少人数グループによる円滑なディスカッションで、インタラクティブな参加により、フォーカスしたトピックに関する問題解決や将来のコラボレーションにつながります。

バズとは？

PepTalkのバズセッションは、上流工程のタンパク質の発現と生産から、下流工程のスケールアップと製造まで、重要かつ興味深いトピックについて、代表者が刺激的なディスカッションを展開します。共通の関心を持つさまざまな分野の科学者間で、ブレーンストーミングとインタラクティブな問題解決を行う、モデレーター進行型のディスカッションです。

火曜日 4:15 - 5:00 PM

Recombinant Protein Production Part 1

BuzZ Table: Overcoming Challenges in Difficult to Express Proteins
Moderator: Petra Fromme, PhD, Paul V. Galvin Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Arizona State University

• What are the current challenges with producing DTEPs?
• Choosing an expression platform for challenging targets.
• Emerging technologies and recent advancements are powering production
• How can we optimize protein purification?

BuzZ Table: Improving Membrane Protein Yield and Quality
Moderator: Alexander Alexandrov, PhD, Associate Director, Abilita Biosciences

• Advancements in detergents and nanodisc technologies
• Emerging techniques to overcome instability
• High-throughput screening and process automation approaches
• Overcoming Glycosylation and Post-Translational Challenges
• Case studies and practical challenges

Automation in Protein Sciences

BuzZ Table: Balancing High-Throughput Expression with Data Capture/Analysis 
Moderator: James Kostas, Senior Scientist, Protein and Structural Chemistry, Merck

• How do we track data captured at every stage of the protein production lifecycle?
• Is higher throughput ALWAYS better or does it just push the bottleneck downstream?
• How do we connect, analyze, and correlate data from different sources (instruments, databases, e-notebooks) in order to draw conclusions from our data?
• How do we effectively QC HT data?
• How can we use our data to reduce the number of samples in future design-test-make cycles? 

BuzZ Table: Challenges in High-Throughput Production Platforms
Moderator: Kristoff Homan, PhD, Senior Principal Scientist, Discovery Biotherapeutics, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

• HT production approaches
• Incorporating AI/ML predictions into workflows
• Challenges with emerging modalities
• Functional assessment of molecules

Methods for Developability Analysis

BuzZ Table: Building the End-to-End Workflow in Analytical Development: Current and Future Technologies
Moderator: Kevin Zen, PhD, Director, Analytical Development, Opthea Limited

• High throughput analytics for developability workflow
• Immunogenicity prediction and ex vivo assays to assess immunogenicity
• Aggregation prediction and analytical technologies to assess aggregation propensity
• PTM prediction and analytical tools to assess molecular liability
• Balance between biological function and biophysical stability

BuzZ Table: AI and ML in Biotherapeutic Process Development and Manufacturing: Hype vs. Reality
Moderator: Carme Pons Royo, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Realistic Expectations: Where does AI/ML provide the most value and where does it fall short in bioprocessing. 
• Feasibility: How practical are these tools for biologics manufacturing?
• Upstream Applications: Can AI/ML improve cell culture optimization, media selection, and yield prediction?
• Downstream Relevance: How AI can assist with purification, process scaling, and troubleshooting bottlenecks?
• Analytics and Monitoring: Using AI to predict product stability, aggregation, and monitor CQAs in continuous manufacturing.
• Integration Strategies: Practical tips for validating and embedding AI/ML models into existing workflows.

Targeted Radioligand Therapies

BuzZ Table: Challenges in the Production and Distribution of Short-Lived Radiopharmaceuticals
Moderator: Arshad Ahmed, Founder & CEO, Zaylan Associates

• Time constraints from production, QC to delivery
• Pros and cons of decentralized production
• The need for specialized production facilities and highly skilled personnel 
• Regulatory compliance 
• Supply chain logistics 
• Waste management
  

木曜日 7:30 - 8:15 AM

Recombinant Protein Production Part 2

BuzZ Table: Therapeutic Protein Production: Innovations and Best Practices
Moderator: Robert M. Hughes, PhD, Associate Professor, Chemistry, East Carolina University

• Construct Design and Misfolding Prevention
• Leveraging Machine Learning and Data Optimization
• Cell-Free Systems for Complex Protein Synthesis

BuzZ Table: Common Issues with Protein Production
Moderators:
Richard Altman, MS, Field Application Scientist, Life Science Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Henry C. Chiou, PhD, Senior Director General Manager, Biosciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific  (Recently Retired)

• What are the current challenges to protein production?
• How do we optimize the whole protein expression workflow process?
• How can we maintain volumetric yields while scaling expression up or down?
• What cell line(s) should we use and when?
• What parameters can impact the quality or physical attributes of produced proteins?
• What are the obstacles and potential solutions for transient protein production?

Cutting-Edge Tools for Purification and Quality Assurance

BuzZ Table: Towards Wholly de novo Proteins
Moderator: Cole A. DeForest, PhD, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington

• Computational protein design
• Non-canonical amino acid incorporation via genetic code expansion
• Engineered cell lines and non-traditional expression hosts

BuzZ Table: Special Challenges in Routine Protein Production
Moderator: David Wood, PhD, Co-Founder, CSO, Protein Capture Science; Professor, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University

• When you needed the protein yesterday - high pressure production
• How things change when this protein may be headed for the clinic
• Out of left field - strange things that proteins do, and what to do back

Characterization for Novel Biotherapeutics

BuzZ Table: Machine Learning in Formulation Development for Biologics
Moderator: Li Fu, PhD, Senior Scientist, Parenteral Drug Product Development, Takeda

• Different modalities and prediction for more quality attributes: identifying missing data
• Challenges of applying ML in developability and formulation development
• Structural determination and homology modeling
• New tools and methodologies, and their combination with physical models

BuzZ Table: Multiple Challenges for Multispecific Antibodies
Moderator: Meghan M. Verstraete, PhD, Scientist, Protein Engineering, Zymeworks, Inc.

• Prioritizing parameters to screen in early discovery (format, paratopes, affinity, valency, etc.)
• Purification and characterization of multispecific antibodies and product-related impurities
• Challenges with benchmarking developability criteria for multispecific antibodies
• Pros and cons of multispecific antibody therapeutics vs. combination of bispecific/monospecific therapeutics

Next-Generation Protein Degradation

BuzZ Table: Unlocking the Potential of E3 Ligases: New Frontiers in Targeted Degradation
Moderator: Dongwen Lyu, PhD, Associate Director, Target Discovery Core, University of Texas San Antonio Health Science Center

• Diverse E3 ligase discovery
• Ligase-target pairing strategies
• Challenges and solutions in ligase engineering

BuzZ Table: Improving Target Specificity and Reducing Off-Target Effects
Moderator: Sungjin Lee, PhD, Associate Director, Surrozen Inc

• Design strategies to enhance selectivity
• Minimizing off-target degradation
• Incorporating machine learning and AI into selectivity optimization
• Evaluating In Vivo vs. In Vitro Specificity

These are forums for open discussion of protein-related challenges, and not sales opportunities. We emphasize that these breakout groups are for interactive discussions among scientists and are not meant to be, in any way, a corporate or product discussion. Topics can be limited to one protein area or may address issues which cross over the borders between pipeline conference topics. Moderators should be well-versed in the topic area and able to keep the discussion focused and productive. BuzZ Sessions are IN-PERSON ONLY.

Continue to check back for topics updates.