Day One
Wednesday January 24th, 2017
Day Two
Thursday, January 25th 2018
08.00 Registration
09.00 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
ENHANCING PRECLINICAL STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPIES THROUGH NEXT GENERATION PRECLINICAL RESEARCH
09.10 Patient-Derived Tumor Xenografts in Humanized NSG-SGM3 Mice: A New Immuno-Oncology Platform
Synopsis
- The addition of 3 human cytokines (GM-CSF, IL-3 & Kit Ligand) into the NSG mouse provide for a more robust myeloid compartment after humanization
- Showcase data on the myeloid engraftment kinetics and also show checkpoint inhibitor efficacy against several PDX tumors
09.40 Preclinical Modeling of Diverse Brain Tumor Subtypes via Single-Copy Somatic Transgenesis and CRISPR Genome Editing
Synopsis
- Overview of novel genetic methodologies for rapid, autochthonous tumor modeling
- Strategies for combining single-copy somatic transgenesis with CRISPR genome editing to generate patient-derived mutation signatures in mouse models to accurately model clinical tumor subtypes in a “personalized” manner
- Examples of preclinical studies investigating strategies to impede tumor growth and development by immunotherapy, metabolic targeting, and therapeutic mimicry
10.10 Pre-clinical Modeling of Immune Responses to Cancer: From Bench-Side to Clinical Outcomes
Synopsis
- Fundamental differences in immune composition, tumor microenvironments and disease progression between mice and humans.
- Preclinical models in immune-oncology: what translates and what doesn’t.
- How to leverage the data from pre-clinical studies and minimize translational failures.
10.40 Developing checkpoint target humanized models for preclinical efficacy assessment
Synopsis
- Lack of animal models for efficacy evaluation of human therapeutic antibodies for cancer Immunotherapies
- HuGEMM models, expressing chimeric checkpoint targets with human extracellular domains, allow the evaluation of specific human biological therapies in vivo
11.10 Speed Networking
11.40 Morning Refreshments
12.10 Utilising 3D Tumor Models Built With Scalable Bioprinting Technology to Improve Cancer Drug Development
Synopsis
- A new type of 3D bioprinting technology for screening
- Patient-derived tumor testing for precision medicine
- Assaying immuno-oncology in 3D
ENHANCING THE POWER OF PREDICTIVE PRECLINICAL RESEARCH TO FORWARD THE CLINICAL SUCCESS OF YOUR ADOPTIVE CELL THERAPIES
12.40 T Cell Co-Stimulation: A Potent Pathway for Improved Adoptive Cell Therapy
Synopsis
- Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) therapy) and its impact on the melanoma patients
- Ex-vivo reprogramming of T cells for improved therapy
- Learn how to test these reprogrammed TILs in In vivo mice model
13.10 Understanding T cell Exhaustion in Common Syngeneic Tumor Models
Synopsis
- Co-expression of inhibitory the receptors PD1/LAG3/TIM3 enriches for highly activated CD8 T cells in established syngeneic tumor models
- Reduced functionality of TILs is observed in PD1- population rather than PD1+ CD8 population.
- Caution must be exercised when using inhibitory receptor expression alone to define T cell functionality in commonly used syngeneic tumor models
13.40 Lunch
MINIMIZING THE TRANSLATIONAL GAP FROM PRECLINICAL TO CLINICAL THROUGH NEXT GENERATION IN VIVO MODELS
14.40 Optimizing In Vivo Models for the Development of Autologous T cell Therapies
Synopsis
- What models are being utilized to evaluate efficacy of engineered T-cell therapies?
- How do we overcome the limitations of immune-compromised mice?
- Characterizing your T cells in vivo to extract correlates with efficacy
15.10 Advanced PDX Tumor Biology Platforms for Drug Advancement
Synopsis
- Harnessing large collections of PDX models for more resolute efficacy predictions and the discovery of new therapeutic targets, resistance mechanisms, and biomarker signatures of response
- How robust systems of myeloid engraftment, including hematopoietic stem cells for immune-oncology modeling and AML engraftment for high throughput multipatient in vivo screens, have now provided expanded PDX screening with a wider scope of therapeutic agents
- Advancement of coupled-PDX trials, where clinical trials are combined with companion PDX studies to help guide follow-on trial design
15.40 Afternoon Refreshments
16.10 Human Tissue Based Preclinical Models for Biomarker Discovery and Translational Research
Synopsis
- Understand the need for translational strategies to guide indication selection
- Understand mechanisms of resistance and identify biomarkers of response
- Highlighting the importance of understanding human tumor microenvironment
- Utilizing human tissues for pre-clinical and clinical translational research
16.40 Humanized mouse models for drug discovery research
Synopsis
- Development of humanized in vivo models to develop IO therapeutics
- Explore the advantages and limitations of humanized vs syngeneic systems
- Leveraging humanized systems for deciphering mechanism of action and clinical translation
