7:00 am – 8:00 am | Registration Open – Breakfast and Networking |
9:00 am – 5:00 pm | Virtual Exhibit Hall Open |
8:00 am – 8:45 am Click here to watch → |
Welcome Brad Stewart, Chair, Maryland Life Sciences and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation Opening Remarks Kelly Schulz, Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce Martin Rosendale, Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences |
8:45 am – 9:45 am Click here to watch → |
Fireside Chat | Toward a Healthier, Safer World: The Power of Partnership Sally Allain, Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC|BLUE KNIGHT™ Gary Disbrow, PhD, Director, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
9:45 am – 10:00 am | Break |
10:00 am – 10:50 am Click here to watch → |
Keynote Speaker | The COVID-19 Experience: Accelerating Innovation in Preparedness Silvia Taylor, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations, Novavax Melanie Saville, Director of R&D, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations |
11:00 am – 11:50 am Click here to watch → |
Disruptive Technology Innovation and Vaccine Development mRNA and viral based vaccines have led the way in rapidly addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Expert panelists from companies leading the development of these disruptive technologies will discuss their impact, what’s next for these technologies and what other disruptive technologies may be around the corner. Moderator Panelists Mary Moran, MD, Viral Vaccines Medical & Scientific Affairs Lead, Pfizer Robert van den Berg, PhD, MBA, Head of the Data Sciences & Computational Vaccinology, GSK |
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Networking Lunch |
1:00 pm – 1:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Health Equity and Vaccine Confidence Everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to be healthy. Biomedical professionals and health policy and equity leaders will come together to provide straight talk and discuss the obstacles with trying to obtain fair health care, ensuring diversity in clinical trials, overcoming issues of mistrust, and addressing vaccine hesitancy. Moderator Panelists Matthew Hepburn, Director, COVID Vaccine Development, HHS-DoD Countermeasures Acceleration Group Stephen Thomas, Professor, Health Policy & Management, Director, Maryland Center for Health Equity, University of Maryland College Park |
2:00 pm – 2:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Fireside Chat | Scaling up in the “New Normal” Pre- and post-pandemic, a start-up life science company’s fundraising journey continues to be challenging. In the candid fireside chat, you will hear from Marty Rosendale and Christopher Austin as they share their knowledge about capital raising in Maryland, challenges entrepreneurs face, especially during the pandemic, and how they were overcome, how to identify investors and unique fundraising opportunities and what the landscape looks like for the future. Martin Rosendale, Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences Christopher Austin, MD, Chief Executive Officer-Partner, Flagship Pioneering |
3:00 pm – 3:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Biotech Careers: Everyone Can Take Part in Shaping the Future The life sciences industry in Maryland and the larger BioHealth Capital Region is experiencing significant growth, providing opportunities for local talent to enter the workforce at multiple entry points. The region has a robust supply of talent that can support the growing demand of the local biopharmaceutical industry; however, there is a need to stimulate stronger interest in industry careers by deliberately engaging diverse talent where they are and delivering a clear value proposition. Members of the joint task force organized by the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board and the Maryland Tech Council will discuss ongoing efforts that seek to improve this connectivity and share successful models of building robust talent pipelines that can support the growth of the regional innovation ecosystem. Moderator Panelists KaShauna Rohlehr, MBA, PMP, Associate Director – Alliance, Program and Project Management, GlaxoSmithKline Joe Sanchez, PhD, MBA, Director, Science Engagement & STEM Programming, R&D North America, AstraZeneca Brian Stamper, Senior Director of Manufacturing, Kite Pharma |
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm | Cocktail Reception |
7:00 am – 8:00 am | Registration Open – Breakfast and Networking |
9:00 am – 5:00 pm | Virtual Exhibit Hall Open |
8:00 am – 9:00 am |
Welcome and Fireside Chat Martin Rosendale, Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences Dr. David Agus, Chief Executive Officer, Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, physician, author, CBS Medical Contributor |
9:00 am – 9:50 am Click here to watch → |
Engineered Cell Therapies: Increasingly Complex Product Development The development of next generation engineered cell therapies has expanded into novel cell types and are designed with increasingly sophisticated engineering approaches. In this session, we will hear from two companies developing innovative approaches for novel cell therapeutics for the treatment of a growing list of intractable diseases. The presentations will be followed by a short Q/A session with the panelists. Welcome Moderator Panelists Michael Singer MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Cartesian Therapeutics |
10:00 am – 10:50 am Click here to watch → |
Cell and Gene Therapy: CMC and Manufacturing Hurdles and Solutions Manufacturing of cell and gene therapy is the bottleneck for availing this line of innovative therapies to clinical trials and patients. In this panel, we invited the world experts in cell and gene therapy to address Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) aspects of cGMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy. The topics include quality by design, scaleup, process control, and product characterization and release. The goal for the panel is to share insights on how to design CGT product and production processes to allow for quality and speedy release. Moderator Panelists David Anderson, Senior Director, Quality Site Head, Kite, a Gilead Company Jon Rowley, Chief Product Officer, RoosterBio |
11:00 am – 11:50 am Click here to watch → |
Cell and Gene Therapy: Beyond Oncology The Beyond Oncology panel will discuss applications of cell therapy beyond treatment of advanced cancers. Specific examples will include use of cell & gene therapy for treatment of autoimmune disorders such as myasthenia gravis, respiratory diseases such as ARDS and COVID-19, and rare genetic disorders such as XMEN disease. Ex-vivo cell modification strategies will be compared between different approaches and disease indications. Potential benefits of these novel approaches will be weighed against treatment risks and costs. Moderator Panelists Dr. Bruce Levy, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Dr. Tahseen Mozaffar, Professor, Neurology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Irvine |
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm | Lunch Break |
1:00 pm – 1:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Fireside Chat | Bringing Hope to Patients—Advanced Manufacturing at Kite Nicole Wood, Senior Regional Director, State Advocacy, PhRMA Jim Jackson, Vice President, Manufacturing, Kite, a Gilead Company |
2:00 pm – 2:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Biomanufacturing: Buy it or Build it (Pros and cons of insourcing vs. outsourcing) With the explosion of biomanufacturing needs being driven by a rapid expansion of funding and life sciences innovations and successes, a critical question persists whether the industry can meet these current and future demands. Will the manufacturing capacity be there to deliver on the promise of great, innovative science? Should needed biomanufacturing be performed in-house with complete control of timelines, budgets and processes or out-source to companies that have the existing facilities, equipment, track record and capability, but may be delayed in offering a slot? If in-house work is on the table, companies have to consider building a new facility and organizational structure, shouldering high capital costs, and managing the long timelines associated with validation and possibly repurposing the equipment if their needs change. Moderator Panelists Harish Santhanum, Senior Director, Manufacturing Science and Technology, Kite Pharma Thomas VanCott, PhD, Global Head of Product Development, Cell and Gene Therapy, Catalent Biologics |
3:00 pm – 3:50 pm Click here to watch → |
Revolution in Biomanufacturing One of the biggest drivers of biomanufacturing has been the rapid advances in vaccine and cell therapy and their production is undergoing a record transformation. These new technologies will serve as the cornerstone for biomanufacturing facilities of the future. Our panel discussion on Revolutions in Biomanufacturing will highlight the next generation ecosystem of processes, data acquisition, analysis and software automation and how they are used to bring medicines to market faster. Moderator Panelists Peter Olagunju, Chief Technology Officer, TCR2 Therapeutics Nicholas Ostrout, PhD, Global Head of Commercial Development, Lonza |
3:50 pm – 4:00 pm Click here to watch → |
Closing Remarks Steven Walker, Senior Director and Head, Global Marketing – Early Portfolio Strategy, GSK |
7:00 am – 7:00 pm | BIO One-on-One Partnering (available 24 hours for scheduling) |