Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 9th Annual

Emerging Targets for Oncology & Beyond

Hitting the Bullseye

12 November 2025 ALL TIMES WET (GMT/UTC)


Cambridge Healthtech Institute's 9th Annual Emerging Targets for Oncology & Beyond conference will cover a range of topics including innovative approaches for target discovery, emerging target landscapes for oncology, and expanding into other indications including auto-immune/inflammatory diseases, metabolic, and CNS disorders. This year’s conference will spotlight how new technologies are changing the way targets are discovered, validated and delivered. By bringing together leading researchers in the field, the event seeks to uncover new targets and pioneer novel approaches to repurpose established targets for other indications.

Recommended Short Course*
Monday, 10 November, 14:00 – 17:00
SC2: Best Practices for Targeting GCPRs, Ion Channels, and Transporters with Monoclonal Antibodies
*Separate registration required. See short courses page for details. All short courses take place in-person only.

Wednesday, 12 November

07:30Registration and Morning Coffee

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR TARGET DISCOVERY

08:25

Chairperson's Remarks 

Daniel M. Simão, PhD, Head, Bayer Pharma Satellite Lab, iBET Instituto de Biologia Experimental Tecnologica

08:30

B Cell TuLibs: Immortalised Tumour-Derived B Cell Libraries for the Interrogation and Unbiased Discovery of Novel Therapeutic Targets and Antibodies from Patients

Casper Marsman, Sr Scientist, B Cell Platform, Kling Biotherapeutics BV

Patients’ B cell repertoires are unbeatable sources for antibody and target discovery. Kling Biotherapeutic’s technology overcomes the limited proliferative lifespan of primary human and animal B cells by transduction with a proprietary vector to express Bcl6 and Bcl-xL, which prevents both terminal differentiation and apoptosis while allowing the ability to undergo somatic-hypermutation in vitro. Here we present the generation of tumour-derived cell libraries for immediate functional screening and therapeutics design.

09:00

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Unlocking MYC: Clinical Insights and Synergistic Combinations with a Novel Therapeutic Modality

Marie-Eve Beaulieu, PhD, Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer, Peptomyc SL

MYC is a critical oncogenic driver and immune modulator in KRAS-mutant NSCLC. OMO-103, a clinical-grade MYC inhibitor derived from Omomyc that we designed and developed, impairs tumour growth, reprograms the tumour microenvironment, and overcomes resistance to KRAS inhibitors. We are elucidating MYC-RAS cooperation and demonstrating that MYC inhibition enhances immune activation, including interferon signaling and TNF pathways. Combination strategies with OMO-103 and immunomodulators hold promise for improved therapeutic efficacy.

09:30

A High-Throughput Platform to Engineer Macrophage-Stimulating Bispecific Antibodies: Targeting CD47/SIRPa & Beyond

Kipp Weiskopf, MD, PhD, Head of Antibody Therapeutics and Biologics, Cancer Research Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Assistant Professor of Medicine & Physician, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School

Macrophages are often the most common infiltrating immune cell in tumours. To engage these cells as effectors, we used surfaceome profiling data to engineer a compendium of 156 novel bispecific antibodies that target lymphoma cells and/or macrophages. We identified dozens of bispecifics that dramatically stimulate macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity of lymphoma cells. Our approach can be applied to other cancers or other immune cell subsets to rapidly engineer and validate bispecific antibodies.

10:00 Building Better Biologics: Managing Immunogenicity Risk by Design and Ankyrons, Target Binding Reagents beyond Antibodies

Jeremy Fry, Director of Sales, ProImmune Ltd

Preclinical immunogenicity risk assessment is a crucial consideration in the development of biotherapeutics. Learn about best practices in this field from real-world case studies applying MAPPs, T cell proliferation, MHC-peptide binding and cytokine release assays. Additionally, the field of protein binding reagents will be explored, with a focus on the limitations of antibodies as a research reagent. Furthermore, the success in a diverse range of applications of ProImmune's next-generation, monoclonal target binding reagents called Ankyrons, will be highlighted.

10:30Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

NOVEL TARGETS AND APPROACHES FOR INDICATIONS BEYOND CANCER

11:15

Development of Antibody Therapeutics Targeting the “NLRP Inflammasome Platform” for the Treatment of Chronic Neurodegenerative Diseases

Mehdi Arbabi Ghahroudi, PhD, Senior Research Officer, Immunobiology & Human Health Therapeutics, National Research Council Canada

Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. Molecular machines known as inflammasomes, especially the NLRP3 inflammasome, sense misfolded proteins such as alpha-synuclein, resulting in caspase-1 activation, interleukin-1 cytokine production, and lytic cell death. During neuroinflammation, activated microglia release the inflammasome adaptor protein, ASC, outside the cell, where it is recognized as a ‘danger signal’ and functions to further propagate inflammatory responses. In this project, we have developed a panel of single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) that bind to the extracellular ASC and block its oligomerization, thereby preventing the consequent inflammasome activation. This will enable us to target both intracellular and extracellular inflammasome activation, thereby attenuating the propagation of inflammation in chronic neurodegenerative diseases.

11:45

A First-in-Class Anti-Activin E Antibody Induces Fat-Selective Weight-Loss in Diet-Induced Obese Mice

Martin B. Brenner, PhD, CEO & CSO, iBio Inc.

Loss-of-function variants in INHBE, encoding Activin E, protect against obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Using a novel AI-enabled epitope steering platform, we developed a first-in-class anti-Activin E antibody. In diet-induced obese mice, treatment induced fat-selective weight loss, which was synergistically enhanced with a GLP-1 receptor agonist, highlighting its potential as a next-generation obesity therapy.

12:15

Engineering Soluble T Cell Receptor Bispecifics to Target HLA-Presented Viral Peptides

Jonathan Chamberlain, PhD, Senior Manager, Research, Protein Science Pipeline, Immunocore Ltd.

Immune mobilising monoclonal T cell receptors (TCRs) Against Virus (ImmTAV) are soluble TCR bispecific molecules that are engineered to bind viral peptide-human leukocyte antigen (pHLA) complexes with high affinity and to redirect specific killing of virus-infected cells via engagement of CD3 on polyclonal effector T cells. Here we present our strategy for engineering ImmTAV molecules to bind HLA-A*02:01 presented viral epitopes and overcoming complexities of targeting viral peptide variants.

12:45Luncheon in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

NOVEL TARGETS AND APPROACHES FOR INDICATIONS BEYOND CANCER (CONT.)

13:45

Chairperson's Remarks 

Marie-Eve Beaulieu, PhD, Co-Founder & Chief Development Officer, Peptomyc SL

13:50

Oral Nanofitin Targeting IL-13Rα2 to Restore Anti-TNFα Efficacy in Crohn’s Disease

Mathieu Cinier, PhD, CSO, Affilogic

Many Crohn’s disease patients are primary resistant to anti-TNFα therapy, with IL-13Rα2 overexpression driving this resistance. Affilogic’s GIJob project develops an orally administered anti-IL-13Rα2 Nanofitin to restore anti-TNFα therapy efficacy in primary resistant patients. The Nanofitin's high stability enables oral formulation. The candidate shows sub-nanomolar potency, resistance to gastrointestinal degradation, and oral in vivo efficacy in a murine colitis model, offering a promising solution for patients.

14:50 Plasma Goldmine: De novo Sequencing Uncovers Functional Antibodies Missed by Traditional Methods

Iain Rogers, Vice President Commercial, Commercial, Rapid Novor

B-cell sequencing has advanced antibody discovery, but it captures only a fraction of the circulating antibody diversity, as just 2 to 3 percent of total B cells are in circulation.

We introduce a protein-driven approach to mining plasma, utilizing de novo sequencing with mass spectrometry to identify neutralizing antibodies from the plasma of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated patient.

Notably, we identified monoclonal antibody sequences exclusively through mass spectrometry based de novo sequencing, which were absent in IgSeq data and revealed novel candidates detectable only in serum.

15:05 Empowering Single B Cell Monoclonal Antibody Discovery: High-Throughput Plasma B Cell Screening with DPBIO’s CytoSpark®

Dr. Jennifer Sun, Global Director of Field Application Scientist, DPBIO, Inc.

At DPBIO, we are leading this transformation with CytoSpark®, a cutting-edge high-throughput droplet microfluidics platform that enables rapid, functional screening at the single-cell level. Built around plasma B cell-based discovery, CytoSpark® offers direct screening capabilities for a wide range of species—including rabbit, mouse, alpaca, and human—delivering faster timelines, higher diversity, and stronger functional outcomes compared to conventional approaches. The platform supports not only the discovery of antibodies against difficult targets such as membrane proteins and GPCRs, but also the identification of functional antibodies such as agonists, blockers, and neutralizers that go beyond simple binding. Beyond antibody discovery, CytoSpark® extends its power to enzyme evolution and functional screening, offering researchers a versatile tool to accelerate the development of novel biologics, cell lines, and synthetic biology applications.

15:20Transition to Keynote Session

PLENARY DEEP DIVE

15:30 PANEL DISCUSSION:

Future of Biologic Therapeutics: Will Half-Life Extended Peptides Replace Multispecific Antibodies?

PANEL MODERATOR:

Daniel Chen, MD, PhD, Founder & CEO, Synthetic Design Lab

  • Describe the technology and Data-Engineered Antibodies and Engineered Peptides
  • Discuss, compare, and contrast data
  • Discuss forward-looking future applications?
PANELISTS:

Paul J. Carter, PhD, Genentech Fellow, Antibody Engineering, Genentech

G. Jonah Rainey, PhD, Associate Vice President, Eli Lilly and Company

Janine Schuurman, PhD, Biotech Consultant, Lust for Life Science B.V.

16:35Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing

NEW TARGETS AND APPROACHES FOR SOLID TUMOURS

17:15 Unlocking Emerging Targets: Conformational Epitope-Recognizing Rabbit mAb Design Paired With AI Optimization

Albert Zhang, Field Marketing & CRO Specialist, Lab Chem, FUJIFILM WAKO CHEMICALS EUROPE GmbH

Norio Hamamatsu, President & CEO of RevolKa

Join this talk to learn more about FUJIFILM’s capabilities for developing high performance custom rabbit mAbs against membrane protein targets using DNA immunization and single B-cell cloning, in conjunction with their downstream partners at RevolKa, who enable fast and efficient antibody optimization using AI/ML technology.

17:45

Identifying New Biology for TROP2: A Naked TROP2 Antibody Entering the Clinic

Luis da Cruz, PhD, Vice President, Research, Kisoji Biotechnology Inc.

TROP2 is overexpressed in aggressive tumours, making it an important target in oncology. KJ-103, a novel naked heavy chain–only anti-TROP2 antibody from KisoJi’s technology platform, induces potent FcɣR-dependent anti-tumour activity and reshapes the TME by promoting pro-inflammatory macrophages, enhancing antigen presentation and T-cell-associated responses. It is well tolerated with a broad therapeutic window, supporting its use as monotherapy or with checkpoint inhibitors. Phase 1 trials are set for 2026.

18:15

Engineering TIMP-2 Variants for Glioblastoma Treatment

Julia M. Shifman, PhD, Professor, Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Siblerman Institute for Life Sciences, The Hebrew University Jerusalem

Matrix Metalloproteinases 9 (MMP-9) have recently been implicated in glioblastoma progression, the most aggressive type of brain cancer with no cure. We present a drug candidate based on TIMP-2, an engineered human protein that selectively inhibits MMP-9 with picomolar affinity. Our protein effectively suppresses U251 glioblastoma cell proliferation and invasion while showing no cytotoxicity to healthy cells, thus presenting a new attractive strategy for drug development in glioblastoma.

18:45

A Novel Long-Acting Relaxin-2 Fusion, AZD3427, Improves Cardiac Performance in Non-Human Primates with Cardiac Dysfunction

Monika Papworth, PhD, Principal Scientist, Biologics Engineering, AstraZeneca

Relaxin-2 has shown promising cardiovascular benefits in both preclinical models and clinical trials, however its therapeutic potential has been limited due to the short half-life. To address this, we have developed AZD3427, a novel fusion protein, which closely mimics the natural hormone's structure and consists of a single relaxin-2 and a heterodimeric Fc fragment. AZD3427 exhibits an improved pharmacokinetic profile, maintains the pharmacology of relaxin-2 in vitro and improves cardiac performance in an NHP model.

19:15Close of Emerging Targets for Oncology & Beyond Conference





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