Pre-Conference Deep-Dive Day
Tuesday | July 25, 2023
Make the most of your attendance and gain additional unrivaled insights on this pre-conference workshop day. Choose the topics more relevant to your work:
Unearthing the Mechanisms & Pathways Involved in Gamma Delta T Cell Cytotoxicity
7:45 am Coffee & Registration
8:45 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
9:00 am Panel Discussion: Contextualizing Gamma Delta T Cells in Immuno-Oncology Through Their Biology, Challenges & Advantages
Synopsis
- Highlighting the unique advantages of gamma delta T cell combination therapies compared to other immune cells for cancer immunotherapy
- Examining the potential activation and expansion obstacles in translating gamma delta T cells from preclinical findings to clinical applications
- Ascertaining potential of recognizing a wide range of antigens, and targeting metabolic pathways in gamma delta T cells to enhance their anti-tumor activity
9:40 am Reviewing the Well-Characterized & Recently Described Activities of Gamma Delta T Cells
Synopsis
- Defining the anti-tumor pathways and mechanisms of gamma delta T subsets
- Identifying factors which elicit a pro-tumorigenic phenotype, and the mechanisms by which transformed cells can propagate tumorigenesis
- Highlighting central dogmas, new discoveries, and remaining research to better characterize Gamma Delta T activity in vivo
10:20 am Characterizing Gamma Delta T Subsets & Their Distinct Biology to Determine Therapeutic Utility
Synopsis
- Exploring the relationship between subsets and persistence and efficacy in different tumor types
- Understanding what mediates homing and activation of different subsets
- Characterizing the role of the gamma delta TCR in different subsets
11.00 am Morning Break & Refreshments
Mapping the Cell-Cell & Environmental Interactions of Gamma Delta T Cells to Understand Influences In Vivo
11:30 am Addressing Three Key Roadblocks in Gamma Delta T Cell Development to Leverage Biological Mechanisms of Action & Accelerate to the Clinic
Synopsis
- Evaluating the cells’ intrinsic therapeutic window- discriminating healthy from diseased tissue
- Measuring the cells’ durability: do they have stem cell-like traits for optimisation?
- Extrapolating the cells’ applications beyond cancer: healing inflammatory disease hypothesis with clinical observations of cell mechanisms
12:10 pm Uncovering the In Vivo Tracking & Interactions of the Tumor Microenvironment with V9d2 Gamma Delta T Cells to Explain Inhibition, Activation & Exhaustion
Synopsis
- Studying the microdynamic changes in the tumor such as inflammation, cold tumor, and the impact on T cell infiltration and gamma delta T phenotype
- Examining the mechanisms of T cell trafficking to tumor sites
- Considering whether cells need to be activated in the tumor, or if therapy should increase the traffic to the tumor
- Leveraging microdynamic exchanges in the tumor to optimize treatment
12:50 pm Modernizing Product Characterization to Support Donor Selection
Synopsis
- Assessing product characteristics such as gene expression and metabolomics to identify optimal starting material cells
- Aligning critical quality attributes with starting material characteristics to maximize donor stratification
- Improving donor selection practices and designing processes which enable fast, consistent, scalable donor selection
1.30 pm Lunch & Networking
Novel Approaches & Analytical Practices to Capitalize on the Full Potential of Gamma Delta T Cells
2:30 pm Leveraging Antibodies to Target Gamma Delta Mediated Immunosuppression to Battle Tumors
Synopsis
- Understanding how inflammatory processes drive immunosuppression through gamma delta T cells in the tumor microenvironment
- Leveraging the activity of monoclonal antibodies to inhibit immunosuppression in pancreatic cancer and other solid tumors
- Exploring gamma delta activation mechanisms and how they can modulate other T cell mechanisms
3:10 pm Leveraging AI to Inform on Gamma Delta T Biology, Production & Clinical Processes
Synopsis
- Identifying suitable targets through AI to analyze large amounts of data and identify circulating cells, cytokines, and antibody binding as potential biomarkers of response for gamma delta T cell-based therapies
- Predicting clinical efficacy with AI to develop predictive models that can estimate efficacy of gamma delta T cell-based therapies in patients based on genetic and clinical characteristics
- Assessing the feasibility of applying preclinical models to humans, and how to bridge the gap
- Optimizing gamma delta T cell production: using AI to predict the optimal culture conditions, identify the most effective gamma delta T cell expansion protocols, and ascertain the quality of the final product
3:50 pm Examining the Role of Gamma Delta Ts in Infectious Diseases to Identify Areas of Therapeutic Application Beyond Oncology
Synopsis
- Outlining the mechanisms of action of gamma delta T cells in viral infection in vivo
- Discussing opportunities to bring gamma delta T cells into therapeutic development beyond oncology and the challenges to overcome
- Providing updates from clinical studies to support the rationale for non-oncology development