2023 Archived Content

Short Courses

All Short Courses Take Place In-Person Only

Monday, 13 November, 2023 14:00 - 17:00

SC1: Machine Learning Tools for Protein Engineering

Detailed Agenda

In silico prediction, engineering, and design are changing how large-molecule drugs (proteins) will be discovered, designed, and optimized. However, these tools are still in early development, and much needs to be learned on how to adapt them for use in antibody and vaccine discovery, training, prediction, developability, simulation, and optimization. This short course highlights the rapid growth and availability of machine learning techniques and tools for protein engineering.

Victor Greiff, PhD, Associate Professor, Immunology, University of Oslo

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:

Victor Greiff, PhD, Associate Professor, Immunology, University of Oslo

Dr. Victor Greiff is Associate Professor for Computational and Systems Immunology at the University of Oslo. His work focuses specifically on the development of machine learning, computational and experimental tools for the analysis, prediction and engineering of adaptive immune receptor repertoires.

SC2: Developability of Bispecific Antibodies: Formats and Applications

Detailed Agenda

Bispecific antibodies are a rapidly growing and clinically validated class of antibodies with marketed drugs and multiple candidates in clinical trials. Targeting multiple antigens in a synergistic manner can confer enhanced therapeutic benefit and potentially uncover novel biological mechanisms. However, multiple formats and a tedious candidate selection process to select functional and developable bispecific antibodies makes such programs cumbersome. This short course highlights the rapid growth in the field, therapeutic applications, and focuses on challenges with discovery and development of bispecific antibodies. We will use an approved bispecific antibody as a case study to understand the varied aspects of discovery and development of bispecific antibody programs.

Nimish Gera, PhD, Vice President, Biologics, Mythic Therapeutics

Topics to be covered

• Introduction to bispecifics and bispecific formats

• Therapeutic applications of bispecific antibodies

• Developability of bispecifics

• Case study: discovery and development of an FDA-approved bispecific antibody

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:

Nimish Gera, PhD, Vice President, Biologics, Mythic Therapeutics

Nimish Gera is the Vice President of Biologics at Mythic Therapeutics leading multiple projects to engineer and develop novel antibody and antibody-based drugs in oncology and immuno-oncology. Prior to Mythic, Nimish has over fifteen years of experience in antibody and protein engineering with five years leading bispecific antibody programs in several disease areas such as rare diseases, oncology, and immunology at Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Oncobiologics. Nimish received his PhD degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from North Carolina State University and a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

SC4: The Use and Optimization of Eukaryotic Expression Systems to Support Therapeutic Generation and Structural Biology

Detailed Agenda

Eukaryotic expression systems are extensively used for the generation of recombinant proteins thereby becoming an essential protein engineering tool. The choice of a suitable eukaryotic expression system depends mainly on the biological and biochemical properties of an individual protein. The course will focus on both the insect and mammalian expression systems, which have demonstrated the ability to express complex proteins for a wide variety of applications. We will discuss the concepts, uses, and optimization of these systems along with sharing experimental troubleshooting lessons learned. The course combines instruction and case studies in an interactive environment.

Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director General Manager, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Barbara Fernandes, Scientist, TCA, iBET Instituto de Biologia Experimental Tecnologica

Implementing and Optimizing Eukaryotic Expression Workflow

Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Mammalian Expression Systems

Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director General Manager, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Improving the Production of Biologics Using Insect Cells: A Holistic Approach

Barbara Fernandes, Scientist, TCA, iBET Instituto de Biologia Experimental Tecnologica

Agenda: SC4 The Use and Optimization of Eukaryotic Expression Systems to Support Therapeutic Generation and Structural Biology

14:00 Opening Remarks/Introductions

Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Protein Expression, Biosciences Division, Life Sciences Solutions Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific

14:15 Improving the Production of Biologics Using Insect Cells: A Holistic Approach

Barbara Fernandes, Scientist, TCA, iBET Instituto de Biologia Experimental Tecnologica

14:45 Mammalian Expression Systems

Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director, Cell Biology, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific

15:30 Coffee Break

15:45 Implementing and Optimizing Eukaryotic Expression Workflow

Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Protein Expression, Biosciences Division, Life Sciences Solutions Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific

16:30 Q&A

17:00 Close of Short Course

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:

Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Rich Altman has 30 years of experience in protein expression and production. In early 2019, he joined Thermo Fisher Scientific as a Field Application Scientist. Previously, he worked for several pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Alexion, Bayer, and Upjohn, on the cloning, expression, purification and characterization of recombinant proteins. This work supported both small-molecule high-throughput screening and protein therapeutic efforts. He received his MS degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.

Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director General Manager, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Henry Chiou is Senior Director and General Manager for the Delivery and Protein Expression business within Biosciences at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He and his teams have developed products such as the Expi family of 293, CHO and Sf9-based expression systems, Lipofectamine 3000, and other Lipofectamine-family transfection reagents, production systems for cell and gene therapy viral vectors such as AAV MAX system. Henry has authored multiple publications on mammalian transient expression and frequently teaches courses and lectures on this subject. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Henry worked in small to mid-sized biotech companies on non-viral gene therapy. Henry received his doctorate from Harvard University in Molecular Pharmacology, following which he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in viral expression systems at the University of Pennsylvania.

Barbara Fernandes, Scientist, TCA, iBET Instituto de Biologia Experimental Tecnologica

Bárbara Fernandes graduated in Biotechnology from IST-UL (Portugal) in 2016. From 2015 to 2019, she was a junior researcher at the Animal Cell Technology unit at iBET/ ITQB-NOVA (Portugal), and her research focused on exploring evolutionary engineering and process intensification approaches (perfusion and continuous) at bioreactor-scale to improve production of vaccine candidates using insect cells, including against malaria, COVID-19, and influenza. Barbara got her PhD degree in Molecular Biosciences from ITQB-NOVA in 2022. In the past two years she has been working as head of the protein production team at the Bayer Pharma Lab at iBET. She is author of 9 scientific manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, has supervised 3 MSc from national and international universities and trained more than 10 MSc students in animal cell technology, made 3 oral communications, and >10 poster communications.

SC5: Best Practices for Targeting GPCRs, Ion Channels, and Transporters with Monoclonal Antibodies

Detailed Agenda

Complex membrane proteins are important therapeutic targets and together represent the majority of protein classes addressed by therapeutic drugs. Significant opportunities exist for targeting complex membrane proteins with antibodies, but it has been challenging to discover therapeutic antibodies against them. This course will examine emerging technologies and strategies for enabling the isolation of specific and functional antibodies against GPCRs, ion channels, and transporters, and highlight progress via case studies.

Joseph Rucker, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development, Integral Molecular, Inc.

14:00

Best Practices for Targeting GPCRs, Ion Channels, and Transporters with Monoclonal Antibodies

Joseph Rucker, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development, Integral Molecular, Inc.

Topics to be Covered: 

Overview of different classes of membrane proteins, including structure, mechanism, and their role in disease
Membrane protein biochemistry and antigen preparation strategies
Use of mRNA and DNA for eliciting immune responses against membrane proteins
Antibody discovery and methods to enable isolation of functional antibodies
Review of mechanisms relevant to complex membrane proteins (GPCRs, ion channels, transporters), in vitro assays for measuring the detailed binding and function of antibodies
Review of promising membrane protein targets and antibodies in development

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES:

Joseph Rucker, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development, Integral Molecular, Inc.

Joe Rucker is the Vice President of Research & Development, a co-founder of Integral Molecular and an inventor of Integral Molecular’s founding Lipoparticle technology. Since joining the company, he has led the development of new applications for Lipoparticle technology, including its use in generating novel antibodies against membrane proteins. Dr. Rucker earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania.