of Chief Scientific Officer at BlueSphere Bio, she leads Research and Development organization, directing efforts toward the further advancement of Neoantigen technologies and TCR-based therapeutics development across various disease areas. Prior to joining BlueSphere Bio, Dr. Du served as Vice President at Atara Biotherapeutics, where she focused on accelerating the progress of both early and late-stage cell therapy pipelines, and later as Vice President at Landmark Bio, building and overseeing Translational Research and Early Development. Notably, her tenure at Merck & Co. as Executive Director and Global Head of Process Cell Sciences saw her establish innovative core functions and multi-site teams on a global scale, particularly in cell therapy and biologics development. Dr. Du has been instrumental in driving successful business development initiatives, evaluating and forging partnerships in biologics, ADC, cancer vaccine, CAR-T, and CAR-NK programs. Her extensive research contributions encompass a myriad of patents and publications in cell and gene therapy, process development, protein engineering, cell engineering, vector engineering, and genetic/epigenetic biomarker development. Dr. Du's academic journey commenced with an M.D. from Beijing University Medical School, followed by the attainment of her Ph.D. in Immunology from Cornell University Medical College. She further honed her expertise as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Robert G. Roeder at the Rockefeller University, renowned for its groundbreaking contributions to transcription, in vitro transcription, and epigenetics.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Leading Novasign as CEO, Mark is passionate to improve bioprocesses for the production of biopharmaceuticals, enzymes and substitutes for animal-derived proteins. With his team, he is developing a hybrid modeling software for both up and downstream processes. This software utilizes artificial intelligence applied to process data and first principle models (hybrid models) to not only accelerate bioprocess optimization but also to reuse these models for model predictive control strategies. The company Novasign was founded in 2019 offering this unique software solution which is already in use by several TOP25 pharma companies to also accelerate their process development.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

I’m currently a Senior Scientist in the Formulation Development Group at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. I completed my PhD in Chemical Engineering and have over 10 years of experience working in drug delivery systems, specializing in nanomedicine and nanovaccine development. My expertise includes biomaterials applications and nanoparticle formulation, in vitro assays, as well as vast experience working with animal models that are relevant and transferrable for the field of drug delivery systems. During industry jobs, my work has been focused on the development of RNA and DNA delivery platforms based on peptide nanoparticles and lipid nanoparticles by optimizing, lyophilization, and stability studies.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Dr. Durocher obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Université de Montréal. He joined the NRC in 1995 to work on the production of membrane receptors and recombinant proteins for various industrial partners involved in drug discovery projects. He manages a section of 30 scientists and 4 Ph.D. students involved in protein expression and stable CHO cell line development for internal projects and external clients. His research activities focus on improving large-scale transient gene expression (LSTGE) platforms using HEK293 and CHO cells for r-protein production, and on developing and engineering stable CHO pool and clonal cell line platforms for r-protein manufacturing. Dr. Durocher is also an Assistant Professor at the Département de biochimie et médecine moléculaire at the Université de Montréal.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

No bio available.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Joseph Elich is a Senior Engineer and mRNA Group Leader in the "mRNA and Non-Viral Delivery" group at Prime Medicine. Joseph received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biological and Chemical Engineering from Cornell University. He has over 10 years of experience in process, analytical, and automation development in various CMC and Technical Development organizations. Prior to Prime Medicine, Joseph worked in mRNA Process Development at Moderna and supported the early-stage development, scale-up, and eventual regulatory approval of SpikeVax COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine, among other programs. Joseph also previously worked on the early-stage development of antibody conjugates at Genentech.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Lori Ellis is the head of insights for BioSpace. She analyzes and comments on industry trends for BioSpace and clients. Previously she was a managing editor at Pharma Intelligence where she a variety of written, audio and visual media for in vivo subscribers and for Custom Content clients. In addition to being an editor and writer, she is an experienced host, moderator, and producer of webinars, podcasts, live discussions, and private events. She has received a Creative Muse award and several Vega and Adobe awards for collaborative narration projects. Areas she has covered span the drug development process, from pre-clinical to commercial stages. Her areas of expertise include the following as they relate to the life sciences industry: GenAI, DE&I, cybersecurity, and investments.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Sam Ellis is an entrepreneur, team builder, business leader, investor, biochemist and molecular biologist who has worked in the Biotech industry for over 20+ years. Sam has successfully closed multiple deals in biotechnology-focused partnerships with large, small pharma, academic, and government entities. He has successfully grown multiple businesses including Thomson Instrument Company. He is listed as inventor on more than 48 patents. He has collaborated to publish with Genentech, Pfizer, Takeda, and other companies in groundbreaking scientific areas. Sam is a regular speaker at PEP Talk & PEGS, and speaks publicly at multiple conferences, and regularly gives technical seminars at companies.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

I am a Cell Line Development Scientist with over 11 years of experience in mammalian cell engineering using various platforms including, the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) as well as proficient in cell line cloning. Presently at REGENXBIO, I am utilizing this expertise for the creation of stable cell lines, disease model cell lines and novel engineered cell lines for enhanced production of rAAV vectors and reduction in cost of goods.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Steve Favaloro is a passionate biotech executive, board member, and investor. He is currently President and CEO of Genezen, a leading gene and cell therapy CDMO. He is also an executive advisor at Ampersand Capital Partners, a leading healthcare investor, and serves on the board of Vernal Bio. Prior to Genezen, Steve was CFO at Arbor Biotechnologies, a next-generation gene editing therapeutic company. Steve also served as CFO at Arranta Bio, a leading CDMO for mRNA, from its founding in 2019 to its successful exit to Recipharm in February 2022. Prior to this, Steve was CFO at Brammer Bio, where he oversaw a period of rapid expansion and capital deployment from 2016 to 2019 - leading up to its successful sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific in May 2019 for $1.7B. Before joining Brammer, Steve held finance roles of increasing responsibility at MilliporeSigma, Merck KGaA, and Bruker Corporation. He received his MBA and Master of Science from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Steve also received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Boston College

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

With over two decades of expertise in talent acquisition and recruitment, I am fervently committed to facilitating impactful connections between top-tier talent and progressive organizations. My passion lies in harnessing recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) strategies, recruitment marketing techniques, and advanced talent acquisition methodologies to optimize talent pipelines and bolster employer branding. In my role as Director of Business Development at Advanced RPO, I specialize in tailoring flexible RPO solutions that cater to the unique needs of clients across various sectors, with specialization and focus in the life science, biopharma, CDMO and medical device sectors and regions. Leveraging state-of-the-art CRM systems, programmatic advertising, and referral platforms, I craft strategic approaches that drive tangible business outcomes and elevate recruitment efficiency. All this results in recruiting and hiring the best talent available that will improve the lives of the patients they serve. Moreover, my comprehensive understanding of the recruitment landscape enables me to navigate complexities seamlessly, delivering unparalleled results and fostering enduring partnerships built on trust and mutual success. At Advanced RPO, we stand at the forefront of innovation in the realm of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and talent acquisition, boasting a rich legacy of three decades of pioneering excellence. Led by visionaries who have revolutionized the industry landscape, our approach seamlessly blends the art of human connection with the precision of cutting-edge technology. Our journey is marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence, as we continuously strive to redefine industry standards and surpass client expectations. Through a harmonious fusion of personalized engagement and state-of-the-art solutions, we empower organizations to navigate the complexities of today's dynamic market environments with unparalleled efficiency and scalability.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Allen is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of HebeCell Corp. Prior to HebeCell, Allen was the Director of Cell Biology of Semma Therapeutics (Acquired by Vertex), R&D Head of Stem Cell Bioprocessing Group at EMD Millipore (Merck, KGaA), Director and Senior Scientist at Advanced Cell Technology (Acquired by Astellas), and Senior Scientist at Stemgent, Inc (Now ReproCell). Allen is an inventor of several key patents of hematopoietic lineage-specific differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), such as the generation of HLA-negative platelets, and a scalable 3D manufacture platform of NK from hPSCs.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Erika Friedl is currently working as quality assessor (pharmaceutical quality/CMC) at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI) in Langen, Germany. As a senior quality expert in the European authorization process, she is responsible for the evaluation of blood products covering plasma-derived and recombinant proteins. In addition, she is involved as an expert in national and international GMP inspections. Erika is a member of the Host Cell Protein Working Party at the EDQM (European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare, Strasbourg, France). Erika received her PhD in biochemistry from the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany. During her career she worked in the fields of virology and transcription factors. As research associate, Erika joined the Department of Biochemistry at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (UMDNJ, USA).

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Bogdan Gabrys received a Ph.D. degree in computer science from the Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, U.K., in 1998. He is currently a Professor of Data Science and a co-Director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Lab within the Data Science Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia. His research activities have concentrated on the areas of data science, complex adaptive systems, computational intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, and their diverse applications. He is particularly interested in the foundational aspects and challenging applications of fully automated and autonomous machine learning approaches including those in biopharma. He has published over 220 research papers, chaired conferences, workshops, and special sessions, and been on program committees of a large number of international conferences. More details can be found at his personal webpage: http://bogdan-gabrys.com

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Dr. Himanshu Gadgil brings with him 24 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Enzene Biosciences Ltd. presiding over all business functions of the company. Under his leadership, Enzene has grown from a start-up biotech to a multi-vertical, multi-site product development and manufacturing service-based biopharmaceutical company. Previously, as Sr. Vice President at Intas Pharmaceutical Ltd., he revitalized the commercial product pipeline, launching several biosimilar products globally. During his stint in the US, he led different facets of process and product development at Amgen, spearheading IND, BLA and Market authorizations of various blockbuster biotech products. At the inception of his career, he joined Waters Corporation where he pioneered development of QBD enabling multi-attribute methodologies for biopharmaceutical characterization. Dr. Gadgil holds a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Tennessee and is a passionate scientific leader and innovator with over 50 publications and patents.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Proven leader experienced in growing and developing people and organizations, delivering on business development goals ,and designing innovative talent solutions for health and life science focused organizations. Experience spans Executive Search, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, MSP, FSP, Contingent Workforce, Assessment & Interview, Employment Branding, and Candidate Experience Solutions. Direct P&L responsibility for organizations or business units ranging in size from $2M - $120M+ in revenue with a strong track record of meeting and exceeding business objectives.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Rajiv Gangurde, PhD, Vice President of Technical Operations for Cell and Gene Therapy at Parexel, has over 18 years of industry experience in biopharmaceutical development, harnessed in the biotechnology hub of Massachusetts, USA. Most recently, Rajiv served as Chief Technology Officer at SparingVision, an ocular gene therapy company, where he led all activities related to bioprocess and analytical development, manufacturing, and quality. Before SparingVision, Rajiv was Senior Director and Head of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) at Voyager Therapeutics. In this role, he was responsible for CMC strategy and management of the company’s entire gene therapy portfolio. Prior to Voyager, Rajiv was Director of Bioprocess Development and Manufacturing at Genocea Biosciences, where he led upstream and downstream process development and biochemistry groups for early- and late-stage recombinant-protein-based therapeutic vaccines. Prior to Genocea, Rajiv served as Head of Protein Sciences at LakePharma, leading therapeutic protein production efforts for pre-clinical studies. Rajiv obtained his PhD in Life Sciences from Mumbai University in India and did postdoctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry at the New Jersey Medical School, and at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Rajiv is based in Massachusetts, USA.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Alayna received her PhD at the University of Arizona studying structural biology of metalloproteins, with post-doctoral training at Rosalind Franklin University. In 2016, she joined AbbVie where she has been performing mass spectrometry of biologics ever since. Her current focus is applying mass spectrometry to the late Discovery timeline to guide candidate decision making.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

No bio available.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Ronit Ghosh, a Purification Process Development Scientist at Sanofi’s Genomic Medicine Unit, holds a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Specializing in downstream bioprocessing, Ronit has led innovative research in developing biomanufacturing processes for non-viral and viral gene therapy vectors like AAV and lentiviral vectors. With expertise in gene therapy process development, he has been involved in developing purification strategies for diverse modalities, contributing to the advancement of gene and cell therapy applications.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Maria Gianneli joined Gyros in 2019, working initially as a Field Application Specialist, responsible for application support and training of Gyrolab users in Europe. 

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Davide has a Masters in Biotechnology form University of Milan and a PhD in Biochemistry from Imperial College, London. After earning his PhD, he focused on the development of AAV-based gene therapy approaches for brain tumors and neurological disorders in Dr. Miguel Sena-Esteves’s Lab (Massachusetts General Hospital, Neurology Department, and UMass Medical School, Horae Gene Therapy Center). Davide joined Biogen’s Neurology department in 2013 as an in-vivo pharmacologist primarily supporting the multiple sclerosis and neuroinflammation preclinical and exploratory pipelines. In 2019 he joined the Gene Therapy Accelerator Unit, where he’s currently leading the production and purification team to generate AAV material supporting the entire internal preclinical Gene Therapy pipeline as well as ongoing Gene Therapy-related tech development projects.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Joanne is Scientist in the Biologics Development organization at Biogen. Since graduating from Glasgow University, her career has focused on the development of downstream purification processes, first at a CDMO in the UK, and then at Biogen for the past 12 years. Joanne works within a team of scientists to develop and optimize chromatography steps for monoclonal antibody processes, both for early and late-stage projects.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Dr. Sarah Glaven currently serves as the Principal Assistant Director for Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing within the Industrial Innovation Division of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Glaven is responsible for coordinating implementation of the Biden-Harris Administration's Executive Order to Advance Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Safe, Secure, and Sustainable U.S. Bioeconomy. Prior to joining OSTP, Dr. Glaven spent 15 years leading biotechnology and biomanufacturing efforts for the Department of Defense. Both as a research lead at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and more recently as Program Director of the Tri-Service Biotechnology for a Resilient Supply Chain Program.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Brian Good is a senior research advisor in the disruptive and transformation technologies team at Eli Lilly and Company. Mr. Good has over 20 years of experience in the application of information and scientific solutions within the pharmaceutical industry. Brian is currently leading projects in the space of data transformation, ontology, and machine learning. He is a member of the International Consortium for Quality & Innovation in Pharmaceuticals (IQ Consortium) and the Emerging Technologies Committee (ETC). He leads working groups within both of those forums. Mr. Good is a past recipient of the Lilly Research Laboratories President Award and the Lilly Innovation Award for his work in the area of scientific search and analytics. His research interests have included National Science Foundation grants in quality-by-design and the national Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Bharathi Govindarajan PhD is an Associate Director working at Sanofi in Framingham, MA. Bharathi received her doctoral degree from Case Western University in Cleveland, OH, and completed her postdoctoral studies at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Through her time in the pharmaceutical industry, she has worked on developing Bioassays and residual impurity methods in the development functional to support product development for biologics.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Andreja is a Head of Process Analytics Development department at Sartorius BIA Separations. She leads process analytics development team that focuses on the further advancement of a chromatographic solutions, involving the development of innovative analytical methods for the analysis of biological molecules, including mRNA, pDNA and viruses. Over the course of career with biotech companies, she gained a wide range experience in protein chemistry, including characterisation of biosimilars and biologics. She holds a Master Science in Biochemistry from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Audrey Greenberg is a visionary leader in the biotech industry with extensive experience in building and scaling life science companies. As a recognized Top Trailblazer in Biotech, Audrey has been instrumental in achieving multi-billion-dollar valuations for several companies through her expertise in capital attraction, strategic partnerships, and innovative technologies. Her leadership roles have spanned Founder, CFO, CSO, CMO, and CBO, demonstrating her versatile skill set and deep industry knowledge. Audrey is a renowned expert in cell and gene therapy, outsourced manufacturing, and the development of innovation hubs. She played a pivotal role as the Founder and Chief Business Officer of the Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), where she spearheaded business development, corporate strategy, and investor relations. Following CBM's acquisition by SK Pharmteco, Audrey continues to contribute as a key member of the leadership team. Beyond her biotech achievements, Audrey has a strong background in private equity, having raised billions in LP capital, managed flagship funds, and driven significant value creation and growth. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a registered CPA. Audrey's impact extends through her active participation on numerous boards and advisory roles. She has been honored with prestigious accolades, including being named on the Medicine Maker Power List and as one of the Most Influential Philadelphians. As a prominent figure in the biotech and investment communities, Audrey continues to drive innovation and leadership in the field. At the Bioprocessing Summit for Investors, Audrey will share insights drawn from her extensive experience in the biotech and private equity sectors, offering valuable perspectives on the future of bioprocessing and investment opportunities.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Claudia Gributs, PhD, is a Senior Director in Bioproduct Analytical Development at Eli Lilly and Company. Claudia has 19 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, having held positions in both development and commercial manufacturing at Lilly. Currently, Claudia’s focus is on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibodies, in particular the design of integrated control strategies and implementation of appropriate analytical and bioanalytical testing. Claudia earned her BSc and PhD in Chemistry at McGill University (Canada).

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Robert Gronke is a Senior Principal Scientist in the Technical Department at Biogen. For the past 34 years, he’s been involved in the purification development, CMC team leadership, regulatory liaison, and new technology assessment for recombinant biopharmaceuticals including Biogen’s commercial and clinical antisense oligonucleotide and biologic products. Rob currently manages a group of 6 associates/scientists. Prior to joining Biogen, Rob was a post-doc at Merck, West Point, PA. He received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas in 1987, and a BS degree in Biochemistry from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois in 1982.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Dr. Gu is co-founder, CTO, & head of US BD of Crystal Bio. Prior to joining Crystal Bio, Dr. Gu held pivotal leadership positions in various biotech companies, where she is responsible for process and analytical development as well as CMC operations. Before her tenure in biotech, she spent over a decade as group head, project leader and scientist in large pharmaceutical companies Boehringer Ingelheim and Vertex. Dr. Gu was trained in Analytical Chemistry, boasting over 16 years of professional experience within the biopharmaceutical realm. As a seasoned protein biochemist, Dr. Gu has spearheaded numerous projects across Discovery, Pre-clinical, and Clinical stages of research and development. Her comprehensive expertise encompasses all facets of biotherapeutics discovery and development, including hits generation, candidate selection, production, analytical science, characterization & bioassays, pCQA/CQA, and CMC strategies.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Axel Guilbaud is a Principal Scientist at Genentech with 5 years of experience working on analytical method development of proteins and small molecules (i.e., DNA and mRNA). Having contributed significantly to the field, Axel Guilbaud has pioneered innovative approaches including reverse phase liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, mass photometry, and mass spectrometry, ensuring the safety and efficacy of biotechnological applications.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Elben Guimaraes is a Senior Manager of Upstream Manufacturing at Ultragenyx. Elben has worked in the biotech industry for more than 15 years in clinical and commercial manufacturing of bioproducts for companies such as Vertex, Sanofi, and Agenus. Elben was fortunate to participate in the buildout and start-up activities of multiple manufacturing facilities and labs. As one of the highlights of his career, he was part of a small team responsible for manufacturing a first-in-human insulin-making cell therapy for Type 1 Diabetes patients.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Harsha Gunawardena obtained his Ph.D. from Purdue University where his thesis research was carried out in advanced multi-source ion traps to facilitate the manipulation, reactivity (ion parking) of gaseous ions. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Lineberger comprehensive cancer center, at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his research focused on developing and refining quantitative platforms to support investigators in large-scale proteomics studies in the basic sciences to clinical research. He was a co-investigator for the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomics Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) and was a member of UNC ENCODE consortium. He has over 100+ research publication and proceedings and 3 patents. He leads the proteomics group at Janssen R&D to support cell engineering.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Stephen Gunstream, President and Chief Executive Officer, Teknova

Stephen Gunstream has served as Teknova’s President and Chief Executive Officer since May 2020, after joining the company in December 2019 as Chief Business Officer. Stephen has more than 20 years of sales, marketing, research and development, and general management experience in the life sciences industry.

From June 2015 to December 2019, Stephen served in multiple roles at Becton, Dickinson and Company (“BD”), a global medical technology company, most recently as Vice President and General Manager of BD Biosciences, where he was responsible for leading BD’s flow cytometry and genomics business.

From 2008 to 2015, he served in multiple roles at Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc. (“IDT”), a leading supplier of custom nucleic acids, most recently as Chief Commercial Officer, where he was responsible for product development, global sales, and global marketing. Under Stephen’s leadership, IDT took advantage of its core DNA manufacturing strengths and launched several highly innovative products that re-positioned the company in the market, including the xGen^® Exome Panel and gBlocks^® Gene Fragments, the latter for which he was also named a co-inventor. Prior to IDT, from 2001 to 2008, Stephen held multiple product development and business development roles with Applied Biosystems, Inc. (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.), a biomedical technology company.

Stephen received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a named inventor on 10 issued patents and more than 25 pending patents.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Raphael Gübeli, Vice President Marketing & Sales at c-LEcta, will show you how we used our proprietary engineering platform ENESYZ® for the development of DENARASE® High Salt and provide more application details for this new enzyme.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

9 years at Amgen in Biologics protein production, 5 years at Merck, and 2 Years at Sanofi where I currently lead the characterization, Expression and Purification group for US research. I can provide more detail if needed.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

BPEC Laboratory Supervisor and Associate Industrial Liaison Officer

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Dr. Hanley is the Chief and Director of the Cellular Therapy Program and an associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital and the George Washington University, respectively. He oversees processing for standard of care stem cell transplantation as well as the development, manufacture, quality, and testing of novel cellular therapies and is responsible for seeking partnerships and commercialization of promising cell and gene therapies. Trained as an Immunologist, Dr. Hanley has an extensive background and interest in cellular therapy and is passionate about improving regulations for cellular therapy, training the next generation of cell therapists, and facilitating the translation of new therapeutics. Over the past 16 years he has helped to translate more than 300 products on over 25 cell therapy protocols - ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells to cord blood virus-specific T cells and tumor-associated antigen specific T cells - into the clinic. Dr. Hanley was elected Vice President, North America of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT) where he also serves on the board of directors, on the Immuno-Gene Therapy Committee (and former co-chair),and co-founded and served as the inaugural co-chair of the Early Stage Professionals committee which focuses on workforce development and training. He also serves on the board of directors of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and is an active cellular therapy and cord blood inspector. Dr. Hanley has actively participated in the Cell Therapy Liaison Meeting with the Food and Drug Administration since 2018 and he is the commissioning editor of the journal Cytotherapy. In 2017, along with Drs Catherine Bollard and Russell Cruz, he founded Mana Therapeutics, a biotech company aimed at educating immune cells and eliminating cancer. In his free time he enjoys tweeting with fellow scientists and Bills fans, playing soccer, cycling, cooking, and traveling.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Philip has worked the last five years as an associate scientist in the downstream process development group at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease in New Haven, CT. He currently serves as an important member of the 500 L pilot operations team, with his key responsibilities being harvest execution, buffer production, and ultrafiltration. He has successfully led three 500 L pilot DS production campaigns of one of Alexion’s current key fusion proteins. Phil earned his MS in Chemical Engineering from Ohio University in 2011. Prior to his work at Alexion, he spent seven years working at a small algae bioproducts startup in southern Florida, working on various research and development projects and honing his process engineering skillset. Phil’s primary areas of expertise include centrifugal clarification and tangential flow filtration operations.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Ted has deep strategic and operating experience in Human Resources, primarily in the biopharma sector. Currently, he is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Apnimed, a private company focused on bringing the first therapeutic treatment to people with sleep apnea. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Jounce Therapeutics, a public biotech company developing novel cancer immunotherapies. Prior to Jounce, he was a consultant and served as interim head of Human Resources for several companies, including Jounce Therapeutics (which he later joined as an employee), Editas Medicine, and Kala Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he led Human Resources for Enobia Pharmaceuticals, an orphan disease company focused on hypophosphatasia which was acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals for over $1B. Earlier in his career, he led Human Resources for Boston-Power and TransMedics, and held roles of increasing responsibility at TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Nortel Networks, and Southern Company. He holds a BA in Business Administration and Psychology from Hamline University and a Maters of Industrial and Labor Relations degree from Cornell University.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Umer Hassan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Core Faculty Global Health Institute at Rutgers University. Before joining Rutgers, he worked as a Research Scientist in the Department of Bioengineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with a Research Affiliate appointment at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana. Dr. Hassan’s research efforts have been focused on developing bioengineering solutions for global-health applications including point-of-care (PoC) biosensors development for disease diagnosis. Dr. Hassan has received Brandt Early Career Investigator Award in Precision Medicine (2017), BMES Career Development Award (2017), Baxter Young Investigator Award (2016, 17), Emerging Engineer Award (2015), Cozad New Venture Competition Award (2014), NSF I-Corps Fellowship (2014) and Our Common Future Fellowship (2010). In 2014, Umer cofounded a startup, Prenosis, Inc. that is working on commercializing his developed biosensors.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Jia He is a Process Development Senior Scientist at Amgen, where she works on drug product formulation and process development for biologics. She has over 10 years of research experience in formulation and process development in diverse modalities. Jia obtained an MS degree in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Connecticut, where she conducted research on combination products and long-acting injectables. She has co-authored 17 publications and 2 book chapters and is listed as an inventor on 5 patents.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Dr. Heidaran joined PAREXEL International as Vice President of Technical in December of 2018. He has close to 9 years prior experience as a Biologist and as a Master Reviewer in OTAT, and as a facility reviewer and inspector in the Division of Manufacturing and Product Quality (DMPQ). During his tenure at OTAT, in addition to his review responsibilities, he also served as Acting Team Lead and Branch Chief briefly and as a DCGT representative to several FDA and CBER wide working groups and outside organizations such as USP. He has also been involved in various standard development activities, cell-based product manufacturing initiatives and various compliance activities. Mo is currently member of USP Bio3 Complex Biologic Expert Committee, ISCT Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee and contributor to the A-Gene Project sponsored by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM). Dr. Heidaran has a multidisciplinary academic and industrial background in basic and applied cell biology and innovative cell therapy and tissue engineering product development. He also has hands-on industrial experience in manufacturing of cell therapy and tissue engineering products for about 15 years in small and large size Biotech companies. His long lasting scientific interest is to understand the molecular control mechanisms that regulate growth and differentiation of stem cells in the three-dimensional microenvironments. He is also founder and first chair of prestigious Gordon Research Conference in “Signal Transduction by Engineered ECMs.” Mo received his formal training at the National Cancer Institute where he served as a Senior Staff Scientist for about 6 years and 3 years as an IRTA fellow studying signal transduction by receptor tyrosine kinases. Dr. Heidaran holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of South Carolina, and received his formal training at the National Cancer Institute. Prior to FDA, he served as R&D Director at both Celgene and Becton Dickinson. He has been an ad hoc reviewer and member of editorial boards of several peer reviewed publications. He also holds 25 issued patents and 54 pending patents and his work has appeared in more than 50 scientific publications.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Caryn L. Heldt is the Director of the Health Research Institute, the James and Lorna Mack Chair in Continuous Processing, and a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2008 and completed a two-year postdoc at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 2015, Dr. Heldt was awarded an NSF CAREER award to study virus surface chemistry. She was awarded the Bhakta Rath Research award at Michigan Tech in 2021 and the Faculty Distinguished Service award in 2022. Her lab is focused on the purification, inactivation, and stability of viral vectors.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Christoph Herwig, bioprocess engineer from RWTH Aachen and obtained a PhD in bioprocess identification at EPFL, Switzerland. From 2008 to 2023, he was full professor for biochemical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology. The research area focused on the development of data science methods for integrated and efficient bioprocess development along PAT and QbD principles for biopharmaceuticals. During his employments in various industries, such as with Lonza, he was deeply involved in the design and commissioning of large chemical and biopharmaceutical facilities. In 2013 he founded the company Exputec, which is now part of KÖrber Pharma, pioneering data science software solutions for the biopharma life cycle. Here, Christoph currently also acts as senior scientific advisor for KÖrber. In 2021 he cofounded Fermify and acts as CPO, focusing on providing a fully digitalized production platform for vegan cheese.

• TS10A: Holistic Data Management and Digital Twins for the Bioprocess Life Cycle
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Van Hoang, PhD, has over 20 years of experience leading analytical organizations and developing medicines for patients globally. Her area of expertise is in bioprocess development of gene therapies, vaccines, and therapeutic proteins. Van joined Spark Therapeutics in March 2020. She currently serves as Head of Analytical and Quality Control at Spark Therapeutics, where she leads an organization focused on analytical development, quality control testing, and operations for assets spanning preclinical development through marketed products including asset lifecycle maintenance. Before joining Spark Therapeutics in March 2020, Van was at Merck for 17 years. Van holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UCSF and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the UCLA graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Moo Sun Hong is an assistant professor at the Seoul National University (SNU). Moo Sun received a B.S. from SNU and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on developing advanced biomanufacturing systems through a novel systems engineering approach. Specific research topics and applications include mechanistic modeling, process data analytics, artificial intelligence, hybrid modeling, optimal design and control, and automated process construction.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Yunli Hu is a Senior Principal Scientist in Analytical Chemistry at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York. Her current role focuses on the host cell protein characterization and quantitation by mass spectrometry. Prior to joining Regeneron, Yunli worked at Mylan, where she was involved in complex product characterization by mass spectrometry from 2017 to 2021. Yunli Hu has also worked at Biogen Analytical Development group for therapeutic protein characterization from 2015 to 2017. Yunli Hu received her PhD from Texas Tech University, where she focused on glycan characterization and quantitation by LC-MS/MS.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

No bio available.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Robert Hughes joined Galapagos in January 2024 as Global Head of Technical Operations. He will lead Galapagos’s global cell therapy operations, including manufacturing, Quality Control (QC), Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), process development, analytical development, and technology transfer. Robert brings a wealth of experience and has a rich background in the biopharmaceutical industry. He previously served as SVP & Global Head of Bioindustry at Miltenyi Biotec and VP & GM at Siegfried Holding AG and held operational leadership positions in several multinational organizations. In his most recent role at Miltenyi, he gained a deep understanding of cell therapy manufacturing and CMC. Robert holds a Master of Business Administration from Kaplan University and a Bachelor of Science from the San Diego State University.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Dr. Ruud Hulspas works at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as Technical Director of Process Development in the Cell Manipulation Core Facility. He is the Founder of Cellular Technologies Bioconsulting, a company dedicated to increase reproducibility and quality of (pre-)clinical research, with a focus on incorporating reliable analytics into cell therapy manufacturing processes. Previously, Dr. Hulspas was Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Cytonome, a company originally created to develop technologies for cell sorting in manufacturing of cell-based products for cell therapies. Prior to joining Cytonome, Dr. Hulspas led the R&D and lean operations of cytometry assays and cell-sorting methods in the stem cell expansion and cord blood storage divisions of ViaCell, Inc. He received his B.S. and M.S. from Leiden University, his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from University of Amsterdam, and his technical training at the TNO Radiobiological Institute in Rijswijk, the Netherlands. As a postdoc at the newly founded Cancer Center at the University of Massachusetts, Dr. Hulspas headed the Cytometry core facility, while his research projects focused on the identification and purification of a wide range of hematopoietic and neural progenitor cell types.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Martin Hurley is the director and co-founder of Bio Pharma Technical Consulting, a consultancy that partners with clients to deliver expertise in CMC, Cell & Gene Therapy, Tech Transfer, GAMP5 in the Biopharma and Pharma space. He brings 30+ years of international Automation, System development (SCADA), and PM experience in electronics, pharma industries. Prior to establishing BPTC, Martin was Applications Systems Manager EMEA with Elanco Animal Health (a division of Eli Lilly until 2019) where he liaised with scientists and equipment vendors to develop and deliver high-end enzyme application systems and solutions. Martin also worked with Eli Lilly in the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico where, as a member of the Capacity Expansion Team, he managed business critical projects involving application of lean strategies to optimize CSV processes to meet or exceed regulatory expectations. Previous roles include software engineering in the electronics industry (Apple Computer) and SCADA development/deployment (Gilroy Automation) for clients in the Pharma industry. In Summary: Martin is analytical and strategy-oriented, with experience in large-scale multiphase and high-profile projects in a variety of areas including automation, equipment deployment and capacity expansions in a GMP environment.

• TS9A: Introduction to Bioprocessing - Discovery to Commercialization

Akunna Iheanacho, Ph.D. is the Chief Operating Officer at Texcell - North America, Inc. where she provides technical and scientific direction for all programs and business units in addition to providing oversight for novel assay development, virus purification efforts, viral safety testing, and custom cell culture projects. She is a subject matter expert with broad biotechnology experience and expertise in areas that include biopharmaceutical purification and process development for large-scale cGMP manufacture of AAV gene therapies, vaccines, and other biologics. Prior to joining Texcell, Dr. Iheanacho was a Senior Scientist at Paragon Bioservices (now Catalent), where she transitioned projects from basic science discovery to cGMP-ready processes by establishing critical process parameters and quality attributes for biologics.

Dr. Iheanacho’s graduate work utilized mouse models, molecular endocrinology, and structural biology to study signaling pathways in cancer metabolism, fat metabolism, and type 2 diabetes. In her structural and functional characterization of a diverse set of proteins, she employed biochemical and biophysical techniques as well as molecular biology. Dr. Iheanacho received her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Physiology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia, and B.S. in Biology from Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Jared Isaac earned his PhD in Biomedical Research from the University of Cincinnati and his MBA from Western Michigan University. He has over eight years of industry experience in oncology, molecular diagnostics, medical devices and biopharmaceutical markets. Trained in both NGS genomics and LC-MS proteomics at Thermo Fisher Scientific, he is an expert in qualitative and quantitative mass spectrometry methods for biopharmaceutical process impurities.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (advisors Robert Linhardt and Angel Garcia). PhD work was on MD simulations of the conformational ensembles of heparin sequences Postdoc was at Sanofi (Sanofi department is Biologic Drug Product Development & Manufacturing). Postdoctoral work on coarse-grained simulations of mAbs Current position is a Scientist, Drug Product Development at Sanofi (Sanofi department is Biologic Drug Product Development & Manufacturing)

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

William E. Janssen, Ph.D. has worked for more than 30 years at translating lab bench models into cell and gene therapy products for administration to patients. In the course of these efforts he has developed and refined methodologies for all aspects of cell based therapy from cell collection, through manufacturing and administration. Dr. Janssen has also been responsible for facility design, drug master file creation, development of staff training programs, process engineering, technology transfer, SOP development, process validation, comparison studies and integration of processes, equipment and raw materials. He is particularly interested in and has been both a proponent and implementer of informatics solutions for management of cell and gene therapy development and manufacturing data.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Mi Jin (Jinmi) is Head of Downstream and Drug Product Development at Spark Therapeutics. She has over 20 years' experience in large molecule characterization, manufacturing process development, scale up, tech transfer, process characterization/PPQ, and regulatory filings. She has worked in Bristol Myers Squibb and Teva Pharmaceuticals prior to joining Spark.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Xin Jin is a Scientist within CMC Drug Product Development Department at Sanofi. She joined Sanofi in 2019 to support protein formulation platform establishment. Later, she joined the gene therapy group and lead one of the AAV drug product development, including formulation study, fill finish process study, enclosure system and administration device selection, and in-use study. Prior to Sanofi, she worked at Armstrong Pharmaceuticals for 7 years and lead Metered Dose Inhaler drug product development. She obtained her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Ohio University.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Li Jing, Ph.D., is a senior manager in USP’s Global Biologics Department, where she leads a team working with the USP expert committees and multiple expert panels for proteins, peptides, and carbohydrates to develop standards that support biopharmaceutical quality assessment and development. Recently, Jing worked with the USP MAM Expert Panel and developed General Chapter <1060> Mass Spectrometry Based Multi-Attribute Method for Therapeutic Proteins. Jing holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in chemistry from Fudan University. She has worked for several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, focusing on the development of protein therapeutics and vaccine candidates.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Will Johnson, Ph.D. has led the Modeling and Simulation team within Asimov Labs since January 2022. He and his team develop and apply computational models of physics and biology-spanning the continuum from first principles to machine learning-to predict and optimize genetic, cellular, and bioprocess performance. Prior to joining Asimov, Will led teams focused on the digital transformation of biotechnology process development and active implantable medical device design at Amgen and Advanced Bionics, where he applied and deployed computational models into mature business processes.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Peter Johnson is a Field Applications Scientist Manager for the Biologics Business unit at ProteinSimple. He joined Bio-Techne in 2018, and prior to that held FAS roles at Precision Nanosystems, Li-Cor Biosciences and Incyte Genomics.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Tara leads Moderna's Global Drug Product Operations, where she has successfully spearheaded the company’s inaugural commercial product launch. Her leadership extends across Global Drug Product Operations, building on her previous role where she oversaw North America Operations encompassing both Drug Substance and Drug Product sectors. In her current role, Tara is accountable for the comprehensive management of end-to-end operations, the oversight of the Global Drug Product CMO Network and strategic planning for long-term Drug Product Manufacturing. Dr. Jones was previously at Amgen, where she was the Vice President of Drug Substance Operations at Amgen Puerto Rico and was responsible for both the mammalian and bacterial drug substance manufacturing operations for multiple commercial products. She started with Amgen in 2004 and spent 8 years in Process Development, providing technical leadership for drug substance manufacturing facilities. In 2012, she joined Global Operations and served as the Global Operations Lead for six different commercial and clinical stage products and ultimately served as the plant manager of Amgen’s drug substance facility in Puerto Rico. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Jones served as a process engineer in Process Development at Centocor where she focused on developing new technologies for downstream processes of monoclonal antibodies. In 2020, she was awarded the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Rising Star award and in 2021, she received the Women in Science and Technology award by Industriales Puerto Rico. Dr. Jones received her BS in Chemical Engineering from Ohio University and her MS and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

• Accelerating Analytical Development
• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing
• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics
• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing
• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Pranav Joshi currently serves as an Associate Director, Upstream Process Development, for Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In this position, Pranav oversees upstream process development and platform improvement activities for rAAV-based gene therapy vector production. Pranav graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 2021, with a PhD in Bioengineering. In his doctoral work, Pranav developed upstream and downstream processes and process analytics for rAAV manufacturing employing insect cell- and mammalian cell-culture platforms in collaboration with National Research Council of Canada in Montreal. Pranav started his career in industry with Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd., in India, as an upstream process development engineer for manufacturing of monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics. Collectively, Pranav has more than 8 years of process development experience for biotherapeutics manufacturing and has authored several research publications on rAAV manufacturing technologies.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Professor Alois Jungbauer received his PhD in Food Technology and Biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria 1986. He serves since then as a professor at the Department of Biotechnology. He teaches Protein Technology and Downstream Processing and Bioprocess Engineering. He also acts as area head and Deputy Director of Research in the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology. He is currently working in the field of bioengineering of proteins, plasmids and viruses with special focus on expression, downstream processing and characterization of large biomolecules. For more than 10 years he is working on continuous manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. As a proliferate researcher he has more than 340 publications on recombinant protein production and bioseparation, 17 patents and 12 book contributions and recently a monograph entitled “Protein Chromatography , Process Development and Scale Up”. He is executive editor and co-founder of Biotechnology Journal, and member of editorial boards from numerous journals in the area of biochemical engineering. He acts also a the vice president of research of the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Science.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

I received my undergraduate degree in Chemistry from James Madison University before starting my career at Merck, in 2000. I worked for three years in the Technical Operations group at our Elkton, VA, chemical manufacturing plant. In 2003, I enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania as part of the Merck PhD program where I earned my PhD in organic chemistry under the supervision of Amos B. Smith, III. In 2008, I returned to Merck, this time to Chemical Engineering Technical Laboratories focused on reaction engineering and general optimization and troubleshooting of small molecule API’s. In 2014, I was appointed to the Process Development Intensification Lab, whose focus is to develop and implement tools and methodologies to foster efficient, data rich experimentation within the process engineering groups. In 2016, I was appointed to lead an initiative to further expand our data rich experimentation efforts across all of Process Research and Development. In 2018, I took a position as the Automation group lead within Small Molecule Process Research and Development. I then moved to Biologics Analytical Research and Development in 2020 where I lead a similar Automation group, focusing on developing and deploying automated solutions across the department.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Nayiri Kaissarian is an ORISE postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Her research is focused on characterizing differences in genetically engineered recombinant proteins as a result of different synonymous gene recoding strategies and protein manufacturing methods. She received her PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan. Her graduate research was focused on investigating endothelial dysfunction in Fabry Disease.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Nandini is a seasoned professional who seamlessly transitioned from a successful career as a pharmaceutical scientist to becoming a conference and business networking expert with over 16 years of experience within the biopharmaceutical industry and the partnering ecosystem. As the Senior Director of Conferences and Social Media Strategy at Cambridge Healthtech Institute, she and her team play a pivotal role in fostering connections among key stakeholders in the biotech, MedTech, and digital health sectors. She holds a bachelor's in pharmacy and a master's in pharmacy in Pharmaceutics and is a published author and speaker in diabetes and insulin delivery space. Beyond her professional endeavors, she is a fitness enthusiast who passionately advocates for fitness and postpartum weight loss. She is an Indian American Pageant winner, and enjoys dancing, modeling, and being the human spinner in response to endless requests of "Mommy, spin me!".

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Konstantina Katcheves is Senior Vice President of Business Development at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). She has over twenty years of business development, corporate strategy and intellectual property experience. In her role at BMS, Konstantina is responsible for all business development activities for new technologies including early discovery partnerships, platform collaborations, digital innovation, precision medicine and cell and gene therapy technologies. She also leads a global team responsible for business development in Japan and China and innovation search and evaluation outside the U.S. Prior to joining BMS, Konstantina served as Vice President of IP and Licensing at Agilent Technologies and prior to Agilent was Vice President of Global IP and Licensing at Lonza. Konstantina holds a M.S. from the Johns Hopkins University, J.D. from the University of Oklahoma and B.S from the University of California at San Diego.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Shahzad Khan is a Global System Consultant for Life Science and Bio Pharma Businesses, primarily focused on the Pharma and Biopharma industries with over 22+ years of experience in the field of Process Control Automation. He is Leading the design of control systems for bioprocessing and pharmaceutical while fostering integration between Digital Solutions, Development, and Automation teams, optimizing pharmaceutical operations for productivity and compliance.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Ohnmar Khanal leads the Downstream Technology team at Spark Therapeutics, developing platform chromatographic processes and innovating Spark's Downstream purification process. She has 10 years of experience in purification research and development. Her interest and expertise lie in designing novel separation strategies for various drug modalities, employing experimental and model-based approaches. Her previous work addresses the retention, adsorption, competitive binding, and transport of biomacromolecules in the realm of depth filtration and chromatography. She has developed novel methodologies and techniques using her fundamental understanding of protein transport and protein biophysics. Ohnmar received a BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

I received my Masters degree in Organic chemistry in India. In addition, I obtained PhD degree in chemistry from University of Kentucky in 2010. Then I joined University of Minnesota for Postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemistry until 2012. I joined BioVision Inc where I built a team focused on designing, manufacturing and analytics for metabolic enzymes for commercial use. Then I pivoted to Gene Therapy when I joined Brammer Bio (now a part of Thermofisher Viral Vector Services) as principal scientist and led the team for developing analytical assays for viral vectors. Furthermore, in 2018, I joined Sangamo Therapeutics as a Senior Scientist for helping build analytical team on developing assays for viral vectors. I left Sangamo to join Asklepios Biopharmaceuticals (North Carolina) as the Director of Analytical Development but after a short duration, I rejoined Sangamo Therapeutics as an Associate Director where I am overseeing analytical development for early and late phase viral vectors.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

I am a Senior Scientist at Amgen with over 8 years of experience in developing, characterizing, and transferring biopharmaceutical processes. I have worked on several late-stage drug substance programs with diverse process formats and business cases. I also manage the process development activities for an asset externalized at a CMO. I am passionate about exploring new tools to solve bioprocessing challenges. My areas of interest include PAT, CM, process intensification and modeling. I have championed the use of these technologies to optimize several processes. I have submitted multiple patent applications and given many presentations on these topics. I am eager to expand my knowledge and network and look forward to connecting with professionals at this conference.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Mike is currently a technical development senior principal scientist at Genentech/Roche and helps to define internal strategy for critical quality attribute identification and risk assessment. Mike has 14+ years of protein characterization and biotherapeutic development experience, including contributions to successful BLA and IND filings, nine manuscripts, and three issued patents. Mike received his BS in Biotechnology and Biochemistry from UC San Diego and his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Kansas.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

My name is Michael King. I am a Process and Protein Scientist with over 10 years of experience developing downstream processes for the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, chimeric and multispecific proteins for phase I-III clinical trials as well as commercial processes. Recently my research and technical development initiatives have been focused on generation of mutlispecific antibodies.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

No bio available.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Jianmei Kochling is a Senior Director of Analytical Sciences, mRNA Center of Excellence. She leads the analytical development CMC and QC team supporting vaccine product and process development from early to late clinical phase. Prior to this position, Jianmei was a director of analytical science and technology and global project leader within Sanofi Specialty Care, Industrial Affairs supporting numerous biological products. She also held the director position in quality control technical service for 3 years and scientific associate director of analytical R&D for small molecule drug development for 4 years at Sanofi Genzyme. Jianmei also worked at Vertex, GSK, and Waters prior to joining Sanofi Genzyme. Jianmei received her PhD degree in Bioanalytical Chemistry from Northeastern University, and an MBA degree from Babson College.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Dr. Kofoed is co-founder and CEO of Alphalyse and has been responsible for general management of Alphalyse since its inception in 2002. He has more than 25 years of experience in the Biotech industry, and previous posts include Head of Proteomics at ACE BioSciences, Associated Professor at Copenhagen University, and Senior Scientist at PNA Diagnostics. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Southern Denmark and a degree in Business Administration.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Daniella Kranjac is the Founding Partner at Dynamk Capital LLC. Daniella founded the first venture fund focused entirely on Life Science Industrials based on her experiences as an entrepreneur and business development leader. She is CEO and Founder of Dynamk Consulting, providing capital, strategy and business development consulting to leading life science companies, startups and investment firms. She started her career as an entrepreneur, co-founding Wave Biotech LLC driving the start-up, growth and commercialization of a highly disruptive technology. As Vice President, Daniella established a high growth company with significant brand recognition, and led the group to a successful exit and acquisition by GE Healthcare in 2007 (now Danaher/Cytiva). At GE Healthcare, Daniella held a variety of strategic, M&A and business development roles. One of her most notable achievements is the success in an entrepreneurial group within the broader GE Healthcare, where a focus on integrating the acquired Xcellerex business enabling global commercialization of a several hundred million dollar enterprise solutions business. She holds a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an Executive MBA from New York University Stern School of Business.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Amit Kumar is the Global Engineering Associate Director at Moderna. Before joining Moderna, he contributed to Research & Development and Process Development at Amgen. Amit completed his postdoctoral studies in Chemical Engineering at MIT and Harvard University. Following his academic training, he served as an academic staff scientist in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Amit holds a PhD in Bioengineering with a focus on biochemical process engineering from Ghent University, Belgium. He has published 40 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as PNAS, Nature, and Science. His accolades include 25 major awards, including the International Doctoral Dissertation Award, NAMS, IWA Technologies, and Marie Curie Awards, along with several research grants.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Daniel has over 20 years of experience in biologics process development and scale-up of manufacturing processes. He is a Senior Principal Scientist in Pfizer’s Bioprocess Research and Development organization located in Andover, Massachusetts. His areas of expertise include viral safety, process intensification, high concentration formulation, harvest technologies, microbial control, CMC regulatory strategies and cGMP manufacture of biologics for clinical development through commercialization. His experience spans a wide range of biological constructs and modalities, including recombinant proteins, viral vectors, plasmid DNA, linearized RNA and lipid nano-particles.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

I was born in Winchester, MA. I grew up with a love of math and physics and visited the Museum of Science in Cambridge, MA, at every opportunity. I studied Chinese language and literature at Emory University and chemical engineering at Georgia Tech. My PhD was done in the Caltech Department of Chemical Engineering where I studied corneal drug delivery, spray drying of small-molecule therapeutics, and Mie Scattering from aerosol droplets. At Amgen, I am a Senior Scientist in pivotal drug product biologics. I specialize in subvisible particle testing and high throughput automation of common studies in pivotal DP biologics. My hobbies include rollerblading through the streets of Los Angeles, attending trivia nights with my friends, and cooking recipes from bygone eras.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Stevens Institute of Technology.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Kevin Lance is the Marketing Director of Viral Vector Solutions covering the global portfolio at Unchained Labs. His expertise covers biophysical characterization of proteins, nucleic acids, viral vectors, and LNPs. Prior to Unchained Labs, his research experience covered the fields of sustained antibody delivery and nanotechnology. He earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the joint UC Berkeley - UCSF Bioengineering Graduate Program. 

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Christine Le Bec joined Sensorion early this year and is responsible for all CMC-related activities in process development and manufacturing with internal teams and external partners to support preclinical development through clinical development. Before, she was at Genethon for over 20 years as a scientist and headed the CMC Analytical Department. She has strong expertise in the characterization and release testing of gene therapy products, stability studies, interface with CMO for method transfer and validation, and analytical/QC testing. She has extensive experience in the development and qualification of analytical methods based on biochemical, biophysical, and cell-based assays to assess identity, potency, impurity profile, and safety. Before joining Genethon, she obtained her Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in 1993. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA, US) and then at Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) in the field of synthesis, structural analysis, and in vitro evaluation of antisense DNA as therapeutic agents for cancer and AIDS.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Ann Lee is Chief Technical Officer at Prime Medicine, a next generation gene editing company aiming to deliver a new class of one-time curative genetic therapies to patients. For over 30 years, she has built and led industry-leading global technical and operational organizations across multiple biopharma companies including BMS, Celgene, Juno, Genentech, Roche and Merck. Her teams have developed new processes and technologies, designed new facilities, manufactured high quality vaccines, small molecules, biologics, and cell therapies, and built global supply chains and digital systems to deliver these medicines. Ann is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She serves on the board of directors of Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, American Institute of Chemical Engineering, and two public companies. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to the commercialization of 25 new vaccines and medicines, the most recent being two CAR-T cell therapies.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

William Lee is a chemical engineer who focuses on developing analytical methods to support process development. In the past, he has worked in several research areas including photovoltaics, medical devices, and small molecule manufacturing. He has worked on analytical development teams at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Voyager Therapeutics, and LogicBio Therapeutics. Currently, he works at Alexion-Astrazeneca Rare Disease focusing on characterization of AAV vectors.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Peter Lee joins Avant Bio as Partner having helped lead public and private life science investments at Casdin Capital with a focus on life science tools and technologies and genetic medicines. At Avant Bio he plays a leading role in investment strategy and thesis development, deal execution and supporting portfolio companies in their growth. He has previously served on the boards of Vector BioMed, Xcell Biosciences, iVexSol, Invetex, PanTHERA CryoSolutions, Multiply Labs, SequreDx, and Molecular Assemblies. He started his career in Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity and later at RBC Capital Markets where he focused on healthcare transactions across equity and debt financings and M&A.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference
• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Rachel Legmann has more than 25 years of experience in the field of scalable biologics and gene therapy manufacturing of therapeutic products, viral vectors, and proteins for gene therapy and biologics. She completed her PhD in Food Engineering and Biotechnology at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Rachel joined Repligen, Waltham, MA, USA in 2021 as a subject matter expert, leading the global gene therapy organization and helping customers achieve their technical and operational objectives in their manufacturing of vector-based therapeutics and vaccines, with a focus on gene therapy processes including upstream, downstream, analytics, and scalability. In addition to supporting global custom-ers and building high level networks, Rachel is supporting various internal cross-functional activities and external collaborations. Prior to joining Repligen, Rachel held several scien-tific and leadership roles at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School, CRO SBH Sciences, Seahorse Biosciences (part of Agilent), CDMO Goodwin Biotechnology, and Pall Corp part of Danaher.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Ulrike Lemke is the Business Unit President, Sterile Fill & Finish at Recipharm AG. Ulrike has 20 years’ experience from the pharmaceutical sector working mainly within marketing, business intelligence and business strategy for companies such as Sartorius, Lonza and McKinsey. Ulrike holds a Diploma in Biochemistry from the University of Leipzig, 2002 and a Ph.D. in Functional Genomics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Abraham Lenhoff is the Allan P. Colburn Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware, where he has been on the faculty since 1984 and was Chair from 2012-7. He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Cape Town and Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, all in chemical engineering. His research is primarily on application of principles of thermodynamics, transport phenomena, biophysics and colloid science to protein separations and phase behavior, with an emphasis on chromatography.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Seth Levy, PhD, joined Modalis Therapeutics in 2021 as Director of Bioprocess Development to build and oversee internal process development and analytics efforts, as well as manage external manufacturing. Prior to Modalis, Seth lead teams in Manufacturing Science and Technology and Small-Scale Development for AAV and LV manufacturing at Viral Vectors Services. Seth worked in gene therapy R&D before his time at a CDMO and drove numerous AAV projects including basic biology research, capsid engineering, and translational gene therapy approaches at Sanofi Genzyme and academia.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Michelle Lewis is the Executive Director of the Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training (CBET) where she focuses on the strategic deployment of workforce training programs and contract manufacturing (CM) services. Professor Lewis is jointly appointed in the departments of Basic and Clinical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Previously, Dr. Lewis served at the University of Georgia as an Associate Research Faculty, Department of Biochemistry, and Assistant Director of the Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility. During her tenure at UGa, she produce biological products for various academic and industrial clients, as well as mentored students and researchers. As Assistant Director of the Vanderbilt High-throughput Screening Facility at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Lewis developed cell-based assays for the discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics, ensured quality and throughput of downstream secondary assays, and implemented high-content data analysis for the identification of bioactive molecules. Additionally, she worked as a Senior Staff Scientist for the Diversa Corporation and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johnson & Johnson.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Lijuan Li, a Senior Staff Engineer in Biologics Process Development at Takeda, pioneered the implementation of a comprehensive suite of modeling capabilities, spanning molecular, mechanistic, AI/ML, and economic & ecological modeling to optimize biotherapeutics process development over the past 5 years. Leveraging her PhD in Chemical Engineering (focusing on protein surface design for Alzheimer's treatments) and strong process systems engineering skills, Dr. Li previously implemented the first real-time modeling system at Bristol Myers Squibb, optimizing resource allocation across their Biologics facilities. Her combined expertise drives cutting-edge Biologics process development at Takeda.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Angela is a Senior Scientist at Sanofi, Vaccine CMC Development & Supply, where she gained vast experience in bioprocess development, driving new vaccine targets from early-phase to late-stage following QbD principles. With an aptitude in process analytics, she has led various initiatives on the application of advanced analytics and process systems modeling for bioprocess development. Angela holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto, where her research focused on protein dynamics using a combination of structural biology and computational methods.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Dr. Weiyi Li is currently a Senior Scientist I at Prime Medicine with a PhD in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University (2019). At Prime Medicine, she has been working on advancing the Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform for Prime Editing by delving into LNP formulation, process development, scale-up, and characterization. Prior to Prime Medicine, Dr. Li was a scientist at Phosphorex where she focused on the development of micro/nano materials for diverse drug delivery applications.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Dr. Jing Li is Associate Director of the Biophysical Analytical Development team at Ring Therapeutics. Jing has 8 years of industry experience in analytical development, CMC, and structural mass spectrometry. Jing obtained her PhD at Washington University in St. Louis utilizing biophysics and structural mass spectrometry technologies to study biotherapeutic proteins and interactions. After graduation, Jing worked at Takeda, Bristol Myers Squibb, and AbbVie, using structural biology, biophysics, and analytical methods for the discovery, preclinical study, and early development of small molecule, biologics, peptides, and targeted protein degradation modalities.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Shu-hao is a Principal Scientist and Process development team lead at Carbon Bioscience. He leads both upstream and downstream teams in support of Carbon’s novel parvovirus platform and pipeline. Prior to Carbon, Shu-hao was a structural virologist at Ring Therapeutics, where he and colleagues published the first Anellovirus VLP structure and purified different Anellovirus VLP and vectors. Shu-hao obtained his PhD in Biophysics at University of California, Davis, and finished postdoctoral research at Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Dongfang Liu, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of Immunoassay Development Program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Center for Immunity and Inflammation in Rutgers University. In 2012, Dr. Liu was recruited to Baylor College of Medicine as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Pathology & Immunology, before joining Houston Methodist Research Institute as an assistant professor in 2015. In 2018, Dr. Liu was promoted to an Associate Professor in Houston Methodist Research Institute. Dr. Liu did his postdoctoral training on natural killer (NK) cells at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2005 to 2011. After completing the postdoctoral training, he joined Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in 2011 as a senior research scientist, where he worked on HIV-specific CTL dysfunction with a focus on PD-1 in HIV-specific CTL immunological synapse. Dr. Liu’s current research is primarily focused on the immunobiology of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T and NK cells, immunoreceptors, CAR immunotherapy, and HIV-specific CTLs in chronic HIV and its related malignancies, with a focus on immunological synapse biology and its clinical applications.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Dingjiang (Dean) Liu, PhD, is currently Senior Director in Formulation Development Group at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Tarrytown, NY). Dean’s current work is focused on formulation and drug product development of protein therapeutics and genetic medicines, as monoclonal antibody, bispecific antibody, antibody drug conjugates (ADC), AAV, LNP, and siRNA from research to commercialization. He has successfully led the product development, commercialization, and life cycle management for 6 FDA approved products. In the past 20 years, Dean has accumulated extensive experience in developability assessment, drug product development and manufacturing strategy, shelf-life stability and compatibility, and in-use stability of biological drug products and application of QbD in development of biologics. He has authored/co-authored more than 60 scientific papers and patents. Dean graduated from Fudan University (Shanghai, China) with a BS degree in Chemistry; then from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dean worked at Schering Plough (now Merck Co.) and Amgen prior to join Regeneron.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Xueyuan Liu serves as the Director of the Research Vector Core at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Recognized as a subject matter expert in Cell and Gene Therapy, she has successfully established the Lentivirus (LV) manufacturing process for multiple pseudotypes and transformed the traditional recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus (rAAV) manufacturing and characterization processes, making them more flexible and scalable. As an innovative scientist with two decades of leadership experience, she has led advances in vector engineering and capsid modifications to improve the efficiency and specifications of gene delivery. Her work has contributed to publications, patents, and related intellectual properties. She and her group continue to support investigators across academia and industry around the globe seamlessly.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Minghua Liu is a CMC Regulatory expert with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. As a CMC Consultant at Eloquent Life Sciences, she specializes in providing strategic regulatory guidance to companies across various development stages, from pre-IND to BLA submissions. With hands-on experience in IND CMC dossier writing and review, she has successfully facilitated numerous projects, ensuring FDA compliance and safe-to-proceed letters. Minghua has worked on a diverse range of product types, including monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, mRNA-LNP, bi-specific or tri-specific proteins, cell and gene therapies, and human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products. She holds a Ph.D. in Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a B.S. in Biology/Biological Sciences from Peking University.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Dr. Ben Locwin has been at the forefront of innovation in the industry and has worked on the development of a variety of treatments across many therapeutic areas. In his work, he is often called upon by investors to forecast the 'next big thing.' Dr. Locwin is also a professor of clinical medicine and healthcare economics. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Der Spiegel, The Associated Press, and other top-tier media.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Martin Loignon holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Université de Montréal and a postdoctorate in oncology from McGill University. He joined the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre of the National Research Council Canada in 2015 and lead of the Cell Engineering team. In this role, he has led projects related to the production of difficult-to-express recombinant proteins and contributed to the development of a CHO expression platform. Since 2020, he is leading the Cell Culture Scale-Up team, overseeing experts in bioprocess development and scale-up, and engineering viral-based and non-viral tools for gene editing and cell engineering.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Matthew Lotti is a Senior Research Associate II in the the Analytical Development department of Ultragenyx's Gene Therapy Pharmaceutical Development facility, located in Woburn, MA. His background involves assay development for multiple impurity and titer immunoassays.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Dr. Xiaohui Lu is the Sr. Director of Analytical Development in Ultragenyx Gene Therapy, overseeing analytical activities for the development of Ultragenyx’s gene therapy products. Before join Ultragenyx, Dr. Lu was a Director of Analytical Development in CRISPR Therapeutics. Dr. Lu spent 8 and a half years in Analytical Development at Biogen from 2009 to 2018, leading bioassay development and process-related impurity assay development for biologics and gene therapy programs. Prior to joining Biogen Idec, he was Senior Research Scientist at Ariad Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA from 2007 to 2009. Dr. Lu received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School, and had post-doctoral training at the Whitehead Institute.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Wei Lu is a Senior Staff Engineer in the Biologics Process Development group at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He has more than 15 years of mixed experience in academia and industry, with the main focus on process development for large molecules. Wei’s previous research also covered protein engineering, conjugation technology, structural-functional study and analytical assay development. Currently Wei is leading downstream process development, conjugation process development and technology innovations for multiple programs in Takeda.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Patrick has over 32 years of experience in the biotechnology industry including corporate development, licensing, partnering, acquisition and financing through his various roles in executive leadership. As President and CEO of RoslinCT USA (formerly Lykan Bioscience), Patrick is responsible for driving dynamic growth of the company, developing infrastructure and efficiencies and ensuring successful execution and delivery to our clients. Prior to joining RoslinCT, Patrick spent 19 years at Pfenex Inc., which began with the spin out of the novel protein production platform from The Dow Chemical Company into a stand-alone biotechnology company. Patrick played an instrumental role in the development of Pfenex’s initial strategy and evolving that strategy over time to derive greater value from the platform. Pfenex successfully completed an initial public offering in 2014 and received their first FDA product approval in 2019. Patrick and his team built the diverse Pfenex portfolio through licensing, development agreements and partnerships, which ultimately led to the acquisition of the company by Ligand Pharmaceuticals in 2020. Previously, Patrick held various roles in business development, operations, QC, validation and capital project management at Repligen Corporation, Celltech Biologics, Lonza Biologics and Collaborative BioAlliance.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference
• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Lusso received his MD, summa cum laude, from the University of Turin and his PhD from the Ministry of Scientific and Technologic Research, Rome, Italy. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and in Infectious Diseases. After a post-doctoral period at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, in 1995 he became the Chief of the Laboratory of Human Virology at the San Raffaele Institute in Milan, Italy, and Professor of Infectious Diseases. In 2006, he returned to the NIH in Bethesda, where he became the Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Section in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He is an elected member or the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). His major scientific accomplishments include the discovery of the chemokine trio that naturally block HIV-1 (ie, RANTES, MIP-1? and MIP-1?), the identification of the cellular receptor for the herpesvirus HHV-6, and the discovery of a second CD4-binding site in the HIV-1 envelope. His current research interests include the structure-function relations in the HIV-1 envelope and the development of innovative mRNA-based vaccines against HIV-1 and COVID-19.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

No bio available.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Melanie is an experienced and versatile human-capital executive with more than 25 years of experience supporting business plans and developing programs to fully engage talent in multiple industries, including at biopharmaceutical, financial services, and HR consulting. Melanie joined Seismic Therapeutic in 2023 as Chief People Officer. Prior to joining Seismic, she held leadership positions at Enspira HR Consulting (now Lead3R), where she served as Vice President, Human Capital, acting as primary contact for HR advisory client engagements. Prior to Enspira (Lead3R), she was Chief Human Resources Officer for non-profit organization Upstream USA. Previously, she served as Head of Human Resources for the Infectious Diseases division of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). Before her tenure at Novartis, Manning served as Associate Director, Human Resources at Biogen. Earlier in her career, she held several human resources and leadership development positions for divisions of Fidelity Investments and subsidiaries of JP Morgan Chase, which included HR business partner and Center of Excellence program office roles. She has a Masters degree in Human Relations and a BA from the University of Oklahoma and completed Intensive Studies in French Literature and Civilization at Université de Clermont-Ferrand, France.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Larry has 25 years of experience in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry, primarily in neuroscience, immunology, and oncology. He joined Biohaven from Valo Health in 2022 where he integrated machine learning capabilities with medicinal chemistry to improve drug discovery metrics. Prior to Valo Health, Larry co-chaired preclinical drug discovery programs at Bristol-Myers Squibb and contributed to the discovery of several optimized candidates for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression, including the GluN2B modulator BMS-986163. At Biohaven, he is currently heading medicinal chemistry activities, while serving as site lead for the New Haven laboratories, and team lead for the protein degradation platform. Larry received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University where he contributed to the first total synthesis of Batrachotoxin. Larry received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Penn State, majoring in chemistry.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Damian Marshall is the Vice President of Analytical Development at Resolution Therapeutics, a UK biopharmaceutical company developing engineered macrophage therapies for end-stage liver disease. Prior to joining Resolution, Damian spent 2 years as Vice President of Bioprocess Development at Achilles Therapeutics and 8 years as Director of New Technologies at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. In these roles he led multi-national programs working on bioprocess automation, PAT integration, and advanced product characterisation.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Tony Martignetti is a trusted advisor, leadership coach & facilitator, best-selling author, podcast host, and professional speaker. He brings together over 30 years of business and leadership experience, formal training, and extreme curiosity to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential. Before becoming the founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching, he was a finance and strategy executive with experience working with some of the world's leading life sciences companies. Along his journey, he also managed small businesses and ran a financial consulting company. Tony hosts The Virtual Campfire podcast and is the author of "Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life" and the co-author of "Secrets of Next-Level Entrepreneurs."

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

35+ years researching the enzymology of T7 RNA polymerase. Postdoc, Yale Univ; Ph.D., California Institute of Technology

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

No bio available.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Amit Mathur, Senior Scientist in Cell Line Development in Genomic Medicine Unit at Sanofi, has published numerous articles on characterizing mammalian cells using OMICS technologies. Amit is one of the early pioneers in characterizing CHO cells using transcriptomics and proteomics and currently applies his extensive knowledge in the field for leading a subteam to characterize Sanofi’s HeLa cell lines for improving the productivity and efficiency of the host cells. Prior to Sanofi, he worked at Amgen and Merck after completing PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Dr. Michael Betenbaugh’s lab at Johns Hopkins University.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

No bio available.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Matt is the Associate Director for the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA), a top-in-class institute in the emerging field of cellular agriculture, in which agricultural goods typically procured by means of animal husbandry are instead produced via cell culture - with TUCCA specializing in cultivated meat and precision fermentation approaches to alternative proteins. Matt is committed to advancing innovative and sustainable biotechnical solutions to food insecurity, public health risks, and climate change challenges. He leverages a foundation in industrial bioprocessing to approach alternative protein education and research from a systems-oriented focus on commercialization bottlenecks. His professional experiences include upstream biologics process engineering at Sanofi, biopharma operations analysis and change management consulting at N-SIDE, and a Research Fellowship investigating cultivated meat research whitespaces at the Good Food Institute. Matt has authored +15 publications and holds a PhD in chemical engineering from UC Davis, where he focused on plant-based protein production for biopharmaceutical and food applications.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Graduated in 1997 with a PhD in Cell Biology from Dublin City University (DCU), Dublin, Ireland. In 2007 was appointed Programme Leader of the Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology (NICB), DCU. Appointed Associate Director of the NICB in October 2015. Research interests are focused on the application of advanced proteomic and mass spectrometry methods to understand biological systems, in particular characterisation of recombinant mammalian cell lines (Chinese hamster ovary) in order to gain insights to improving efficiency of production of biopharmaceuticals. Also have research interests in clinical proteomics, specifically uveal melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Co-author of over 90 peer-reviewed publications and 12 book chapters to date in research areas related to proteomics, bioprocessing and cancer.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Beatrice is a bioprocess engineer currently working at University College London within the Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub, in a postdoctoral role. Her focus is on the use of cell-free synthesis as a platform for distributed production of stratified biotherapeutics, both proteins and nucleic acids. She previously specialised in the purification of viral vectors and vaccines, with an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in biochemical engineering, postdoctoral experience with UCL haematology, developing a new chromatography based analytic for empty-full Adeno Associated Virus capsids and worked for Univercells on modifications to a polio production process. Prior to her doctorate she worked for a number of years in an engineering consultancy, on dynamic simulations of processes for use in design validation and control studies.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Prof. Menegatti has earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at NC State University in 2013, with a project on affinity purification of protein therapeutics using peptide affinity ligands (advisor: Dr. Ruben Carbonell). After 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow working on drug delivery technology in the group directed by Dr. Samir Mitragotri at UCSB (now Harvard University), Dr. Menegatti rejoined the Department Chemical Engineering at NC State University as an assistant professor in 2015. Dr. Menegatti has made key contributions in bioseparations: he has introduced the new paradigm of “affinity flow-through chromatography” for continuous purification of therapeutic antibodies; he has invented and patented single-use adsorbents for plasma fractionation, and purification of CRISPR-Cas nucleases and other therapeutic proteins; he has developed novel, rapid at-line assays to support continuous bioprocessing; and designed novel biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering. This intense research activity has translated into numerous impactful publications, patents, and invited lectures in universities and industries. Prof. Menegatti is highly recognized by the academic and the industrial communities alike, and has established a broad network of collaborations with distinguished scholars across three continents (US, Europe, and Australia). He also leads joint research projects with and consults for global companies including Merck & co., Genentech, Merck KGaa, CSL Behring, Millipore Sigma, KBI Biopharma, Johnson and Johnson, and Eastman Chemical Company. He was the key contributor to the $27M AIM-Bio research instituted funded in 2019 by the Novo Foundation (https://news.ncsu.edu/2019/08/future-of-biomanufacturing/). Dr. Menegatti has also established himself as a successful entrepreneur, pursuing the translation of his technology to broaden the access of patients of advanced biological therapies. His IP portfolio has been licensed to private companies - such as LigaTrap, for which he serves as main scientific advisor - and is now being converted into commercial products. Prof. Menegatti is actively engaged in a number of outreach activities in North Carolina: he co-chairs the Triangle Soft Matter Symposium, and collaborates with the NC Biotech Center, the NC Center of Innovation Network, and the UNC Institute for Convergent Science.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

My name is Paria Moxley and I am currently a scientist at Sanofi in Drug Product Development and Manufacturing department. I obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2020 and have been with Sanofi since. In the beginning of my professional career, I started my work with focus on protein therapeutics formulation development and later followed my interest in gene therapy modalities.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Andre is the Marketing Manager for Biologics Solutions at Unchained Labs supporting the development of new biologic and gene therapy drugs. His expertise covers fluorescence, static light scattering, and dynamic light scattering for biophysical characterization of proteins and viral vectors. His research experience spans from structural biology to plant physiology and across labs in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the USA. Andre earned his PhD at the Carlsberg Laboratory and had a post-doc appointment at Stanford University.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Dr. Hans-Joachim Muhr currently works for Mettler Toledo as Business/Segment Development Manager BioTech/BioPharma and has served in executive management roles in analytical instrument businesses for over 12 years. He has over 20 years of experience in project innovation management as well as global sales and marketing for analytical instruments covering BioTech, (Bio)-Pharma, Chemistry and FnB industries. He earned his Ph.D in Chemistry from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, holds an Exec MBA and selected master lessons in Pharmaceutical Biochemistry from ZHAW Winterthur and Wädenswil, Switzerland.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Jerry Murry is senior vice president, Process Development. Murry has held several roles at Amgen, including vice president of Small Molecule Process & Product Development, vice president of Chemistry, Manufacturing & Controls Lifecycle Management, and, most recently, vice president of Drug Product Technologies. Prior to Amgen, Murry spent six years at Merck Research and the preceding six years at Pfizer Central Research. Earlier, he was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellow at Harvard University. Murry received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Texas Lutheran University and earned his PhD in chemistry from the University of Utah.

• Accelerating Analytical Development
• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing
• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics
• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing
• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Yogapriya works as a Scientist I at Biogen, Inc. in the Drug product group of Biologics and Advanced therapy medicinal products department. She has over 10 years of experience in Research and Product Development of Biologics comprising of monoclonal antibodies and AAV drug products. She has managed multiple biologics programs at different stages of development. Her current role focuses more on the developability assessment of biologics (mAbs and AAV) to help in candidate selection process for R2D transitions and end-to-end drug product development of biologics drug product candidates from R2D to FIH with respect to formulation lockdown, process development, and container closure selection. In the past, she has worked as a biochemist in discovery programs focused on purification, biochemical, and biophysical characterization of monoclonal antibody therapeutics.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Dr. Sarah Muse graduated from the Pennsylvania State University Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology program studying host immune interactions for respiratory pathogens. Following her passion for public health, Dr. Muse accepted a position at CDC in the Center for Preparedness and Response. Recently, Dr. Muse joined the mRNA Center of Excellence at Sanofi in the Bioassay group where she performs analytical method development for nucleic acid and cell-based assays.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Huda Naas is a BioAssay Development Associate III at Ascend Advanced Therapies (Ascend) in the Alachua, FL location. In this role, she works with customers to strategize the development and tech transfer of assays, feeding into gene therapy program success. Joining the team through the Beacon acquisition, Huda has played a pivotal role by leveraging her analytical development expertise to both sustain current program success and advance new customer programs. She earned a master’s in biotechnology from FIT and is currently pursuing a MBA at USF Muma College of Business to further her capabilities and expertise in providing innovative solutions and strategic leadership in the field of gene therapy.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Hirsh Nanda is the Director of Analytical Sciences at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Hirsh joined Janssen in 2015 and currently he is leading an analytical sciences group supporting research and development of biologic therapeutics, including cell line engineering and development. His team performs in-depth mass-spec and biophysical characterization across modalities and next-generation therapies. State-of-the-art robotics, along with high-throughput mass-spec data acquisition and analysis, is used to automate and streamline our processes. Prior to joining Janssen, Hirsh was Senior Scientist at NIST, working on the adsorption and aggregation of mAbs at surfaces relevant to pharmaceutical processing.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Anastasia Nikolakopoulou was a graduate student at the group of Professor Richard D. Braatz at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and an MS in Chemical Engineering Practice and a PhD from MIT. Her research is in the optimization and control of modular manufacturing systems, state estimation and control of nonlinear dynamical systems, and model predictive control of distributed parameter systems. In 2021 Anastasia moved to an industrial position in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently she is an Investigator at GSK focusing on model predictive control for bioreactors.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Dr. Niss is President and Founder of Know The Edge Consulting, a specialized consulting business, focusing on Cell and Gene Therapies. Prior to this, Dr. Niss was the Chief Technology Officer at eGenesis, overseeing the organization’s use of cutting-edge technology to redefine the future of organ transplantation. Dr. Niss is a seasoned biotechnology executive and scientist with more than 20 years of experience in molecular biology and the biotechnology industry. Most recently, he served as Chief Technology Officer at Mustang Bio Inc., where he led a team developing and manufacturing cell therapy products, including the build-out of the company’s autologous CAR T manufacturing platform. Dr. Niss also served as Mustang’s Vice President of Operations, with a focus on the establishment of facilities to support commercial manufacturing. Prior to his tenure at Mustang, Dr. Niss held various scientific and technical leadership roles at the vanguard of innovation in cell and gene therapy. At Biogen, Dr. Niss led the Cell Therapies group, overseeing operations and supporting regulatory filings. Dr. Niss played a pivotal role in the advancement of Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), the first chimeric antigen receptor therapy to be approved in the US, establishing critical CMC and manufacturing capabilities and supporting cross-functional development activities. At Pfizer, Dr. Niss led global research teams supporting target identification and validation as well as preclinical, clinical development. Dr. Niss earned a PhD in Molecular Biology from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, an MS in Biology at Georg-August University in Goettingen, Germany. He completed post-doctoral work at the Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Theresa O’Brien is a Scientist working at Sanofi in Framingham, MA. Theresa received her Bachelor’s of Science degree from The University of Massachusetts, MA. She joined Sanofi (previously Genzyme) in 1997, with focus on development of residual Host Cell Protein Impurity assays to support a number of drug development programs.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Dan Odenwelder is a Senior Engineer in the Gene Therapy Cell Culture Development Team at Biogen. He is responsible for cell culture media development, upstream process development, and process characterization. Prior to Biogen, Dan obtained his PhD in Bioengineering at Clemson University.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

No bio available.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Sandhya Pande is an Associate Director in the Process and Product Development department at Shape Therapeutics. She is currently leading cell line and upstream process development activities to support stable producer cell engineering for AAV vector production. Prior to Shape, she worked as a Development Scientist leading the cell line development group at AGC biologics in Bothell, WA. She did her post-doctoral fellowship at Amgen Inc, Seattle, and has a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Massachusetts.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Jin is an Associate Director of Analytical Development at Ultragenyx. Her work focuses on assay development, troubleshooting, and providing support for internal and external projects related to the biophysical characteristics of AAV, biologics, and small molecules. Her team handles various techniques including AUC, MALS, HPLCs, DLS, CE-SDS, iCIEF, LC-MS, etc. Prior to Ultragenyx, Jin worked for many years at Takeda Global Gene Therapy, Takeda Vaccine, Charles River Laboratories, and Sanofi. She has extensive experience in building biophysical profiles for viral and non-viral gene therapy products, Vaccines, biologics, and small molecules.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

I am Scientist with a strong focus on Drug Discovery and Development. My doctoral research centered around utilizing computational techniques to investigate the activity of mutations in protein kinases, contributing to the field of drug discovery. Currently, as a dedicated professional, I apply my expertise in data science to support and optimize cell therapy operations at Janssen, playing a vital role in the field of drug development.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Courtney Paynter is the head of Talent Management and Organizational Excellence at AbbVie. In this role, Courtney and her team deliver all enterprise talent management practices and strategies across AbbVie's more than 50,000 employees. She also leads a niche team of Organizational Excellence consultants, who serve as an internal consulting firm with practices across a broad range of capabilities, including Organizational Design, Organizational Teams, and Organizational Change. Courtney began her HR career at Cornell University's Industrial & Labor Relations program, followed by 6 years in HR business partner roles at Bausch & Lomb. She has since focused in as an enterprise talent practitioner with a relentless eye to business value and transformation-focused consulting.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Jessica is a Principal Scientist at Amgen, where she is a group lead in late-stage cell culture and purification development. She is a highly motivated, results driven biotechnology professional with 20 years of experience and has strong expertise in attribute-focused, multi-modality process development from preclinical through Phase 3 development and commercialization. Jessica earned her B.S. in Biology from the Bridgewater State College.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

No bio available.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

No bio available.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Joanna Pezzini co-founded PAK BioSolutions, Inc. in 2019 along with Kevin Hill-Byrne.  Prior to her work at PAK BioSolutions, Inc., Ms. Pezzini led the development of a continuous purification laboratory at Astra Zeneca with highly cited publications and industry presentations on her work.  Through these efforts, she introduced novel flow-through virus inactivation and single-pass diafiltration methods.  Her solid, single-use flow kit for the PAK system was awarded a U.S. patent in 2021. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of NIH awarded her a grant in 2022 for her research and development of a small-scale PAK system. Ms. Pezzini has additional engineering experience from GMP and development organizations at several large pharmaceutical companies, including Lonza Biologics and Biogen Idec. She has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in bioengineering from Tufts University.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Laura Pierce is a Biomedical Engineer in the Biomaterials Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She is responsible for technical planning and conducting studies to support development of the ISO standards for Cell Counting. In that capacity, she routinely performs cell counting measurements on a variety of lab instrumentation typically used in the Regenerative Medicine field, and she supports analysis and dissection of data with collaborators to define the points in their experimental workflow which introduce measurement error and uncertainty, and offers recommendations to improve precision and robustness of measurements. Laura has over 12 years of experience in the biotechnology industry in the areas of drug discovery for oncology and infectious disease, as well as experience in high-throughput automation and robotics and assay development. She received her B.S.E. degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and she holds an M.S. degree from Northeastern University.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

David has over 10 years experience in drug discovery primarily focused on understanding fundamental metabolism applied to oncology, immunology and genetically defined diseases. Previously, he lead the metabolism and proteomics department at Agios Pharmaceuticals. He spent over eight years starting as bench level scientist working and leading projects across the portfolio and indication space. The team he led supported all aspects of a project’s life cycle from developing a fundamental understanding of target biology to leading translational approaches to better understand clinical observations. He and his team’s efforts have led to over 20+ publications and numerous successful academic collaborations at Agios and contributed to the successful development of IDH inhibitors and PK activators. His main interests lie at the intersection of technology and biology particularly applied to drug discovery. He recently joined Biohaven to lead the development of our discovery labs in Cambridge, MA. David earned is PhD at the University of Florida under Rick Yost and completed his postdoc at Pfizer in Groton, CT where he built metabolism platforms to better understand the impacts of pharmacological regulation of enzymes in metabolic disease indications.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Maria del Carme Pons Royo is a bioprocess engineer with experience in development and optimization of biotechnological products. She completed her bachelor's degree in biotechnology from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, followed by a master's degree in Life Science and Technology from TU Delft. Recently, she successfully defended her PhD thesis at BOKU, titled "Millifluidic devices to accelerate process development with a primary focus on protein precipitation and filtration." Currently, she is employed as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, where she continues her research on the development and optimization of innovative bioprocesses utilizing cutting-edge prototyping tools.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Francis Poulin is Vice President of Analytical Sciences at Sail Biomedicines, a Flagship Pioneering Company based in Cambridge, MA. Francis leads the development of analytical procedures intended to release and characterize Endless RNA (eRNA), a uniquely engineered closed-loop RNA that was invented at Flagship Labs. Prior to Sail Biomedicines, he led Analytical Development teams at Lyell Immunopharma, Sanofi, and Genzyme, and contributed to several successful regulatory filings. Francis received his PhD in Biochemistry from McGill University, where he worked with Professor Nahum Sonenberg on the regulation of mRNA translation initiation.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Pavlo Pristatsky is an Associate Principal Scientist in the Mass Spectrometry group within Analytical Research and Development department at Merck in West Point, PA. Pavlo joined Merck in 2007 where he develops and utilizes various mass spectrometric techniques (such as intact mass, peptide mapping, HDX-MS, LIP-MS, etc.) for characterization and development of vaccines and biologics. Outside of work Pavlo enjoys spending time with his family, running, and making music.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Philip is an experienced research scientist familiar with high-throughput process development, design of experiment approaches to process optimisation and process scale up and validation. At CPI Biologics, Philip manages the technical team, working across mammalian, microbial, viral and cell-free projects.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Professor Todd Przybycien received a BS in Chemical Engineering and a AB in Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis in 1984. He attended California Institute of Technology for graduate education, receiving MS and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering in 1987 and 1989. Prof. Przybycien worked for two years at Monsanto Agricultural Company as a Senior Research Engineer before joining Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as an Assistant Professor in 1991. He came to Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon in 1996 and served as the (founding) Head of BioMedical Engineering from 2002-2008. Professor Przybycien currently holds a joint appointment in Biomedical Engineering and in Chemical Engineering.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Pavan works as Associate Director of the Analytical Development Team at Adicet. He has over 9 years of experience supporting preclinical and CMC activities of cell therapy drug products and peptides. Currently, he is leading assay development and tech transfer activities to support the release of gamma retroviral vector and CAR-gamma delta T cell product. Prior to Adicet, he worked on Rubius's analytical development team and designed, developed multiple cell-based potency assays, flow assays for release of novel red-cell therapy products for early-phase immuno-oncology trials. Prior to Rubius, he spent 3 years at a start-up developing formulations for novel oral peptides that are indicated in Diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Pavan has a PhD in pharmacology from University of Nebraska Medical Center and a Bachelor’s in pharmacy from Kakatiya University.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Dr. Ken Qian received his PhD from the University of Connecticut, followed by a National Research Council post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. At NIST, he studied protein mobility in condensed phase using neutron scattering and laser spectroscopy. Ken joined Eli Lilly in the BR&D-Formulation group in November 2015 and has been leading multiple peptide projects. Additionally, he leads several Lilly-sponsored academic collaborations in the colloidal physics field, using X-ray and neutron scattering techniques.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Shannon completed her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Purdue University where she worked on small molecule mass spectrometry research in Graham Cooks's lab. She then completed her PhD in analytical chemistry in 2021 at Indiana University where she studied protein conformations with ion mobility spectrometry under the supervision of David Clemmer. She joined Eli Lilly in Indianapolis in 2021 and is currently a member of the Protein Characterization Team in the Bioproduct Research and Development organization where she provides LC-MS and structural characterization support for several Lilly molecules.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Sarah is a Scientist that has been leading Process Analytical Technology Development efforts for cell therapies at Bristol Myers Squibb for the last 4 years. During this time, she has led a team of enthusiastic scientists towards evaluation, development and integration of several novel monitoring technologies into process that enable the production of more affordable and robust cell therapies. Sarah is a strong advocate for PAT integration, speaking previously on the promise Quality-By-Design and adaptive manufacturing approaches provide for improved drug product quality.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

At BridgeBio, Srivatsan Ramesh is dedicated to advancing the development of scalable, cost-effective therapeutics through gene therapy for a range of genetic disorders and rare diseases. His responsibilities include refining the downstream purification processes for AAV-based gene therapies and investigating innovative technologies to streamline and strengthen the transition of therapies from development to clinical or commercial manufacturing. During his doctoral studies in chemical engineering at North Carolina State University, his research primarily concentrated on two areas: the synthesis of stimuli-responsive polymers for applications in membrane purification and drug delivery, as well as the development of biosensors for protein quantification.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Phillip Ramsey is the Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Sangamo Therapeutics where he oversees manufacturing, technical development, supply chain and quality. He has over 35 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceutical operations, development, and quality and has been active in multiple therapeutic areas including autoimmune, cardiovascular, central nervous system, emerging infectious diseases, oncology, rare genetic diseases, and vaccines. Prior to joining Sangamo, Phillip was Senior Director at Emergent BioSolutions where he played a key role in the design and construction of a 85,000 square foot award winning commercial facility, as well as Leidos where he was a part of the development of a 130,000 square foot vaccine pilot plant for the NIH. Additionally, Phillip has contributed to multiple regulatory submissions for product approval and more than 50 investigational new drug submissions. Phillip received his B.S. in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Nebraska, an MBA with a specialty in regulatory sciences from San Diego State University, and his M.S. in Biochemistry from John Hopkins University.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Pinaki Ranadive is a Senior Scientist in the Formulation Development Group within Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Tarrytown, NY). She has 2+ years of experience in leading drug product (DP) process development activities to support technology transfers for early-stage and late-stage monoclonal antibody-based biologics. She also supports process development activities for mRNA-lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) and has expertise in developing mRNA-LNP buffer exchange processes using tangential flow filtration (TFF). She enjoys cross-functional collaboration with teams including chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), process sciences, and manufacturing sciences and technology within Regeneron to ensure seamless tech transfer. Prior to joining Regeneron, Pinaki completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) where she developed continuous scalable microfluidic processes for synthesizing inorganic metal and metal-oxide based nanoparticles with the goal of controlling particle properties.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Matt is a Senior Applications Scientist in the Product Marketing Management group at Refeyn. He has over 10 years of industry experience in small-molecule drug discovery campaigns and developing gene editing technologies. As a protein scientist, Matt has worked with various classes of proteins including GPCRs, enzymes, multimeric complexes, and ribonucleoprotein complexes. Matt holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Universtiy of Connecticut, where he studied the application of photoactive proteins in biophotonic devices.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Ted Randolph received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and then joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale University as an Assistant Professor. After promotion to Associate Professor, he was named to Yale’s first John J. Lee Junior Professorship Chair in Chemical Engineering. In 1993, Dr. Randolph accepted the Patton Associate Professorship Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado. He currently serves as the Gillespie Professor of Bioengineering, co-Director of the University of Colorado’s Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Dr. Randolph is a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and received the AIChE Professional Progress Award and has twice received the American Pharmacists’ Association Ebert Prize. He is an author of more than 230 peer-reviewed journal articles in the areas of biopharmaceutical formulation, lyophilization of proteins, protein-solvent interactions in non-aqueous environments, and protein refolding. Dr. Randolph is an inventor on 27 US patents, and has cofounded three companies, RxKinetix Inc., Barofold, Inc. and VitriVax Inc.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Tiffany D Rau, Ph.D., Owner and Principal Consultant of Rau Consulting and is an expert in bio processing and a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Her international technical and managerial experience extends from development to post-commercial cGMP manufacturing. Dr. Rau has been instrumental in designing and leading initiatives to bring R&D and manufacturing together to increase speed to market and minimize technology transfer challenges. Dr. Rau has been the advisor on over 100 different projects in the areas of process intensification, scale-up, variability reduction, and continuous improvement for both mammalian and microbial expression systems. Previously, Dr. Rau has held leadership positions at Evonik-Degussa, Eli Lilly, Pall and GlaxoSmithKline all focused in process development, tech transfer, commercial manufacturing, and CMC strategy. Dr. Rau has over 75 invited speaking engagements focused on delivering current and next-generation products from R and D to commercialization/post-commercialization. Tiffany is also active in the scientific community and is Program Chair for the Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology meeting (2015-2019) and has organized numerous sessions at the SIMB National Meetings (Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology) and ECI Cell Culture Engineering meetings. She was also part of the inaugural organizing team for ECI’s Microbial Engineering Conference in 2018 and continued on the organizing committee for 2020.

• TS9A: Introduction to Bioprocessing - Discovery to Commercialization
• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Russ has worked in the bioscience industry for over 35 years. Formerly he was an executive with the Burroughs Wellcome and Glaxo Wellcome companies. He was heavily involved with the commercial development of antivirals like AZT and 3TC which are mainstay treatments for HIV illness. He was CEO of the Kucera Pharmaceutical Company-a start-up bio-pharmaceutical company based in Winston-Salem. He has led a national biotechnology workforce effort for nineteen years called the National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce (NCBW). The NCBW is based in Winston-Salem, a part of North Carolina’s Community College System, Forsyth Technical Community College, and is a part of the college’s division of Education to Business. The NCBW focuses on achieving best practices and skill standards for the skilled technical worker. Russ leads or co-leads several NSF ATE grant initiatives including BETA Skills, WFIRM Regen Med. Workforce and the Workforce Hub of InnovATEBIO with the recently announced NSF Engine grant for the Piedmont Triad Region, lead the workforce effort.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Jennifer Reid is a Senior Scientist in Global Bioprocess Development at Sanofi Vaccines in Toronto Canada. At Sanofi, she incorporates new-process analytical technologies and automation solutions to improve drug substance yield and operational efficiency in upstream processes. Jennifer has a PhD in biochemistry, with experience in bioinformatics.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Xiaozhi Ren, PhD, is Director of Plasmid and Cell Line Development at Nvelop Therapeutics. Prior to Nvelop, he was Director of Cell Line and Process Development at Vedere Bio, where he designed and developed a high-quality clonal suspension HEK293 cell line called X-RAP for AAV production. Prior to Vedere, he was Senior Scientist in Upstream Process Development at Casebia Therapeutics. Prior to Casebia, he was Scientist in Cell Line Development at Sanofi, where he led the New CHO host cell line development. Before Sanofi, he worked as Visiting Scientist at Mike Betenbaugh's lab for CHO cell engineering.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Jian Ren is a principal scientist in the Purification Development, Biologics Development & Launch organization at AbbVie Bioresearch Center in Worcester, MA. She leads process development and tech transfer activities for the downstream manufacturing process for early-to-late-phase biologics programs, including monoclonal and bispecific antibodies. Prior to AbbVie, her research focused on the development and optimization of polymeric membranes and modules for various separation applications. Jian holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Wilhad “Hans” Reuter is currently a Lead Engineer on the Upstream Process Development team for Mural Oncology Inc., supporting CMC strategies for both early stage development programs as well as late stage clinical candidates, and has experience with a variety of therapeutic modalities including lentiviral vectors, AAV gene therapies, and cytokine-based immunotherapies.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Jim leads analytical development at Interius, cutting across all scientific efforts at the company. Trained as a virologist, Jim has over 25 years of experience developing viral products for the prevention and treatment of disease. Jim comes to Interius from Altimmune, where he was Director of Scientific Affairs. Previously, Jim led the cell and gene therapy standards development efforts at US Pharmacopeia. In previous roles at Advanced BioScience Laboratories and Foundation Fighting Blindness, he led translational science activities for the development of vaccines and biologics to prevent and treat infectious and retinal diseases. Jim has also held positions responsible for performing viral clearance and adventitious agent testing at Viromed Biosafety as well as AAV vector development and characterization at Genovo/Targeted Genetics.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Keshab Rijal is a Process Development Principal Scientist at Amgen, a leading biotechnology company that develops innovative medicines for patients with serious illnesses. He leads a team of scientists and engineers who work on process development for Amgen's pipeline of biologics. Keshab has over 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning across research and development, process development and manufacturing. He has also authored or co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and patents in the fields of molecular biology, biochemistry, and drug discovery. Keshab holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Julien Robitaille is currently a Research Council Officer at the Human Health Therapeutics Research Center of the National Research Council Canada (NRC) in Montreal. His research is focused on the scale-up and optimization of upstream process. He has worked on the process development, scale-up, and technology transfer of the manufacturing process for many different therapeutic products, including recombinant proteins and viral vector for cell & gene therapy applications. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and completed his Master’s degree at Polytechnique Montréal in Chemical Engineering as well, focusing his research on the metabolomics of biologic production in bioreactors.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Irene Rombel is the CEO, President, and Co-Founder of BioCurie, a TechBio startup company that is harnessing AI to transform the process development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies. She is deeply committed to transforming great science and technology into disruptive products that will help patients and society, while creating shareholder value. Dr. Rombel is an industry veteran and entrepreneur with 25+ years of leadership experience in science and business, spanning biotechnology, big pharma, consulting, investing, and academia. Prior to founding BioCurie, she was Chief of Staff, Research, at Spark Therapeutics, a leading gene therapy company, and Senior Director of Strategy and External Innovation at Janssen, J&J. Irene was previously the Founder and President of Biomedical Intelligence LLC, a life science consulting company, and a biotech hedge fund analyst. Dr. Rombel started her career in academia as an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Center for Biomedical Inventions, where she conducted research on DNA vaccines, synthetic biology, and cell-specific targeting. Prior to her faculty position, she was a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, where her research on transcriptional regulation made fundamental scientific contributions to the understanding of promoter-enhancer control of gene expression. Dr. Rombel has advised and mentored many start-up companies over the past 20+ years, serving as a JPAL for the J&J JLABS Incubator companies, and as a Scientific Advisory Board member of the North Texas Enterprise Center (a life science incubator). She is on Columbia University’s Translational Therapeutics Accelerator Steering Committee and the Columbia University Irving Cancer Drug Discovery Advisory Board. Dr. Rombel received her PhD in Biochemistry and B.Sc. (First Class Honors) in Biochemistry with a double major in Microbiology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and her MBA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Irene is also a registered U.S. Patent Agent with the USPTO.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Sergio was born and raised in Venezuela, where he studied biology. In 2002, he moved to The Netherlands to pursue his PhD. Thereafter, he held several academic positions, in all of which his research revolved around metabolic systems, always at the interface between experiments and modeling. In 2016, he transitioned to the food-ingredients and biofuels industry, and since 2012, he worked in the development of vaccine production processes. His professional life has been driven by the conviction that, to understand and engineer biological systems, we need to combine experiments, mechanism-based models, and data analysis.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Gil Roth is the Founder and President of the Pharma & Biopharna Outsourcing Association (PBOA), a nonprofit trade group advocating for the regulatory, legislative and general business interests of the CDMO sector. He has successfully negotiated several User Fee agreements with FDA and industry, lobbied Congress on behalf of the CDMO sector for numerous issues, launched a conference specifically for CDMOs, and has created working groups where CDMOs can share best practices, consult with their peers, and form consensus agreements for the sector's response to new regulations. He founded the PBOA in 2014 after 15 years as the Founding Editor of Contract Pharma magazine.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Experienced, distinguished scientist with a demonstrated history of innovation in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in diverse areas including Vaccines, Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Technology Transfer, Viral Clearance, and Commercialization of Biologics. For example, Dr. Roush pioneered the development and use of computational biophysics models to support rational development of downstream processes and formulation development via collaborations with key research institutes (e.g., RPI). He also contributed to the development of five life-saving therapeutics including the natural product/semi-synthetic anti-fungal drug Candidas and the immuno-oncology antibody Keytruda. Dr. Roush has a demonstrated track record of publication and presentations-authoring more than 120 publications and presentations on the topics of primary recovery, adventitious agent control strategy and associated mechanisms, modeling, and new technologies for HCP/lipase control. Awards and recognitions including ACS Fellow (2019), ACS BIOT Industrial Biotechnology Award (2016), and ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award in (2021) for development and commercialization of Keytruda. He serves on the Scientific Committee for the PREP International Symposium on Preparative and Process Chromatography. Dr. Roush is also an Adjunct Professor at University of Delaware and a member of the Recovery of Biological Products Conference Series Board of Directors.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Silvi completed her PhD at UCSF in Dr. Jonathan Weissman's lab, where she pioneered a method to measure RNA structure in high throughput in cells. After graduating in 2014, she started her own lab at the Whitehead Institute/MIT as a Whitehead Fellow. Her lab developed experimental and computational approaches to measure alternative RNA structures formed from the same sequence. Since 2021, Silvi has been an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, studying RNA structure and RNA viruses.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

William H. Rushton is a Process Chromatography Scientist at Bio-Rad, having worked at Centocor from 1997-2007. He developed downstream purification processes for Simponi® and Stelara®, and later joined Charles River Laboratories in 2007. In 2009, he joined Auxilium Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Scientist in Process Development, supporting BLA filing and post-marketing activities for Xiaflex®. Rushton holds an MS from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and BS from St. Joseph's University.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

I am a computational biologist in the Molecular Informatics group at Pfizer based in Kendall Square. My work focuses on developing computational tools for sequencing-based methods for characterizing nucleic acid therapeutics. I received my PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from Duke University in 2017.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Dr. Sakurai joined AVM in 2022, bringing with her over a decade of experience in R&D across both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Her career began at Astellas Pharma Inc., where she joined the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory in 2014 and led a cardiovascular program for two years. In 2016, Dr. Sakurai transferred to the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM) in Westborough, MA, to advance research and development in pluripotent stem cell therapy and explore new opportunities in the field. After approximately five years at AIRM, Dr. Sakurai returned to Tokyo, where she took on a strategic role at the company's headquarters. Here, she was responsible for supporting the development of corporate strategies in regenerative medicine and ophthalmology. Additionally, she played a key role in evaluating both internal programs and external collaboration opportunities, leveraging her extensive background in molecular biology and business management. Dr. Sakurai earned her PhD in molecular biology from Tottori University, graduating at the top of her class. She furthered her education by obtaining an MBA from NUCB Business School, where she was awarded the KEI Scholarship, an accolade reserved for female leaders exhibiting exceptional promise.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Victor Sanchez Tarre completed his doctoral studies in biochemical engineering at University College London. He joined MeiraGTx in 2019 to focus on the development of liquid handling automation applications for routine assays and process development of Adeno-Associated Vectors (AAVs). Over his time in the company, his role has evolved to encompass all R&D data engineering, data science, and lab automation activities as Director, Data Science.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Kanika Sarpal is a Senior Scientist in Biologics Drug Product Development at Sanofi, US. She obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky with the focus on solid-state characterization of spray dried formulations. In her current role, she is working on formulation and process development of protein therapeutics for clinical programs. Prior to Sanofi, she worked at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in formulation development of small molecules for early and late stage projects.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Dr. Stefan R. Schmidt, MBA, is currently CEO at evitria AG, a company dedicated to antibody discovery services in Zürich, after leading operations at BioAtrium AG, a joint venture of Lonza and Sanofi in Visp, Switzerland, as COO. Previously he held the position as CSO and other senior executive roles at Rentschler Biopharma, Germany, with overall responsibilities for biologics development and manufacturing. Before that, he was CSO at ERA Biotech in Barcelona, Spain, directing the company’s R&D efforts based on fusion proteins. Prior to that, he worked at AstraZeneca in Sweden where he led the unit of Protein Sciences within Global Protein Science & Supply as Associate Director. He started his leadership career 25 years ago at Biotech companies in Munich, Germany, where he built up protein biochemistry teams for Connex and GPC-Biotech. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Julius Maximilians University in Wuerzburg, Germany and an MBA from the University in Gävle, Sweden.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Andrew is an upstream process development engineer at Voyager therapeutics working to improve platform performance and upstream titer yield. With a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Statistics from Bucknell University, Andrew specializes in quantitative analysis and mathematical model generation to guide process improvement and optimizations.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

As CEO, Sunny leads the strategic vision for MassBioEd’s education and workforce development efforts. Sunny is proud to lead MassBioEd into its third decade of growing and developing talent in the Massachusetts life sciences workforce, which in turn develops innovations that save and improve lives. Under Sunny’s leadership and with an amazing team, MassBioEd has tripled in size since 2019 when Sunny joined the organization, adding innovative workforce development programs such as the Life Sciences Apprenticeship Program, College to Career, and the Life Sciences Career Hub while focusing BioTeach on high needs school districts though the ACCESS Program. In her previous positions, Sunny served as President & CEO of the MassHire Metro North Workforce Board, charged with leading workforce development policy and partnership building for a 20-city region, Chief Operating Officer of the Asian American Civic Association, a direct service education and training provider, and Program Development Manager at Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi-public state agency under the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Sunny has been a leader in the education and workforce development fields in Massachusetts since 2000, building partnerships to provide employers with a highly skilled workforce and expanding access to great careers for low-income residents. Sunny also has experience in community organizing and social work. Sunny holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Karthik Sekar has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. Afterward, he commenced postdoctoral research in systems/quantitative biology at ETH Zurich. Karthik then worked as a software developer and data scientist at Emerald Cloud Lab and Climax Foods. He is now a Staff Data Scientist at Invert, an AI-Native MLOps software platform for bioprocesses.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Katherine has over 10 years of biomedical research experience in oncology and immunology. She comes to Biohaven from Rheos Medicines, where she led the Discovery Metabolism Team to identify and prosecute novel metabolic targets for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. While at Rheos, she co-led two drug discovery pipeline programs, including a successful collaboration target with Roche. Prior to Rheos, Katherine worked across the portfolio within the oncology therapeutic area at Agios Pharmaceuticals, including FDA approved IDH inhibitors. Katherine’s interests lie in leveraging the therapeutic opportunity afforded by dysregulated metabolism in disease and developing assays and biomarkers to advance drug discovery programs. Katherine was trained as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Francis Crick Institute in London after getting her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Louisville. In both positions she developed an expertise focused on translatable models ranging from human patients, mouse models, organoids and ex vivo tissue slice cultures.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Ranjita is Senior Director, at Kyverna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing cell therapies for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases. In her current role, she is the CMC lead for Kyverna’s lead product candidate, KYV-101 which is advancing through clinical development across two broad areas of autoimmune disease: rheumatology and neurology with two ongoing multi-center, open-label Phase 1/2 trials in the United States and Germany for patients with Lupus nephritis. Ranjita has been working in the Cell & Gene Therapy space for the last 6 years. She has 17 years of Viral Vector experience, working with Lentiviral and Gammaretroviral Vector Platform Development, Process Development, Product Development, and CMO Management. Before joining Kyverna Therapeutics, she was at Adicet Bio, an allogenic off the shelf gammadelta T-cell therapy company focusing on cancer and other diseases. At Adicet Bio and Kyverna Therapeutics, she formed and led the Vector Process Development group. Her Vector PD group was responsible for the development and manufacture of gammaretroviral vector and lentiviral vector for research, development and preclinical studies. Before Adicet Bio, Ranjita worked at System Biosciences (SBI), a Biotech company specializing in lentiviral, exosome and gene editing technology. where she led the Lentiviral Vector Product and Custom Services portfolio. Ranjita obtained her PhD from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC in Biochemistry and then attended UC Berkeley for post-doctoral research.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Simona Serban has dedicated her career to providing technical support for customers worldwide in various domains, including chromatographic purification of (bio)molecules from fermentation broth, food streams, or chemical synthesis, biocatalysis, medical devices, solid phase peptide and oligonucleotide synthesis. In 2023, she joined Sunresin with the goal of supporting the expansion of their Life Science business on a global level. Simona holds a PhD in enzymatic biosensors from the University of Nantes, France, and has published over 40 papers on the applications of specialty resins in the Life Sciences field.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Nirav Shah, MD, MSHP, is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Division of Hematology and Oncology, specializing in lymphoma, stem cell transplant, and CAR-T therapy at Froedtert Hospital. He graduated with honors and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society membership from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in 2008. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011. Post-residency, he took a position at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Hospitalist medicine before proceeding to the University of Pennsylvania where he completed both hematology/oncology fellowship and a Master’s degree in Health Policy research in 2015.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

I have a Master's degree in Biotechnology from Northeastern University. I work as a Process Development Senior Scientist at Amgen and lead the downstream process development for biologics. I have ~9 years of experience in process development, with strong expertise in process design, technology development, technology transfer, viral clearance and IND/BLA CMC authoring.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Susan Sharfstein is a Professor of Nanobioscience at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, New York. Professor Sharfstein received her B.S. in chemical engineering with honors from Caltech in 1987 and her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1993. Her interests include mammalian and microbial cell bioprocessing, control of protein glycosylation, metabolic engineering, biosensing, and development of systems for high-throughput screening of nucleic acids and small molecules. She is the author of over 65 papers and book chapters in the fields of biotechnology and bioprocessing.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Soichiro SHIMODA is a Business Development Manager with ten years of experience working in the bioprocess team of Yokogawa Electric Corporation. He specializes in biotechnology, process technology and is providing products and solutions to bioprocess industry using sensor, controller, and AI algorithms. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 2006 with a master’s degree in biotechnology and life science. He has experience in research of genetic diagnosis equipment at Yokogawa Electric Corporation directly after graduation and was promoted to current position in April of 2021.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Dr. Akihiro Shimosaka is a chairman of Asian Cellular Therapy Organization(ACTO) having served from 2010 and is a director of Research Foundation for Community Medicine in Japan. He is one of pioneer developing biotech business creating and operating Kirin-Amgen, a JV company between Kirin and Amgen for commercializing EPO, G-CSF and TPO in 1984. He had various positions and worked as business consultant in different companies including Genentech, Immunex, Dendreon, Anosys, Cerus, Miltenyi, Medarex etc. Furthermore, he has served as a chairman of International Society of Cell Therapy (ISCT) Regulatory Affairs.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Adebowale is a skilled professional with a background in Biochemistry and Mathematics, boasting 7 years of experience in the industry. Experienced in Quality Control (QC) and Analytical Development (AD) environments, Adebowale has developed methods for the analysis of Proteins, AAVs, and Oligonucleotides. Adebowale possesses extensive knowledge in chemical separation and biophysical characterization techniques. He is skilled in analytical instrumentation, method development in GMP settings, and is proficient with various computer programs and instruments. He possesses practical experience in introducing new instrumentation and methods to teams.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Andrew has over 30 years’ design and operational experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with direct responsibility for manufacturing, logistics, maintenance and capital programme management. He has developed Biopharm Services into a leading provider of bioprocess modelling and knowledge management tools that support bioprocess innovation. The focus of his work is in the understanding the impact of innovative technologies on biomanufacturing with focus on single use systems and continuous processing. Prior to Biopharm Services, Andrew was Director of Engineering and Logistics at Lonza Biologics and holds an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from UCL. He was a finalist in “The Manufacturing Processing Thought Leader of the Decade” category at the 2012 BioProcess International Awards and in 2014 was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK.

• Intensified and Continuous Bioprocessing

Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Chief Technology Officer at Beam Therapeutics. Dr. Singh has more than 24 years of drug discovery and development experience at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Novartis and Chiron Corporation. Prior to joining Beam Therapeutics, Dr. Singh was the Global Head of Drug Product Development at Takeda Vaccines, where he oversaw the drug product development of all vaccine programs, including Takeda’s dengue vaccine that was in Phase III efficacy study. At Novartis, he served as the Head of Formulation Development for more than 10 years and was instrumental in the licensure of several key vaccines (Bexsero , Fluad, Flucelvax) that were subsequently divested to GSK and CSL. He also led the development of the LNP platform of Novartis’s RNA vaccine. Prior to Novartis, Dr. Singh also spent more than 10 years at Chiron Corporation, where he led the development of Novel adjuvants and delivery systems for vaccines. Based on his contributions at Chiron and Novartis, Dr. Singh is considered as one of the leading experts in the field of adjuvants and vaccine delivery systems. He has authored six books in this field and has more than 120 publications. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in 2011. Dr. Singh holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery from the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, India.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods
• Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Advances in Purification and Recovery
• Gene Therapy Manufacturing
• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities
• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Rahul Singhvi, ScD, M.B.A., is a global leader in the Life Sciences industry and cofounder and CEO of Resilience (National Resilience, Inc.). Prior to Resilience in 2020, Rahul was an Operating Partner at Flagship Pioneering. Before Flagship, Rahul was the Chief Operating Officer of Takeda’s Vaccine Business Unit responsible for worldwide vaccine CMC and manufacturing operations. Before Takeda, Rahul was President and CEO of Novavax, Inc. where he transformed the company from a specialty pharmaceutical business into a vaccine development company. Rahul serves on the Board of Trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute, and on the Board of Directors for Codexis and Garuda Therapeutics. He graduated as the top-ranked chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India and obtained his M.S. and Sc.D. in chemical engineering from MIT. He received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Peter Soler earned a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, with a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Biomedical Mathematics. Currently, Peter is the Automation Lead for Drug Product Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Peter was instrumental in designing the automated buffer exchange workflow for BMS and has been responsible for bringing the system into production. Peter oversees all automated drug product screening workflows for both small and large molecule and seeks to better digitize the information collected during the development of an asset. Peter is a champion of new technology and working with teams to usher in digital transformation.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Daniel Some is Principal Scientist for the Wyatt Technology arm of Waters Corporation, where he contributes to product development, scientific marketing content and other aspects of commercializing Wyatt’s analytical instrument line. He leads the development and implementation of Wyatt’s PAT products. Dan obtained his PhD in physics from Brown University and has been involved in military electro-optics as well as semiconductor inspection technology prior to joining Wyatt.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

I hold a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences and have experience in drug product development for vaccines and gene therapy. I have been a part of the gene therapy team at Biogen for nearly 4 years, where the focus of my work has been end-to-end drug product development (formulation to fill-finish) for Adeno Associated Viruses (AAVs) both in early and late stages of clinical development.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Lasse is a Scientific Leader in the Developability team within Large Molecule Discovery at GSK. His expertise is in drug discovery, structural biology, protein characterisation, and post-translational modifications. In 2017 Lasse joined GSK, and since 2020 he has been leading the Developability team. At the interface between discovery and CMC, the team’s focus is the physical and chemical characterisation of protein-based therapeutics to identify developable leads for progression.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Proven leader in biotechnology and health care industries. I love to lead innovative teams in a dynamic, ever-changing environment.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Claire is a Scientist that works on novel technology development within the Cell Therapy Drug Product Process Development team at Bristol Myers Squibb. She is currently leading development of several novel Cell Therapy technologies and supports transfer of these technologies to manufacturing. Claire has experience with technologies that range from islands of automation to all-in-one cell processing systems. The evolution of end-to-end automation in the Cell Therapy space is a topic she is well-versed in and eager to discuss.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Mara Strandlund is a global Human Resources executive with deep experience in linking people and business strategies, using data to collaborate with leaders on complex talent, scaling, inclusion and cultural challenges in rapidly changing markets including life sciences, cloud computing, ecommerce, healthcare, academia, distribution, gaming, aerospace, oil, and construction. Her experience leading large-scale teams has spanned across 6 continents (missing Antarctica) and extended beyond HR in leading big data research, product development, and customer training teams. Outside of Resilience, she is an active volunteer supporting veterans transitioning back into the workforce and ensuring that the Internet is a positive force for good that improves the lives and well-being of people around the world. She received her undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago and is a certified Coach, Compensation Professional and Six Sigma expert.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Madhuresh Sumit works at the interface of systems biology, mathematical modeling and cell culture experimentation to understand and optimize upstream bioprocesses. At Pfizer, Madhuresh has worked in collaboration with MIT on precision control of N-glycosylation in CHO cell culture using systems and synthetic biology approaches for accurate prediction and pro-active control of temporal variations in N-glycans in the recombinant proteins produced in CHO cells during a fed-batch process. Madhuresh is also a recipient of 2021 Martin Sinacore Outstanding Young Investigator Award.

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

Paul is a senior product development scientist with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, where he focuses on product develop, innovation and integrating automated workflows to support biotherapeutic analysis. He has been a member of the Beckman Coulter reagents and integration R&D team since 2022, having previously worked in Pfizer’s biotech unit in analytical technologies and development. It was in the analytical technologies group where Paul supported process development, troubleshooting investigations and the development of novel assays to characterize biological proteins, immunotherapeutics and vaccines. This breadth of analytical experience fed into their then lead role in building an analytical roadmap to contemporize analytics with cutting edge technologies and automated processes. This passion drives his aspirations in his work today. Prior to this, Paul used molecular techniques to modify actinomycete genomes, isolating their unique metabolites for therapeutic purposes both in Cambridge, UK (Isomerase Therapeutics) and during his PhD in Dublin, Ireland (University College Dublin).

• Cell Line Engineering and Cell Culture Optimization

As a leader in workforce development for the life sciences, I provide insight into growing and enhancing the talent pipeline for this industry. Our companies are addressing the most important scientific challenges of our time, and ensuring a trained, capable workforce is essential to their continued success. By forging connections among leaders in industry, academia, the government, and the non-profit sector, I create innovative solutions to grow the supply of talent at all levels. I am experienced in labor market data analysis, program management, curriculum development, and educational administration, and passionate about increasing scientific literacy for all.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Graduate Degree in Physics at UC Irvine, 2016-2022; thesis on rare events in diffusion on surface of T cells. Postdoctoral Position for Merck 2022-present; researching digital twins for continuous biomanufacturing.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

I am working on developing downstream processes for rAAV and other viral vectors for gene therapy applications at Regeneron. I am currently in the Viral Production Core team of the Preclinical Manufacturing and Process Development group. I earned my PhD in Chemical Engineering in the area of process control and continuous manufacturing of mAbs at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Adam Thomas is currently the Chief People and Experience Officer at MOMA Therapeutics. Prior to joining MOMA, Adam served as the Chief People Officer at Synlogic, Inc. for more than 6 years. He has also played roles as the Head of HR for R&D at Shire, Head of HR for R, D & Engineering at SC Johnson, and worked in various HR leadership positions at Pfizer for more than 12 years both in the UK and the US. Adam lives in Lexington, MA, with his wife and 2 daughters.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Lawrence (Larry) Thompson is an Associate Research Fellow and Group Leader in Analytical R&D within BioTherapeutic Pharmaceutical Sciences at Pfizer. He is an analytical CMC SME for Pfizer’s adenoviral & plasmid DNA based immunotherapeutics, mRNA drug substances, and nucleic acid starting material pipeline (used in rAAV and mRNA production). Prior to joining Pfizer, he worked at a couple of small biotech companies developing of serum-based cancer diagnostics. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from Vanderbilt University and did his post-doctoral work at the University of Tennessee. His work has generated several peer reviewed publications and presentations at scientific conferences.

• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Biophysicist, data scientist, and roboticist with 8 years of experience in protein analytics, gene therapies, and cell therapies.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Nick Troise is an engineer with PendoTECH that has been with the company since he started as in intern in 2017. After graduating from Rowan University in 2019 with a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering and minors in mathematics and computer science, he started as a full time member of the product development team. Recently, Nick has been promoted to a new role as the Technical Support and Innovation Manager in which he uses his technical and industry background to research and evaluate new opportunities and technologies to bring to the market. In his free time, Nick enjoys playing chess and other strategy games and is a pickleball fanatic.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Prem Tumkosit (he/him) is a Managing Director at the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (MGHIF), investing in digital health, healthcare technology, and techbio. Prem leads GHI’s Next Horizon investment area, focusing on independent, stage-agnostic investments in frontier technologies and emerging business models. Prem has led investments at the intersection of technology and biology including precision medicine, synthetic biology, microbial drug discovery, cyclic peptide discovery, and quantum computing. He serves on several company boards as a director or observer playing active roles guiding and developing portfolio companies. He also advises the Merck Social Impact Investment Fund and Merck for Mothers initiatives.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Dr. Tung is the Executive Director of Manufacturing IT and co-leads the Digital Transformation strategy at Merck & Co. for the company’s vaccine manufacturing network, supporting various platforms including plant historian, manufacturing execution systems, predictive analytics, process analytical technology, supply chain modeling, finite production scheduling and IoT. The plants that he and his team support produce over 200 million doses of vaccines on an annual basis. His team supports the data centers and IT infrastructure at the manufacturing sites. Dr. Tung has published numerous articles in ASME Technical journals and is a frequent speaker at ARC and Open Group conferences.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

Christian Uhrich joined M Ventures in August 2019 as Head of Strategy, and is currently an Investment Director in the Biotechnology team. Previously, he worked at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany as a Senior Consultant in its Inhouse Consulting practice where he focused on impactful strategy related projects across all three business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (Healthcare, Life Science, Electronics). Before joining Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Christian has spent over ten years in the external consulting space, previously working for Accenture in its Strategy practice where he successfully consulted key Pharma and Biotech industry players on strategic challenges and management decisions in the areas of business and digital strategy, R&D, marketing & sales, organizational development, and post-merger integration & carve-outs. Prior to joining Accenture, Christian worked for Seeburger Inc., a leading global middleware integration company, where, as a consultant, he built a rich understanding of digital transformation and business process-related topics, such as process optimization and automation. Christian holds an MBA from Mannheim Business School, Germany and a Diploma in Computer Science and Business Administration (Business Informatics) from Cooperative State University Karlsruhe, Germany. Christian is based in Darmstadt.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Dr. Undey heads up the Pharmaceutical Technical Development Data & Digital (PTDD) organization in Roche/Genentech. He is responsible for strategizing, architecting, and delivering major digital and data programs and solutions for both PTD and PT Cell & Gene Therapy (PTC) to accelerate speed to patient and increase productivity during drug development and advancement. Prior to his current role, he led the Operations Digital Strategy and Capabilities Advanced Analytics team at Amgen. His group helped improve end-to-end Operations for Reliability, Efficiency, Agility, and Differentiation harnessing the power of digital capabilities including Industry 4.0, machine learning, statistical learning, and digital twins. Dr. Undey and his team’s work were externally recognized receiving CIO100 Award in Life Sciences in 2013 for Amgen implementing advanced data analytical solutions. He has co-authored and co-edited two books, published in scientific journals and books in the areas of process systems engineering, PAT, artificial intelligence, process monitoring, control, supervision, biotechnology, and bioengineering. He has received his BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees all in Chemical Engineering from Istanbul University, Turkey. He also holds an Executive MBA degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management. Dr. Undey is based in the South San Francisco, CA, USA.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Phil is responsible for technical due diligence and evaluation of potential investments, as well as guiding operational, R&D and strategic initiatives carried out at portfolio companies. An entrepreneurial and strategic international business leader, Phil joins Gamma from GE Healthcare’s Cell and Gene Therapy business unit where he directed strategy and portfolio growth. Phil received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Georgetown University Medical Center followed by an IRTA fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, and at the Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, SC. Phil was an instructor for Johns Hopkins University Advanced Academic Programs teaching Biotechnology Marketing in the Masters of Biotechnology / MBA program, and has held leadership positions in a number of life sciences companies including Life Technologies, Becton Dickinson, and Lonza. Phil is a Board Member of CCRM in Toronto Canada and a Board Member of the ARM Foundation.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference
• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Bharathi Vellalore, PhD is a scientist with 14 years of experience in the discovery and development of biotherapeutics for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

• Formulation and Delivery of High-Concentration Proteins and New Modalities

Christina Vessely, PhD, RAC, has over 18 years of experience in analytical and formulation development within the biotechnology industry. Her experience ranges from early stage research and development for small and start-up firms through late stage development and commercialization for mid-sized and large pharmaceutical companies. She has been involved in priority review and/ fast track programs, she has participated in pre-approval inspections (PAI) and PAI enabling activities such as design and execution of validation studies and evaluation of GMP systems, as well as authoring and editing of analytical sections for multiple filings in both the U.S. and in the EU (IND/IMPD, BLA/MAA).

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Stacey Veysey is a business-oriented Talent Acquisition Leader with 22+ years progressive experience in the Biotechnology, Investment, IT Consulting and Healthcare industries with a track record of driving business and talent objectives. Stacey joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals in May 2020 leading Talent Acquisition for Research; and Cell & Genetic Therapies-which has more than tripled in size since she joined the organization. As Vertex continues to invest over 70% of revenue in R&D, driving scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases, the Talent Acquisition team within Stacey’s remit is working to build our expertise in the areas of: cell biology and biomanufacturing, cell therapy delivery and device, hemoglobinopathies, AAV, gene therapy vectors and Duchenne muscular dystrophy research- across research sites in Boston, Cambridge and Providence, R.I. Before joining Vertex, Stacey spent the prior 14 years spanning both large and small bio-tech companies. On a personal note, Stacey lives outside of Boston with her husband and three children in a lively household where she enjoys personal time to run, bike and enjoy the beaches and nature in and around New England.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Dr. Vlysidis obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, studying and modeling the stochasticity of biochemical reaction networks. With over 6 years of experience in the industry, he has made significant contributions to the fields of scientific software development and engineering. Currently serving as a team leader at AbbVie, Dr. Vlysidis' primary focus is on supporting the biologics organization in capturing and analyzing experimental data. He possesses a deep understanding of protein properties and leverages innovative protein language models to further enhance research in this area. Prior to joining AbbVie, he worked at Intel, where his expertise was instrumental in supporting R&D research on semiconductors and cutting-edge technology. With a strong academic background and industry experience, Dr. Vlysidis is dedicated to driving advancements at the intersection of chemical engineering, software development, and AI/ML models.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

My name is Miha Vodnik and I am a Senior expert in science and technology at Novartis. I have a diploma in Pharmacy from Faculty of Pharmacy and a PhD in Biochemistry and molecular biology from Faculty of Medicine, both Ljubljana, Slovenia. I was always interested in nature and fascinated with the ability to extend and improve people’s lives. For the last nine years I worked at Novartis in the development of biologics, where I was responsible for development of analytical methods, automation and analytical project development. As analytical expert I was involved in the development of several biosimilars and new biologics, including a recently approved biosimilar. In my free time I like outdoor activities, especially with my wife and two children.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Mike J. Walker is an executive advisor who brings 30 years of paradigm-shifting transformation experience to aid his clients on their digital journey. Across the life sciences industry, Mike has provided high-impact and pragmatic advice to the top business and technology leaders around the globe. At Microsoft, Mike is responsible for Microsoft's life sciences strategy for supply chain and manufacturing. Mike provides strategic advice to supply chain business and technology executives that enables them to take advantage of digitization strategies while also maximizing on their current investments. Previously, Mike worked at Gartner, as a Vice President of Technology Innovation research where his thought leadership is reflected in over 150 published research notes and over 4,000 client engagements.

• Bioprocessing Venture, Innovation & Partnering Conference

Shaoying Wang is a senior scientist in process development department at Passage Bio. He received his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical Science from the University of Kentucky, and has extensive experience in virus packaging, process development and protein engineering. His work has resulted in over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 10 patents.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Chaojie Wang is currently a Principal Scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb based in New Jersey, USA. His major responsibility is raw materials and molecular analytics support for cell line development, and novel molecular assay development to support biologics development and gene therapy development. He is also leading the efforts using multi-omics approach for biologics process optimization. Chaojie obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology and Cancer Genomics from the Ohio State University and had worked at Oregon Health and Science University before joining BMS.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Bryan Wang is a Senior Scientist at TreeFrog Therapeutics. Bryan is a chemical engineer by training. He started his career in biotech at Sanofi, working on their protein therapeutics small scale manufacturing platform. Bryan joined the cell and gene therapy space when he started working at Rubius Therapeutics, where he was part of the upstream process development team. Bryan completed his PhD in Bioengineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in December of 2023, with a thesis focused on process development, PAT integration, and automation of cell therapy manufacturing. During this talk, he will be presenting part of his thesis work.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Lili Wang is a NIST fellow and a leading expert in quantitative flow cytometry critical for diagnostics and advanced therapeutic development. She serves as the principal manager for the NIST Flow Cytometry Standards Consortium, a major Public-Private Partnership with key stakeholders from other agencies, industries, and academia, where she and her team work with consortium members to address pressing measurement and standards needed for bioassays, including SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing for diagnostics, vaccine testing, and surveillance. In collaboration with WHO, her team has established multiple standards, including critical reference materials for HIV/AIDS monitoring, stem cell counting for blood transplantation, and most recently, the first and second international serology/antibody standards. She serves on multiple professional committees and published over 100 peer-reviewed articles. She is a recipient of the 2020 and 2021 US Department of Commerce Gold Medal. Dr. Wang obtained her PhD in Chemistry from University of Notre Dame in 1996 and joined NIST in 1998.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Yi Wang is a senior scientist in the Vaccine Analytical Research and Development group at Merck, located at West Point in Pennsylvania. Yi received a BE degree in Polymer Science and Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China, in 2016. She completed her PhD study in Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, in 2021 with a thesis focusing on characterization of protein conformational change via microfluidics and fluorescence microscopies. During Yi’s post-graduation journey, she has developed an expertise in analytical assay development with a focus on lab automation and high-throughput techniques, supporting various studies for vaccine development.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Fang Wang is the Senior Technical Product Manager at SCIEX, where she specializes in developing and supporting innovative capillary electrophoresis (CE) solutions. Joining SCIEX in 2017 as a BioPharma Development Scientist, she has focused on pioneering applications of CE, CE-MS, and LC-MS for the characterization of next-generation biologics.

Fang holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Boston College. Before SCIEX, she gained valuable experience as an Analytical Scientist at Amgen and later at Agensys, concentrating on the characterization of biological products. Her team's expertise included supporting process and formulation development and contributing to multiple Investigational New Drug (IND) filings.

Fang has a robust background in capillary electrophoresis (CE) and liquid chromatography (LC), underscoring her extensive experience in these analytical techniques.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

Dr. Warren has 30 years of experience in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of gene therapy viral vectors and live viral vaccines, with applied focus on bioprocess development and CMC Development Strategy. At Ultragenyx, he leads Global CMC Development across a broad pipeline of products including small molecules, Biologics, ASOs, and Gene Therapy. Before coming to Ultragenyx Jim held senior CMC leadership positions at Homology Medicines, bluebird bio, Shire, and Merck & Co., leading process development and manufacturing teams responsible for development of several clinical candidates as well as the licensure of RotaTeq, Varivax, ProQuad, and Zostavax. Dr. Warren holds BS/MS degrees in Biotechnology from William Paterson University and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Lehigh University.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Michael Watson is the Associate Director of Assay Development and Quality Control at Neurona Therapeutics, working to create, qualify and validate novel cell-based and molecular assays to elucidate the identity, stability, and potency of the clinical NRTX-1001 product. Following a Ph.D. in Bioanalytical Chemistry at the University of Toronto, Dr Watson has been focused on developing novel instrumentation and methods for biologics and cell analysis for over 12 years in industrial positions. Having previously worked at Abbott: Point of Care and Fluidigm (Standard Biotools), Michael joined Neurona Therapeutics in 2018 and was part of the teams for assay development, CMC, QC Release and IND submission for the NRTX-1001 drug product now in Phase 1/2 clinical trials.

• Cell Therapy CMC and Analytics

Alex graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering. He worked in a manufacturing sciences and technology laboratory for four years at Sanofi Genzyme providing small scale purification lab support to the manufacturing groups, and has worked in the downstream purification process development laboratory at Abbvie since 2017. In his time at Abbvie, Alex has performed the process downstream development and GMP tech transfer of multiple pre-IND products, and has performed validation-enabling process characterization experiments for multiple pre-BLA products.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Benqian Wei is a Senior Scientist from the Analytical R&D department at Merck & Co., Inc. His work mainly involves preforming various assays including intact/reduced-mass, reduced/non-reduced peptide mapping, multiple reaction monitoring, and top-/middle-down mass spectrometry to characterize therapeutic proteins to support biologics programs. Prior to joining Merck, Benqian earned his PhD from Professor Joseph Loo's lab at UCLA. His thesis research focused on using top-down and middle-down mass spectrometry from both fundamental and application perspectives to explore the utility of internal fragments for more efficient protein sequence, structure, PTM, and ligand binding characterization, particularly for proteins of therapeutic significance.

• Next Generation Analytical Methods

As a business-person first, trusted HR Executive I have built, transformed, and set the people strategy for companies to reach their most challenging goals and meet bottom line results. Over the past 14 years I have hired, developed, and coached thousands of high-performing talents & leaders who have greatly contributed to significant advancement of global innovation in Pharma/Lifesciences/Biotech, Medical Device, Aerospace, High-Tech, and IT fields. I have expertise in providing strategic and operational leadership in human resources & talent acquisition and have worked for companies in various industries and sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Having lived and worked across US, EMEA and APAC I bring a strong global perspective and business acumen. With my leadership style of positivity and optimism, my mission is to create and foster inclusive, diverse, and engaging cultures that empower people to thrive and perform at their best. I have a proven track record of leaning into challenges and exceeding goals, developing strategy as it relates to macroeconomics, & delivering innovative and impactful solutions in areas of leadership advisement & coaching, talent attraction, employee experience, retention, talent development, compensation, benefits and DEI. I am also a frequent speaker and contributor on topics related to people strategy, talent, culture, career development and I am currently the co-chair of MassBio HR.

• Talent in Biopharma Leadership Workshop

Niki Wong is currently the Director of the Global Technical Operations group in AbbVie Biologics Singapore, which oversees process development and tech transfer activities for biologics processes. She also leads a CMC drug substance commercial program. She has spent 12 years in AbbVie/Abbott, with prior roles as process and tech transfer leads. Her previous experience as a Research Scientist at the Bioprocessing Technology Institute involved various aspects of bioprocessing research that resulted in co-authorship of 18 publications. Given her exposure to both academia and industry, she is passionate about realizing bioprocessing innovation in industry.

• Digital Transformation and AI in Bioprocess

David Wood is currently a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University, where he continues to work on self-cleaving tag technologies for research and biopharmaceutical applications. He holds an undergraduate degree from Caltech with a double major in biology and chemical engineering, as well as a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Chemical Engineering, and has experience in downstream processing and proess development at Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb. He has published over 50 papers, book chapters and reviews in protein engineering, and holds several patents on technologies developed in his lab. Most recently, he is a co-founder of Protein Capture Science; a company formed to commercialize his split-intein technology for protein purification.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

Dr. Wei Xie's research interests focus on process analytical technologies (PATs), machine learning (ML), interpretable Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital twin, data analytics, risk/sensitivity/predictive analyses, optimal design of experiments, data-driven stochastic optimization, systems and synthetic biology, and bioinformatics for biomanufacturing process risk management, optimal learning, and robust control.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Dr. Weichen Xu currently holds the position of head of Analytical Development Group at MacroGenics, where she leads a diverse and skilled team dedicated to advancing the boundaries of analytical methodologies and bringing life-saving medicines to patients. Her team supports a variety of modalities, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific molecules, and antibody-drug conjugates. Their work spans from early to late stage development, as well as post-approval activities. Prior to MacroGenics, Weichen worked at AstraZeneca, where she served as analytical lead for multiple biologics projects, including the rapid development and approval of Evusheld, the long-acting antibody combination to combat Covid-19. Weichen is passionate about enhancing the efficiency of her team. Focusing on leveraging prior knowledge and streamlining processes, she aims to achieve acceleration and success while reducing the workload on her dedicated team.

• Accelerating Analytical Development

Dr. Yemin Xu currently leads the Regulatory-CMC at ProKidney. ProKidney is a late-stage biotech company pioneering a revolutionary cell therapy with the potential to transform patients' lives. Dr. Xu is a seasoned professional with extensive CMC experience. Prior to joining ProKidney, he held positions at leading pharmaceutical companies such as BMS and Regeneron. Dr. Xu holds a PhD in Biochemistry, Chemical, and Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Khaled Yamout is a thought leader in Analytical Sciences, Quality and Manufacturing. Previously held a position as a Senior Director, Analytical Services and Quality Control at TriLink Biotechnologies where he oversaw the Analytical Sciences Center of Excellence and all analytical aspects of method development and validation to product release and stability to support regulatory filings for both small and large molecules. Prior to TriLink, Khaled held various positions in Quality Control, Research and Development, and Manufacturing where he supported several Drug substances and Drug products (both small molecules and biologics) from clinical phase to commercial. These include diverse experience and expertise ranging from discovery to manufacturing with Fortune 500 firms, as well as small entrepreneurial businesses in the areas of synthetic, analytical, colloidal, surface modification, protein, and antibody modification and purification covering both manufacturing and analytical testing and characterization.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics
• mRNA Development, Analytics and Manufacturing

Kenneth Yancey is the Senior Director of Downstream Purification for University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program. Kenneth oversees downstream process development, tech transfer and manufacturing and has several patents and publications in areas related to gene therapy and protein production. His interests include development of platform approaches for AAV-based gene therapy, implementation of emerging technologies, scale-up of AAV production and understanding impact of product quality on clinical safety and efficacy.

• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Rong-Sheng (Ross) Yang is an analytical scientist with devotion in analytical enabling technology. He is specialized in chromatography and mass spectrometry. He earned an MS degree from Rutgers University/UMDNJ and has 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical industry. Worked at Enzon, Roche, Schering-Plough, and currently at Merck. His works are published in journals including AC, JASMS, JOC, JPBA, JPS, OPRD, etc.

• Rapid Methods to Assess Stability and Impurities in Biologics

Dr. Yang is Vice President of CMC at Palleon Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he oversees all CMC-related activities, including cell line development, cell culture/purification/formulation/assay development, tech transfer, GMP manufacturing, IND submission, and CDMO management. Prior to Palleon, Dr. Yang was the Director of Global Pharmaceutic Development Biologics at Sanofi for about 10 years, where he led a team responsible for drug product process development, process scale-up, CTM manufacturing, IND/IMPD/BLA submission, and product commercial launch. Dr. Yang also worked for many years in protein formulation, drug delivery, and GMP manufacture support at Acceleron, Baxter, and Altus. He is the recipient of VP Award from Sanofi Genzyme, Outstanding Technology Achievement Award from Baxter, and Fellows Award for Research Excellence from NIH. Besides numerous patents, he published over two dozen peer-reviewed research papers in many prestigious journals.

• Advances in Purification and Recovery

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• Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Elaine Youngman is a Principal Scientist in Analytical Development at Interius Biotherapeutics. Since joining in 2022, Elaine’s work has focused on nucleic acid characterization related to lentiviral vector production, including characterization of the vector genome, residual DNA, and proviral integration. Prior to Interius, Elaine was an Assistant Professor of Biology at Villanova University, where she directed a laboratory investigating RNA-centered gene expression as well as the COVID-19 Surveillance Testing Laboratory. She earned her PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UMass Medical School and is an expert in molecular biology, RNA biochemistry, and cellular RNA quality control.

• Gene Therapy CMC and Analytics

Eugenia Zah is currently a Process Development Principal Scientist at Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, she completed her PhD at University of California, Los Angeles in Chemical and Biomolecular engineering under the supervision of Yvonne Chen where she worked on engineering next-generation chimeric antigen receptors to improve the efficacy of adoptive T cell therapy. At Amgen, she worked on developing manufacturing strategies for autologous cell therapies before transitioning to her current role in advancing automation capabilities in cell line development.

• Cell Therapy Manufacturing