Confirmed Speakers
Keynotes
Hildegard BüningProfessor, Institute of Experimental Hematology, Hannover Medical School
President, European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy
Topic: Benefits that gene and cell therapies can bring to medicine and patients
See biography
Robert DeansChief Scientific Officer, Synthego
Title: Engineering Biology for future medicines.
See biography
Ray DeshaisSenior Vice President and Head of Discovery Research, Amgen
Topic: Multispecific Molecular Drugs: Riding the wave of transformative innovation
See biography
Botond RoskaDirector, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB)
Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Natural Science, University of Basel
Topic: Restoring vision using optogenetic therapy
See biography
ESACT Innovation Award 2022
Announcement
ESACT – The European Society for Animal Cell Technology has decided to award the ESACT Innovation Award for 2022 to Richard Wales and Neil Bargh for their innovations in automated cell culture technologies to support the development of biotherapeutics
 Neil Bargh
See biography
 Richard Wales
See biography
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Award CitationDr Richard Wales and Mr. Neil Bargh are recognized as innovators in automated cell culture technologies to support clonal selection and process development for biotechnological products, biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, as well as cell and gene therapies. Notably, they were instrumental in the development, design and technical evolution of the Ambr® bioreactor systems, which closely mimic production bioreactors. The Ambr® systems have been widely adopted by the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide to accelerate process development and bring life-saving biotherapeutics to the market place.
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Invited Speakers
Molecular Cell Surgery Invited Speakers 
Katherine HighProfessor Emerita, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania
Co-founder and former Head of R&D, Spark Therapeutics
See biography
Beyond evolution Invited Speakers
Challenges and Marvels of Bioprocess Intensification Invited Speakers
Daniel KarstManufacturer Scientist, Biogen
See biography
Bassem Ben YahiaPrincipal Scientist Upstream Process Sciences, Biotech Sciences. UCB, Belgium
See biography
Adaptive Manufacturing: Eng quality into process Invited Speakers
Gene SchaeferSenior Fellow, National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), USA
See biography
Laura SegatoriAssociate Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and BioSciences, RICE University, Texas
See biography
Data, Data, data: how to get it and how to use it Invited Speakers
Cleo KontoravdiProfessor of Biological Systems Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK
See biography
Bio breakthroughts Invited Speakers
Scott Estes
Distinguished Fellow, Codiak BioSciences
Associate Professor, iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences,Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Distinguished Fellow, Codiak BioSciences
See biography
Claudia Lobato da Silva
See biography
Engineering Biology for Future Medicines
Robert Deans, PhDDr Deans is CSO at Synthego, a genome engineering company automating a new era of cell and gene therapeutics. Prior to Synthego, Dr Deans was CTO at BlueRock Therapeutics, creating iPSC based allogeneic cell therapeutics by harnessing pluripotent stem cell biology and gene editing tools. Prior to BlueRock, Dr Deans was founding CSO at Rubius Therapeutics developing a platform of novel enucleated cell therapeutics based on genetic engineering and expansion of hematopoietic progenitors to mature red cells. Dr. Deans has more than 30 years of experience in adult stem cell therapeutics which includes HSC gene therapy and commercialization of progenitor cell therapeutics from bone marrow. Dr Deans was previously EVP at Athersys Inc, an adult stem cell therapeutics company now in late stage clinical development (MultiStem), and prior to that VP of Research at Osiris Inc, developing the Prochymal MSC based platform. Dr. Deans has been influential in stem cell and therapeutic societies in guiding translation and standardization of stem and progenitor cell practices
Multispecific Molecular Drugs: Riding the wave of transformative innovation
Raymond Deshaies, Ph.D., is senior vice president, Global ResearchPrior to joining Amgen, Deshaies served as a professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and an executive officer in Caltech’s Division of Biology and Biological Engineering. He was also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has published over 150 papers on various subjects including discoveries of Sec61 translocon, cullin–RING ubiquitin ligases, and proteolysis-targeting chimeric molecules (Protacs).
In addition to his academic work, Deshaies co-founded Proteolix in 2003. In 2011, he co-founded Cleave Biosciences.
Deshaies holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Restoring vision using optogenetic therapy
Director, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB)Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Natural Science, University of Basel
Botond Roska obtained his M.D. at the Semmelweis Medical School, a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of California, Berkeley and studied genetics and virology as a Harvard Society Fellow at Harvard University and the Harvard Medical School. He then led a research group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel from 2005-2018. In 2010 he became Professor at the Medical Faculty and in 2019 Professor at the Science Faculty of the University of Basel.
Since 2018 he is a founding director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB). At IOB he leads a research group focusing on the understanding of vision and its diseases and the development of gene therapies to restore vision. Botond Roska was elected as a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2011 and the Academia Europaea in 2020. He has received several awards, including the Viva Award in 2010, the Alcon Award in 2011, the Alfred Vogt Award in 2013, the Cogan Award in 2016, the Bressler Prize and the W. Alden Spencer Award in 2018, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Cloëtta Prize, the Semmelweis Budapest Award in 2019, the Körber European Science Prize and the Greenberg End Blindness Visionary Prize in 2020.
"Benefits that gene and cell therapies can bring to medicine and patients”
Prof Dr Hildegard Büning serves as current President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (www.ESGCT.eu) and Scientific Secretary of the German Society for Gene Therapy (www.dg-gt.de). She is Professor of Infection Biology and Gene Transfer and Deputy Director of the Institute of Experimental Hematology at Hannover Medical School (Germany). She studied Biology in Münster and Munich, and obtained her PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich in 1997. Since then, she is active in the field of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors with a particular focus on AAV-host interactions and AAV vector development. Aiming to optimize efficacy, specificity and safety of AAV vectors for gene therapy and regenerative medicine, her research team is developing strategies to modify the vector tropism and immunogenicity using both rational design and library-based approaches.Turning Genes into Medicines: Prospects and Problems in Development of a Novel Class of Therapeutics
Katherine HighDr. Katherine High trained in internal medicine, hematology, and molecular genetics. Her pioneering bench-to-bedside studies of gene therapy for hemophilia led to a series of basic and clinical investigations that characterized the human immune response to AAV gene delivery vectors. Her work evolved to encompass clinical translation of genetic therapies for multiple inherited disorders. As the inaugural director of a Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Dr. High assembled a multidisciplinary team of scientists and physicians to discover and develop new gene therapies for genetic diseases. In 2013, her Center at CHOP spun out as Spark Therapeutics, where she led the team that achieved the first FDA approval of a gene therapy for a genetic disease. After Spark was acquired by Roche in 2019, Dr. High did a (virtual) sabbatical as a Visiting Professor at Rockefeller University, and in 2021 joined AskBio as President, Therapeutics. Dr. High is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (US), the National Academy of Sciences (US), and the Royal College of Physicians (London).
Bioprocessing in the Digital Age: from Process Models, through the Integration of Machine Learning, to Digital Twins
Alessandro ButtéAlessandro Butté received his MSc. at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and his Ph.D. at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in Chemical Engineering. After a postdoc at the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), he join ETH Zurich as senior scientist. In 2008, he joined Lonza as head of downstream technologies in the sectors small molecules and peptides and, later, as project manager. He was also involved in the pilot program to introduce Quality by Design. In 2013, he joined back ETH as lecturer and, in 2017, he founded and is the CEO of DataHow AG. He is author of more than 90 papers on international peer reviewed journals and several patents. In 2015 he completed an executive MBA at the University of St. Gallen.
What can extracellular data tell us about intracellular pathways?
Cleo KontoravdiCleo Kontoravdi is Professor of Biological Systems Engineering at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. She received M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from the same Department. Upon completing her PhD studies, she joined Lonza Biologics as a R&D Scientist before returning to Imperial as a Lonza/RCUK Fellow in Biopharmaceuticals Processing. Her group focuses developing hybrid computational and experimental approaches for bioprocess design and optimisation.
What can extracellular data tell us about intracellular pathways?
Bassem Ben YahiaBassem Ben Yahia is part of Upstream Process Sciences Group at UCB Pharma in Belgium since 2011 and is focusing on new process technologies for cell culture technologies, media development, process optimization, process intensification and process modeling. Passionate about biology and modelling biological systems, Bassem holds a PhD degree (2017) in Biochemistry & Biochemical Engineering from University of Saarlandes in Germany focused on predictive macroscopic modeling of Chinese hamster ovary cells in fed-batch processes. During his PhD, he successfully developed simple and robust modeling methodologies to predict cell culture performances which is currently used at UCB to accelerate early stage process development.
CAR T-cell immunotherapy of solid tumours: Parallel learning from the clinic and lab
John MaherDr John Maher is the scientific founder and chief scientific officer of Leucid Bio. He is also a clinical immunologist who leads the "CAR Mechanics" research group within King's College London. He played a key role in the early development of second generation (CD28) CAR technology while a visiting fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an approach that has achieved clinical impact in haematological malignancies. His research group is focused on the development of adoptive immunotherapy using CAR engineered and gamma delta T-cells, with a primary emphasis on solid tumour types. In addition, he is a consultant immunologist within King's Health Partners and Eastbourne Hospital.
Next-generation, feedback responsive cell factories for recombinant protein manufacturing
Laura SegatoriLaura Segatori is an Associate Professor in Bioengineering at Rice University. She received a Laurea in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Bologna, Italy in 2000 and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. She conducted her postdoctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla California and joined the faculty at Rice University in 2007 where she holds joint appointments in the departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Biosciences. Her lab has been consistently funded by NSF (including the NSF CAREER Award), NIH, and private foundations. Her research group is highly interdisciplinary and combines principles and tools from engineering and science to decipher and manipulate cellular quality control mechanisms that underlie the development of human diseases. Current research interests include the design of synthetic biology tools and nanotechnology-based approaches to engineer protein processing, folding and degradation pathways in the complex environment of mammalian cells. Specifically, Dr Segatori and her group have created an array of cutting-edge approaches to regulate protein synthesis and degradation, thereby controlling dynamic protein behaviors in cells with exquisite specificity. She has assembled these molecular tools into higher-order circuits that interface with homeostatic pathways that mediate protein processing and promote degradation and recycling of aberrant cellular components. This work, which is guided by predictive mathematical modeling, is key for developing novel therapeutic strategies and equally importantly, for enabling the engineering synthetic cells with predictable behaviors as needed to enhance production of biologics and for cell-based therapies. In parallel research efforts, the Segatori group has defined the molecular pathways and cellular phenotypes triggered by nanomaterials, work that has provided key insights into optimizing cell-material interfaces.
Enabling Intensified Bioprocesses at Scale
Daniel KarstBiogen International GmbH
Daniel Karst is Senior Manager of Process Sciences at Biogen`s new biologics manufacturing facility in Solothurn, Switzerland. He has held roles of increasing responsibility and is now heading the Process Sciences team that is part of the Global Manufacturing Sciences Organization and provides technical leadership to Biogen`s intensified drug substance platform processes. Daniel holds a PhD in Chemical and Bioengineering from ETH Zurich, where his scientific focus has been on the development of mammalian cell perfusion culture processes incl. metabolic, product quality characterization and integration with capture.
The Application of Mechanistic Models Combined with Statistical Approaches Including Multivariate Visualization and Bayesian Methods to Enable Rapid Process Understanding
Gene SchaeferNational Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL)
Gene Schaefer is currently a Senior Fellow at The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). Prior to that he held a number of roles in the Biopharmaceutical Industry over the last 35+ years. Most recently he was Senior Director, API Large Molecule BioTherapeutics Development at Janssen R&D, the pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson, responsible for early-stage process development through commercial product support for protein therapeutics. Before that, he held roles of increasing responsibility in the process development and manufacturing of protein therapeutics, viral vectors, and carbohydrate products at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Schering Plough, and Genzyme. He received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and M.S. and Sc.D. degrees in Biochemical Engineering from M.I.T. He is currently an adjunct professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware and a member of the Board of Directors for Engineering Conferences International (ECI) as well as the Advisory Board for the New Jersey Center for Science, Technology, and Mathematics at Kean University where he helped start the Biotechnology degree program 1n 2001.
The Application of Mechanistic Models Combined with Statistical Approaches Including Multivariate Visualization and Bayesian Methods to Enable Rapid Process Understanding
Cláudia Lobato da SilvaDepartment of Bioengineering and iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa
Cláudia Lobato da Silva received a Diploma in Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology), Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Technical University of Lisboa (Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, UTL), Portugal, in 2001, and got a Ph.D. in Biotechnology in 2006 at IST-UTL in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno, USA. She is Associate Professor at the Department of Bioengineering, IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa. Cláudia Lobato da Silva’s research interests at the Stem Cell Engineering Research Group (SCERG) of iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, IST, include expansion of human stem cells, cellular therapies with human adult stem cells and bioreactors for stem cell culture. She is co-author of more than 90 scientific articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and 15 book chapters. Presently, She is Member of the Pedagogical Council of IST and Coordinator of the Biomedical Engineering course at IST. In 2015-2019 She was the Vice-President of the Portuguese Society of Stem Cells and Cellular Therapies (Sociedade Portuguesa de Células Estaminais e Terapias Celulares (SPCE-TC)).
Function: Head Liposome Technology
DI Dr. Andreas WagnerDr Andreas Wagner is currently the Head, Liposome Technology at Polymun Scientific GmbH. He has significant expertise in incorporation and optimization of hydrophilic, lipophilic and amphipatic substances into liposomes and LNPs and development for clinical use. He studied Biotechnology in Vienna, Austria and earned his Master and Ph.D. degrees in the field of biopharmaceutical technology/ liposomology at the Institute of Applied Microbiology supervised by Prof. Hermann Katinger. Dr Andreas Wagner is listed as inventor on several patents, like the liposome technology and some product patents of liposomal formulations. Furthermore, he has published several peer reviewed articles dealing with liposomes, the technology, products thereof and their application in preclinical and clinical studies
Neil BarghNeil graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1992, after completing a 4-year Master of Engineering degree course. Subsequently, Neil joined the Automation Group of The Technology Partnership (TTP). Neil stayed with the same group as it as it transitioned into The Automation Partnership (TAP), later to become TAP Biosystems in 2001 and then acquired by Sartorius in 2013. Early in his career development projects included: automated inhaler testing machines, the original compound storage “Haystack” system and SelecT, a fully automated robotic T-Flask maintenance system. Following a 9-month career break in Australia, Neil has been responsible for the development of ambr® 15, ambr® 250 HT, ambr® 250 Modular and ambr® Crossflow. In 2017 Neil Joined PA Consulting but returned to Sartorius 16 months later to continue his technical leadership role: developing new products that assist biopharmaceutical research and development.
Richard WalesFollowing a first degree in Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia and subsequently a PhD at the University of Cambridge, Richard completed a 4-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Warwick investigating the mode of action of the cytotoxin ricin. Subsequently Richard spent 6 years in the Ag-Biotech sector with Dalgety and DuPont, joining The Automation Partnership (TAP), later to become TAP Biosystems, in 2001. His various positions at TAP always combined both a technical and commercial perspective, working closely with both the engineering and marketing teams, and potential customers to bring new systems to the market. On acquisition of TAP Biosystems by Sartorius in 2013 he transferred to Sartorius central R&D function. Following a 2-year stint in Sartorius business development group, in 2019 he joined the newly established Corporate Research Group led by Sartorius CTO. Currently he has several roles in that group including programme coordination, technology scouting and as head of the Concept-to-Prototype group.
Scott Estes