Short Courses*

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 | 12:30 – 3:00 pm

SC1: Gene Edited Cell-Based Therapies: Opportunities and Challenges - Detailed Agenda

Instructors:

Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, Director, Center for Stem Cell Therapies and Imaging, Harvard Medical School; Vice Chair of Research, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

H. Trent Spencer, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Gene and Cell Therapy Program in the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Emory University School of Medicine; President and Co-Founder, Expression Therapeutics LLC

Additional Instructors to be Announced

Engineered cell-based therapies are yielding promising clinical benefits for treating many diseases, especially cancer. This course will cover some of the important topics such as sources of therapeutic cells (stem cells, T cells, NK cells and cancer cells), novel engineered viral vectors and their engineering capabilities, the role of CRISPR gene editing and clinical translation and safety aspects of engineered cell therapies. The instructors will give short talks followed by open discussion with attendees, where they can elaborate on their experiences and expertise.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 | 3:30 – 6:00 pm

SC2: Understanding and Modulating Tumor Microenvironment for Immunotherapy - Detailed Agenda

Instructors:

RJ Tesi, MD, CEO, CMO, INmune Bio

Mark Lowdell, PhD, Director, Centre for Cell, Gene & Tissue Therapeutics, RFH; Professor, Cell & Tissue Therapy, University College London

This interactive short course tackles our emerging understanding of the role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in tumor immunotherapy. The TME can have a marked immunosuppressive effect leading to suboptimal responses of tumors to immunotherapies. Strategies to change the immunosuppressive nature of the TME to one that supports immune responses and enhances the impact of tumor immunotherapy will be discussed.

*Separate registration required.