Helena Blomquist, Blomquist media, Stockholm, Sweden

Is a well-known Swedish moderator and journalist, with a unique breadth and long experience from radio and TV - including more than 20 years from Swedish Television as a news anchor, presenter of news-morning show and science journalist (She has a bachelor's degree in biology). For many years she did interview-programs of the Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology/Medicine and Chemistry. Helena now works in her own company www.blomquistmedia.se mainly as a moderator and leading debates on many different topics and types of assignments.

Paul Belcher, Product Strategy Manager, Cytiva, Boston, MA, USA

Dr. Paul Belcher is the Global Product Strategy Manager, Biacore at Cytiva. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom in 2003. During his postdoctoral Paul focused on the application of biophysical approaches for screening/characterization of large libraries of compounds to enable the development of synthetic probes to challenging targets. At Cytiva his focus has been understanding the key challenges in drug discovery to develop leading edge platform technology solutions to accelerate the development of new therapies to treat human disease. He is a frequent speaker and has given over 400 lectures at conferences and pharma/biotech industry sites and Universities globally.

Chifumi Teramoto (Seida), analytical researcher, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Discovery Biologics Dept. Protein Analysis Group, Research Div., Japan

Chifumi joined Chugai pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as an analytical researcher in 2012. She contributed to many IND/IMPD/BLA submissions for bi-specific antibodies (Hemlibra®), sweeping antibodies, and recycling antibodies(Enspryng®). She obtained the first SPR data for Hemlibra® and Enspryng® in the CMC section for BLA. She has developed binding assays and cell-based assays for QC release testing and extended characterization. She has also validated methods and successfully led technical transfer to other companies. One of her responsibilities at Chugai is to establish phase-appropriate bioassay methods considering MoA. Chifumi is currently a member of Discovery Biologics Dept. in the Research Division. As an analytical researcher, she conducts clinical candidate selection of antibody therapeutics in Chugai.

Dr. Leonor Puchades Carrasco, Drug Dicovery Unit, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain

After finishing my Pharmacy degree at the University of Valencia in 2001, I completed my studies at the University of Navarra with a Master in “Research and Development of New Drugs”. Driven by my interest in drug discovery, I then started working in the pharmaceutical industry (Idifarma, Lacer, Almirall), gaining experience in different areas related to drug discovery and development, such as analytical technique development, quality control, and regulatory affairs. In 2010, I joined the Structural Biochemistry Laboratory (SBL) at the Centro de Investigación Principe Felipe (CIPF), to pursue my PhD Thesis entitled “NMR applications for the identification of new clinically relevant biomarkers in the oncology area”. As a postdoctoral researcher, I became extremely interested in the development of integrative approaches that could lead to the identification of new potential drug targets. Following my interest in gaining a deeper understanding of the biological processes underlying cancer progression, I was awarded an EMBO short-term fellowship (3 months) in 2017 and a Jose Castillejo fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (6 months) in 2018 that allowed me to join the Signalling & Cancer Metabolism group, at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR, London). Subsequently, in 2018, I joined the lab as a post- doctoral training fellow. During that time, I have been specially focused on the application and development of integrative analysis tools, based on a combination of cell biology, biochemical, functional screening, transcriptomics and metabolomics data obtained from the analysis of clinical samples and experimental models. Currently, I oversee the Drug Discovery Platform at the IIS La Fe and coordinate the Strategy on Innovative and Precision Medicines sponsored by the Conselleria de Sanidad Universal y Salud Pública, Generalitat Valenciana and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) funds (PO FEDER of Comunitat Valenciana 2014‐2020).

Anna Moberg, Senior Scientist, Cytiva, Uppsala, Sweden

Anna, is an analytical chemist from Uppsala University by training. Anna has more than 20years of experience working with instrument, consumables and application development for Biacore™ systems. Anna is heading the Market Support team responsible for customer collaborations and the development of applications and training materials

Dr.Emma Jenkins, PhD, Avacta Life Sciences Ltd., Cambridge, United Kingdom

Emma Jenkins received her Ph.D. from Bristol University MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity in 2009. Following post-doctoral studies she moved into industry and has been working in the protein engineering field for the past 10 years. For the past 7 years she has been head of protein sciences at Avacta Life Sciences Cambridge, developing the therapeutic Affimer scaffold platform. Her team produce, purify and characterise Affimer proteins identified from phage display selections and formats them to have bispecific functions and half-life extension properties.

 

Dr. Giordana Bruni Merck Serono S.p.A, Rome, Italy

Graduated in Medical Biotechnologies at the University of Siena (Italy) in 2012, from 2013 to 2014, engaged by the Michael J. Fox Foundation in the development and validation of an ultrasensitive immunoassays for the detection specific biomarkers relevant to Parkinson’s Disease. In 2014 joined Merck KGaA, where currently is employed as Researcher role in Functional Assay Laboratory. Engaged in supporting manufacturing Process Development of different type of potential and marketed drugs by functional assays.

Fredrik Sundberg, Global Director, Strategic Technologies, Cytiva

As Global Director Strategic Technologies at Cytiva, Fredrik is responsible for working with the biopharmaceutical industry to improve current workflows with innovative analytical solutions. He also advises on R&D projects and business development activities. Fredrik is author of several publications on drug discovery and biosimilar strategies. He is also member of an EMEA Pharmaceutical Industry Expert Panel, and he regularly lectures and discusses regulatory issues with government officials and health authorities.

Vishal Kamat, Staff scientist, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY, USA

Vishal Kamat is a Sr. Staff Scientist in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and his group is responsible to develop label-free assays to support Regeneron’s drug discovery. During his 12-year career at Regeneron, he has developed and standardized diverse binding assays which are routinely used to discover novel antibodies. He utilizes his expertise to screen and identify therapeutic antibodies and has supported mAb discovery for more than 100 targets across diverse diseases.