Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin is Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania. Until 1991, he was Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Virology at the Wistar Institute and at the same time, Director of Infectious Diseases and Senior Physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. For seven years he was Medical and Scientific Director of Sanofi Pasteur, based at Marnes-la-Coquette, outside Paris. He is now consultant to vaccine developers and non-profit research organizations.

He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Medicine. His bibliography includes over 800 articles and he has edited several books including a textbook on vaccines. Dr. Plotkin has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Rouen and the Complutense University of Madrid, He also has received the French Legion of Honor. Dr. Plotkin developed the rubella vaccine now in standard use throughout the world, is codeveloper of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine, and has worked extensively on the development and application of other vaccines including anthrax, oral polio, rabies, varicella, and cytomegalovirus

Consultant and Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, Vaxconsult, LLP

Sir Andrew is Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford and an honorary consultant paediatrician (infectious disease and immunology) at Oxford Children’s Hospital. He received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2021 for services to Public Health and the Order of Medical Merit from the Federal Republic of Brazil in 2022.

His research includes the design, development and clinical evaluation of vaccines including those for typhoid, meningococcus, Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcus, plague, pertussis, influenza, rabies, coronavirus and Ebola. His work on pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines has been used in global public health policy. His studies on typhoid both using the human challenge model and in field sites supported the WHO prequalification of a new typhoid conjugate vaccine and WHO recommendations for its use in countries with a high burden of disease with more than 50 million vaccinated since 2021. He was the chief investigator for the clinical trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in 2020 in 24,000 participants in UK, South Africa and Brazil, which led to authorisation of the vaccine for use in more than 180 countries with over 3.5 billion doses distributed and award of the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 2022. He has supervised 48 PhD students and his publications includes over 600 manuscripts. He chairs the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, was a member of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (2016-2022). He chaired the European Medicines Agency scientific advisory group on vaccines (2012–2020). He received the Bill Marshall Award of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Disease (ESPID) in 2013, the ESPID Distinguished Award for Education and Communication in 2015 and the Rosén von Rosenstein medal in 2019 from the Swedish Society of Medicine, the James Spence Medal from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2022. He is chair of the Knoop Charitable Trust and is a trustee of the Jenner Vaccine Foundation, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ashall Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity and Director of Oxford Vaccine Group

Dr. Jay A. Berzofsky was appointed Chief, Vaccine Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, in 2003, after being Chief, Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research Section, since 1987. He graduated Summa cum Laude from Harvard (1967), and received a Ph.D.-M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM). After interning at Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined NIH in 1974. Dr. Berzofsky's research has focused on antigen processing/presentation, epitope structure, cytokine and regulatory cell control of T cell function and avidity, NKT cells, and translation to the design and clinical trials of vaccines for AIDS, cancer, and viruses causing cancer. He has 521 scientific publications. He was elected President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (1993-94), a member of the Association of American Physicians, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for 2007 by AECOM. He was elected Chair of the Medical Sciences Section of the AAAS for 2007-2008. He received the NIH Director’s Award and the NCI Merit Award in 2008, another NCI Director’s Merit Award in 2011, and a Career Award “for his important contribution to tumor immunotherapy” from the European Academy of Tumor Immunology in 2018.

Chief, Vaccine Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute

Dr. Ofer Levy was born to and raised by the artist Benjamin Levy and music composer Hannah Levy in New York City, where he graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. After graduating from Yale College (B.S., Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry), Dr. Levy entered the Medical Scientist (MD/PhD) Training Program at New York University School of Medicine. There he earned his PhD under the mentorship of Drs. Peter Elsbach and Jerrold Weiss, characterizing neutrophil-derived antimicrobial proteins and peptides including bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) and cathelicidins. Inspired by his wife Sharon’s example, he chose Pediatrics and completed both residency and fellowship (Infectious Diseases) at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is currently Professor at Harvard Medical School as well as principal investigator, staff physician and the Director of the Precisions Vaccine Program in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital. The Precision Vaccines Program is an academic program that fosters international collaboration between academia, government, and industry for development of vaccine formulations optimized to protect vulnerable populations. Dr. Levy’s laboratory is focused on modeling vaccine-induced human immune responses in vitro using a variety of platforms including three-dimensional microphysiologic systems as well as global molecular (“OMIC”) approaches to accelerate and de-risk development of vaccines optimized for populations with distinct immune responses, including those at the extremes of age who suffer the most infections. He currently leads or co-leads multiple NIH/NIAID-supported studies, including (a) an Adjuvant Discovery Program contract, leveraging robotic and immunologic approaches to discover, characterize, and formulate novel small molecule adjuvants that may enhance vaccine responses of vulnerable populations such as infants and older adults; (b) an international Human Immunology Project Consortium effort employing systems biology to define biomarkers of neonatal vaccine immunogenicity and (c) a project on Immune Development in Early Life (IDEAL). Dr. Levy also serves on the U.S. FDA Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) and has appeared in major media including CNN, FoxNews, Scientific American, National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts along with his wife Dr. Sharon Levy and their three children.

Staff Physician & Principal Investigator, Director, Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital Professor, Harvard Medical School

Hanneke Schuitemaker, Ph.D., is the Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine at Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V. She has been in this role since 2010 and oversees Janssen’s viral vaccine programs including investigational vaccine candidates for HIV, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Ebola, Zika, Influenza and COVID-19. In addition, she is a Professor of Virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Center.

Hanneke Schuitemaker is a medical biologist by training, received her Ph.D. in Medicine in 1992 at the University of Amsterdam and worked for more than 20 years on the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection, first at Sanquin (1989-2007), the blood supply foundation in the Netherlands, where she was the Chair of the department of Clinical Viro-Immunology (1998-2007), and then at the Amsterdam University Medical Center (2008-2010), where she was the Chair of the Department of Experimental Immunology. From mid-2003 to mid-2004, she worked as a visiting scientist at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. She successfully trained more than 30 Ph.D. students and co-authored more than 340 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

VP, Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine, Janssen Vaccines and Prevention B.V.

Dr. Karin Bok is the Director of Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institutes of Health. She provides expertise for the preclinical and clinical development of several preparedness and response medical countermeasures, including preventive and therapeutic products against Ebola, Zika, Nipah, Influenza, and Coronavirus. Karin collaborates with government colleagues and external stakeholders to prepare and accelerate the response to an infectious disease emergency and advance the study of preventive measures that target unmet medical needs. She is currently part of H-CORE (former Operation Warp Speed) contributing to accelerating the development and testing of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in the US. She is also part of the senior team working on the advanced development of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for HIV, as well as universal influenza and RSV vaccines.

Previously, Dr. Bok was a Senior Vaccine Scientific Advisor at the National Vaccine Program Office, within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Dr. Bok led the vaccine safety portfolio and advised on vaccine research and development issues. She also directed research and policy studies on vaccines administered to pregnant women. Karin represented NVPO and HHS in several executive scientific advisory committees, such as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC, FDA), the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV, HRSA), and the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women (PRGLAC, NICHD) to name a few.

In addition, Dr. Bok has more than 20 years’ experience working on research and discovery programs, leading her own scientific studies focused on vaccines, antibody products, antivirals, diagnostics, and virus evolution of gastrointestinal viruses.

Her international scientific experience includes managing and conducting research through Argentina’s national gastroenteritis surveillance program, the clinical testing of the rotavirus vaccine, and the reimplementation of the National Smallpox Vaccine Program.

Acting Deputy Director, Director of Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Swati Gupta, DrPH, MPH, leads IAVI’s Emerging Infectious Disease product portfolio and the organization's epidemiology work. She has a particular focus in leveraging IAVI’s recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) platform and expertise to expand product development efforts beyond HIV, including leading the vaccine development programs for other emerging infectious diseases such as Lassa Fever, Marburg, and most recently SARS-CoV-2.

Previously, Gupta was an executive director with Merck Vaccines, where she worked on the development of innovative partnership models to address cross-cutting issues related to vaccine science and technology. As part of this role, she worked with key external stakeholders to facilitate accelerated Ebola vaccine development efforts to enhance preparedness for the ongoing public health crisis and for potential future outbreaks.

From 2000 to 2014, Gupta was in the Department of Epidemiology at Merck Research Laboratories where she led a number international, prospective cohort studies in support of vaccine and infectious disease products in development, including research on diseases such as HIV, HPV, influenza, dengue, and C.difficile. From 1998 to 2000, Gupta worked as a scientist in HIV Surveillance at the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (British equivalent of the U.S. CDC) in the U.K. She has also worked at the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control at the New York City Department of Health.

Gupta holds a doctorate in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Master of Public Health in infectious disease epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine.

VP, Emerging Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, IAVI

Dr. Dan Barouch received his Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is currently the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine and Professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, and part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery. His laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and virology of HIV-1 infection and developing novel vaccine and eradication strategies. His group has also applied their vaccine expertise to preclinical and clinical studies of other infectious diseases of global significance, including Zika virus, tuberculosis, and most recently SARS-CoV-2. His recent work contributed to the development of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which is now being rolled out in the United States and throughout the world. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020.

William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Director, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Weiner directs a translational molecular immunology research team focused on creating novel immunotherapy approaches for disease prevention and treatment using synthetic nucleic acid technology. Accomplishments of the team and collaborators include the first clinical studies of DNA vaccines, with a focus on advances in gene optimization and electroporation (EP)-mediated DNA delivery. Their work has revitalized the field, rapidly and safely moving new advances into human studies. These include the world’s first Zika vaccine, the first MERS vaccine, an advanced Ebola Vaccine, and a novel HIV vaccine, among others. Additionally, the Weiner laboratory has helped to develop immunotherapy approaches that are currently in clinical testing for HPV-associated cancer, prostate and other cancers. The first clinically efficacious therapeutic DNA vaccine for HPV cervical intraepithelial neoplasia CIN) has moved into a Phase 3 trial (REVEAL). Weiner and his lab have received several awards/honors for their accomplishments, including the Vaccine Industry Associations Outstanding Academic Research Laboratory (2015 & 2016), being named one of the Top 20 Translational Research Laboratories of the Year (Nature Biotechnology 2016, 2017 & 2018) and the 2014 Stone family Award for Cancer Research. Weiner was named one of the nation’s top 40 most influential vaccine scientists in 2014, received the 2011 NIH Directors Translational Research Award and is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2011 and a fellow of the International Society for Vaccines, for which he served as president from 2018 to 2020. Weiner is an avid trainer, advisor and advocate for students, fellows and junior faculty as he is highly committed to developing the careers of young scientists.

Weiner received his B.S. in biology from Stony Brook University, N.Y., and his M.S. in biology from the University of Cincinnati. He then earned a Ph.D. in developmental biology with a focus on molecular immunology from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. Weiner joined the University of Pennsylvania as a research fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, where he rose through the ranks to become Professor. He held a second appointment from The Wistar Institute from 1990 to 1993. At Penn, he served as co-chair of the Tumor Virology Program of the Abramson Cancer Institute and as chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccine Training Program.

Executive Vice President, The Wistar Institute, Director, Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center

Dr. Kate Broderick is the Chief Innovation Officer at Maravai LifeSciences, leading their Office of Science and Innovation. Dr. Broderick has a broad background in product development in the DNA therapeutic and drug delivery field. Prior to joining Maravai in 2022, Dr. Broderick spent 15 years at Inovio Pharmaceuticals, and has served as a principal investigator for a variety of grants and awards from government agencies and non-profits, including the National Institutes of Health. She received her PhD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and completed her post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Diego.

Chief Innovation Officer, Maravai LifeSciences

Dr. Berlanda Scorza is Vice President for Global Health R&D Vaccines and GVGH Institute Director. GVGH is a key component of GSK’s commitment to Global Health, dedicated to developing effective and affordable vaccines for neglected infectious diseases that affect communities in low- and middle-income countries.

Prior to joining GSK in 2020, Dr. Berlanda Scorza was a Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Senior Director for vaccine development at PATH, where he led programs to develop seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines.

Previously, he was a senior scientist at Chiron and Novartis Vaccines, where he contributed to the development of a replicon RNA vaccine, a cell cultured influenza vaccine (Flucelvax) and a bacterial vaccine platform (GMMA). Dr. Berlanda Scorza received his Ph.D. from the University of Milano Bicocca and completed his post-doctoral studies at Imperial College London.

VP, Global Health R&D Vaccines Head and GVGH Institute Director, GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health

Dr. Kennedy earned his B.S. degree in Microbiology from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in Immunology from Mayo Clinic with postdoctoral training in immunogenetics and vaccinology. Dr. Kennedy is a Professor of Medicine and the Co-Director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group. He has over 140 peer-reviewed publications in journals including: Lancet Infectious Diseases, the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Frontiers in Immunology, 8 book chapters, and has participated in well over 100 scientific posters, abstracts, and presentations at national and international vaccine, virology, and immunology meetings. He is the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vaccine: X and an Associate Editor at Vaccine. He is a member of the American Association of Immunologists and the American Society for Microbiology. He has served as an ad hoc reviewer on dozens of NIH study sections and has participated in multiple international review panels (e.g., Wellcome Trust, Research Councils UK, Science Foundation of Ireland, European Research Council).

Dr. Kennedy has 4 R01 grants from NIH funding his work on viral vaccine immunology. He is also the PI of a CDC contract using single cell technologies to evaluate the T cell response to influenza vaccination and is a site PI for one of three NIAID Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers. Dr. Kennedy’s research emphasis is on understanding the factors driving the tremendous diversity in human immune responses to vaccines against viral pathogens including: influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, SARS-CoV-2, smallpox, varicella, and zika. His group focuses on the role of host genetic variation, age and immunosenescence, nutrition, and other factors on the development and maintenance of immunity following vaccination. The laboratory employs systems biology and vaccinomics approaches to better understand the complex interactions that occur during the development of vaccine response with the goal of predicting and controlling vaccine-induced immune responses. Dr. Kennedy also investigates the use of peptide-based vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, vaccinia, Mpox, influenza, and zika virus.

Professor of Medicine, Co-Director, Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group

Sue Ann is Professor of Global Health and Vaccinology at University of Oxford and University of Siena, where she is the Head of the Institute for Global Health. In over 25 years of experience, she has contributed to the development of more than 20 globally licensed vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Vaccines she has worked on including Rotavirus, HPV, PCV and Covid-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives worldwide, reduced long term sequelae and disabilities and thus contributed to global health, one of her key missions and goals. Sue Ann was part of the development of the first vaccine that gained Emergency Use Listing by WHO, the new oral type 2 polio vaccine.

Sue Ann is one of the Principal Investigators of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine clinical development. Sue Ann was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, for services to Sciences and Public Health in 2021 by Queen Elizabeth II, and also appointed Commander of the Federal Republic of Brazil.

She has been contributing to teaching and capacity building in different areas, created the first Master in Vaccinology and Drug Development worldwide and published extensively on vaccinology and public health.

Sue Ann has been recently appointed as member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Market Access for Vaccines (TAG-MI4A).

Professor of Global Health and Vaccinology at the University of Oxford and the University of Siena

Dr. Tom Henley received his Ph.D. in immunology from Cambridge University and has spent over 18 years utilizing gene editing technologies to genetically engineer human cells for applications in human health. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Intima Bioscience, a clinical-stage gene and cell therapy company focused on curative intent in solid tumor cancer. By leveraging gene and cell therapy expertise in oncology applied to vaccinology, he co-created one of the first cellular vaccine technology platforms which is being developed for evaluation in the human clinic by Praesidium Bioscience.

Chief Scientific Officer, Intima Bioscience 

Marco Pravetoni is the Rick L. Seaver Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Director of a Center for Medication Development for Substance Use Disorders and Overdose. Prior to joining the University of Washington, Marco was a Tenured Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, MN. He earned a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota in 2008. His NIH-funded research program focuses on the pre-clinical and clinical development of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and small molecules to treat opioid use disorders and reduce fatal overdoses. Other interests include biologics targeting chemical and biological threats.

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Director, Center for Medication Development for Substance Use Disorders and Overdose

IBM Quantum, IBM Research Almaden

Dr. Alex Bukreyev worked at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, NIAID, NIH, in 1995 – 2010. In 2010 he accepted a position of Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in connection with the launch of the Galveston National Laboratory. Dr. Bukreyev expertise includes molecular virology, emerging viral infections, viral immunology, vaccinology.

Dr. Bukreyev served as a member of the NIH Vaccine against Microbial Diseases study section from 2017 to 2021

Professor, Co-Principal Investigator Molecular Mechanisms of the Dysregulated Immune Response to Ebola Virus, Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology, Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch

Chief Scientific Officer, ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies

Dr. Hoffman has over 30 years of experience building and managing large, successful research and development programs. From 1987-2001 he was malaria program director, Naval Medical Research Center, where his team were leaders in subunit malaria vaccine development and sequencing the Plasmodium falciparum genome and published the first studies in the world showing DNA vaccines elicited killer T cells in humans. In 2001 he joined Celera Genomics as Sr. VP biologics and created a program to utilize genomics and proteomics to produce biopharmaceuticals, begin the field of personalized (precision) medicine, and sequence the genome of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. He has held several professorships, chairs or serves on multiple advisory boards, is past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, authored > 490 scientific publications, and has > 60 patents. He is the most highly cited author in the world for scientific papers on malaria published between 1995 and 2005, was listed as the third most influential person in the world vaccine industry in 2015 when he received the Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Biotech CEO. He received his BA from Penn, MD from Cornell, and Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and did residency training at UC San Diego. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine in 2004, and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2016.

Chief Executive and Scientific Officer, Sanaria Inc.

Dr. Amara is a Charles Howard Candler Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory Vaccine Center, Emory National Primate Research Center of Emory University. He received his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India and did his postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University. His research is focused on the development of vaccines for infectious diseases such as HIV, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), HCV and Tuberculosis. Amara’s lab has pioneered the heterologous prime/boost vaccination approaches using DNA, modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) and novel protein immunogens for vaccine delivery. A HIV vaccine based on these vectors was shown to be safe in healthy human volunteers and completed phase 2 studies in humans. Newer versions of this vaccine are under development and showed promise in the macaque model. More recently, Amara’s laboratory developed MVA and RBD-trimer based vaccines for COVID-19 and these vaccines showed promise in the NHP model. The MVA-COVID-19 vaccine is being manufactured in India for human testing. In addition, Amara’s lab is developing novel vaccination strategies to induce a strong mucosal antibody response and tissue resident memory CD8 T cells. Amara’s lab is also developing novel therapies for HIV by targeting the PD-1 co-inhibitory pathway combined with therapeutic vaccination. He published more than 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts and received multiple grants from NIH.

Charles Howard Candler Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Associate Director, Vaccine Development, Emory Vaccine Center, Co-Director, Developmental Core, Emory CFAR, Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University

Dr. Robert O. Dillman, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer of AIVITA Biomedical. Previously, Dr. Dillman served as Vice President of Oncology at Caladrius Biosciences, Inc. (formerly Neostem, Inc.), a leading development and manufacturing partner to the cell therapy industry. From May 2014 to January 6, 2016 he also served as Member of Caladrius’ Melanoma Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Dillman has served as the Executive Medical Director of the Hoag Hospital Institute for Research and Education, in Newport Beach, California, a position he has held since 2011. Prior to this position he served as Executive Medical Director of the Hoag Family Cancer Institute from 2008-2011, and was Medical Director of the Hoag Cancer Center from 1989-2008. He has also served as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine (“UCI”) since 1989. He also held the position of Assistant Director of the UCSD Cancer Center and Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the San Diego VA Medical Center, then Director of Experimental Clinical Oncology and Associate Director of the Ida M. Green Cancer Center of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California.

Dr. Dillman chaired the Cancer Biotherapy Research Group from 1990 to 2002, and is a past President and board Member of the International Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer. He directed a cell biology research laboratory focused on patient-specific cell therapies for more than 20 years, and is an internationally recognized leader in cancer immunotherapy approaches, including monoclonal antibodies, adoptive cell therapies, IL-2, and cancer vaccines. He has authored more than 300 medical publications and is recognized internationally for his work in lung cancer, lymphoma, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), melanoma, and kidney cancers. He was the first physician in Orange County, California to be selected as one of the Best Doctors in America in Hematology and/or Oncology. In 2006, Dr. Dillman was named Orange County Physician of the Year by the Orange County Medical Association. In 2008, he received Hoag Hospital’s first endowed chair, the Grace E. Hoag Endowed Chair of Oncology and in 2010, he became one of only five recipients in the world to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

Dr. Dillman received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He also completed both his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and served as a Chief Resident. He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at University of California, San Diego Medical Center.

Chief Medical Officer, AIVITA Biomedical, Inc., Clinical Professor of Medicine, UC Irvine

Chief Scientific Officer, Cellular Technology Limited, Adjunct Associate Professor of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University

Chief Technology Officer, Serimmune

Chief Medical Officer & SAB Chair, DECOY Therapeutics, Cambridge MA, USA

Dr. He is an endowed Professor at the University of Georgia and the inventor of Blue Lake’s PIV5 platform. He has over 20 years of experience in vaccine research with over 70 peer-reviewed publications.

President & CEO, CyanVac LLC

He previously held professorial positions at the Harvard Medical School, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston) and Cambridge University (UK). He has received awards from the Wellcome Trust (UK), Cancer Research Institute (New York) and the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society (USA) and is an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (2002), the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002) and the Royal Society of Canada (2021). Professor Rudd’s research focus is on uncovering T-cell receptors and signaling mechanisms in immunotherapy and the therapeutic feasibility of novel small molecules in anti-tumor immunity.

Professeur, Faculte de Medicine, Dept de microbiologie, infectiologie et immunologie, Director-Cell Signaling and Immunotherapy Section, Centre de Recherche Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont

Prior to being named Chief Scientific Officer at Codiak, Dr. Sathyanarayanan was Senior Vice President, Preclinical Development. In this role, he designed and led the preclinical evaluation of all of Codiak’s development programs in oncology/immuno-oncology, including exoIL-12™ and exoSTING™, and exoASO™-STAT6. Dr. Sathyanarayanan joined Codiak in 2017 as Vice President, Biology and Translational Sciences after spending four years developing biomarker strategies to enable clinical development of novel cancer immunotherapy agents, including JTX-2011 from inception to Phase 2 clinical development, at Jounce Therapeutics as Senior Director, Translational Sciences. He began his career in drug discovery at Merck Research Laboratories where he was responsible for building translational oncology strategy for multiple biologics and small molecule programs including Dalotuzumab and Ridaforolimus. Dr. Sathyanarayanan completed his post-doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology and cell biology from the Indian Institute of Science and masters and undergraduate degrees in biochemistry from PSG College.

Chief Scientific Officer, Codiak

Broadly, our focus is on developing novel nanomedicine approaches to meet unmet needs in treating, diagnosing or preventing disease. We strive to use good engineering principles to iteratively design, synthesize, characterize, test and validate next generation nanoparticles and biosensors with the ultimate goal of making a translational impact on improving human health. Developing safer, organic nanoparticles that will allow superior treatment options for cancer therapy is a major research thrust.

SUNY Empire Innovation Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo

Dr. Connors received his M.D. from Temple University and was trained in pediatrics at Tufts New England Medical Center. He joined the NIAID Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in 1989 to study the immune response to respiratory syncytial virus. He was trained in infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center and at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He joined the Laboratory of Immunoregulation in 1994 to study the human immune response to HIV. Dr. Connors has published a series of discoveries that have laid the framework for current understanding of immunologic control of HIV in some rare patients and loss of immunologic control in the majority of infected patients.

Chief, HIV-Specific Immunity Section, NIAID/LIR

Dr. Blanco obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He pursued his studies in infectious diseases and the host response to infection, first, in a postdoctoral position at NICHD, NIH, and then as a Senior Scientist at USUHS, MD. In 2010, Dr. Blanco co-founded Sigmovir Biosystems Inc. (SBI), a Maryland biotech company focused on the study of viral infections, with emphasis on human respiratory viral infections. Since the beginning of his career, and as independent investigator, he published > 100 peer-reviewed articles in the field of infectious diseases and secured many NIH research grants including RO1s, R21s, SBIRs, and STTRs. Dr. Blanco’s laboratory has particularly interest in studies on viruses that produce the largest impact on human health throughout life: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, rhinovirus, and SARS-CoV2. Using the cotton rat model (Sigmodon sp.) due to its permissiveness to non-adapted strains of all these viruses, Dr. Blanco’s laboratory studies innate and adaptive response, explores different inflammatory pathways affecting infection, determines specific pathological outcomes in different populations (different ages, immunological status, or e.g., during pregnancy or immune suppression), and tests vaccines and therapeutics

President and Scientific Director, Sigmovir Biosystems Inc.

Dr. Morrison has a BA from Wellesley college and obtained her Ph. D from the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University Medical School.  She was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems of the University of Massachusetts Medical School.   She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) and fellow of the American Academy for Microbiology.  She is an Associate Editor for Science Advances, the online version of Science Magazine, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Virology.  She has served as the Program Chair for the American Society for Virology, the Chair of the Microbiology Test Committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners, the Chair of Division T of the American Society for Microbiology, and a member of numerous study sections of the National Institutes of health.   She has over 100 publications concerning RNA virus entry and assembly as well as vaccine development.

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

My laboratory focuses on understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of Flaviviridae family of viruses – Hepatitis C Virus, Zika Virus and Dengue Virus. Globally over 3 billion people are at risk of contracting these viral pathogens through mosquito vectors and contact with contaminated blood and bodily fluids. Zika virus (ZIKV), a major human pathogen, causes congenital eye disease and microcephaly. ZIKV is transmitted by Aedes species of mosquitoes and through sex. Currently, there is no vaccine or treatment available against ZIKV. Our main research focus is to develop a potent recombinant vaccine to prevent Zika virus infection. We have developed a reverse genetics system to engineer attenuating mutations in the Zika viral genome and animal models to test the safety and immunological profiles of these engineered vaccine candidates. In addition, we are investigating the differing impact of sexual (vaginal and rectal routes) and mosquito vector modes of transmission in infected adults on fetal outcome. For modeling congenital ZIKV eye disease, we are utilizing human pluripotent stem cells derived ocular progenitor cells and 3D optic cup organoids. In these human cell-based systems, we have observed differential activation of signaling pathways and long non-codling RNAs (lncRNAs) by various Zika viral pathotypes. We are evaluating the genetic and molecular basis of these specific cellular perturbations, which can allow for understanding the basic biology of eye development and identifying novel therapeutic interventions. We are further focusing on developing a recombinant Zika virus-based immuno-oncolytic therapy targeting glioblastoma (GB). Cancer immuno-therapies have been shown to be effective for hematologic cancers, but demonstrate limited efficacy for solid tumors. We propose that oncolytic virus based solid tumor cell killing can provide space and additional stimuli to recruit host T-cells as well as CAR-T cells to cancer site. Despite decades of research, patients with glioblastoma have a median survival of 12 to 15 months following diagnosis. Zika virus-based oncolytic therapy can provide additional treatment option to this destructive cancer.

Adjunct Associate Professor Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California Los Angeles

Dr. Pi-Hui Liang obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 2003. Her Ph.D. supervisor was Prof. Chen-Yu Cheng and her thesis project was the total synthesis of galanthamine, an anti-Alzheimer’s disease drug. After a short stay in Formosa Lab as a research chemist and pharmacist, she joined Dr. Chi-Huey Wong’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow at The Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei (2003–2006) with an outstanding post-doctoral scholarship from Academia Sinica (2003-2005) and from the National Health Research Institute (2006-2007). In 2006, she was awarded an overseas postdoctoral scholarship by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan to continue postdoctoral research in The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California (2006–2008). During this period, she worked on the development of glycan arrays and glycosidase inhibitors. She started her independent career as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at National Taiwan University in August 2008.

Founder, ImmunAdd

Dr. Yamamoto has been working in the HIV-1 field since 1984 and is the co-discoverer of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV, feline counterpart of HIV) and the inventor of the first commercial FIV vaccine (Fel-O-Vax® FIV, sold by Pfizer and Boehringer). Under the leadership of Dr. Murray Gardner (director of CFAR) in 1984, she set up the first HIV-1 laboratory at the University of California, Davis (UCD) which later became the main laboratory of the NIH-funded Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at UCD. She is the first to publish together with Drs. Francois Barré-Sinousi (Nobelauriate) and Gardner that IFNα and IFNβ suppresses HIV-1 replication but IFNγ enhances HIV-1 replication. Based on her experience in large-scale production of HIV-1 viruses and HIV-1 immunoblots, she also served as the consultant on the second FDA-approved HIV-1 immunoblot by Bio-Rad Laboratories. She has extensive experience in adjuvants for protein vaccines including cytokine (IL12, IL15, IL18, IFNγ) supplement of adjuvants in cats. After the discovery of FIV, her laboratory has focused on the development of FIV vaccine for both prophylaxis and therapeutic uses and FIV infection of cats as the natural small animal model of HIV/AIDS. Her laboratory has been studying the immune mechanism(s) of the protection conferred by prototype and commercial dual-subtype FIV vaccines as an animal model for developing HIV-1 vaccine. Her laboratory has discovered that vaccine-induced T-cell immunity may be more important in prophylactic protection against both homologous-subtype and heterologous-subtype FIV than vaccine-induce antibody immunity. Based on this finding, her laboratory is developing a second-generation FIV vaccine which has no conflict with commercial FIV diagnostics. Her laboratory is also working on identifying T-cell epitopes on HIV for an effective HIV vaccine for prophylaxis and therapy. Yamamoto has had NIH grant for 30 years and the majority of 90 journal/book publications and 32 patent publications are on FIV or HIV-1.

Professor and Director of VAB BSL-3 V3-213D Laboratory & LCIV-CA, Dept of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida

Our laboratory focuses on understanding host-virus dynamics using molecular biology, virology, immunology, systems biology, and genomic tools to develop prevention strategies for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus. We use non-human primate models most often for in vivo studies, while also using small animal models. Our long-term goal is to set up well-controlled clinical cohorts in tandem for testing the disease outcomes in relevant animal models as a synergistic platform for preclinical development of vaccines/therapeutics.

Professor & Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience, The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Tian Wang is a Professor of Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. She received her Ph.D. degree in Immunology from UTMB and completed a Postdoctoral training in Infectious Disease at Yale University. Over the past two decades, Dr. Wang’s research has mainly focused on vaccine development and understanding of the disease mechanisms of emerging and re-emerging RNA viruses.

Professor, Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Pathology, Director, NIAID T35 Infectious Diseases & Inflammatory Disorder Training Program, Member, Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences

Kulp has more than 15 years of experience developing molecular design software and leading protein engineering projects. He joined Wistar from The Scripps Research Institute and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative where he was a principal scientist. Kulp received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed postdoctoral training in structure-based and experimental protein engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Associate Professor, Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute

Marcus Buggert defended his Ph.D. thesis in 2014 at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, on the role of T cells in the natural control of HIV infection. He next moved to the University of Pennsylvania for post-doctoral studies on resident and recirculating memory T cells in the context of human viral infections (Buggert et al., Cell, 2020; Buggert et al., Science Immunology,2018, among others).

Since 2018, he has been back in Sweden and joined the Center for Infection Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. Dr. Buggert is a centrally KI-funded Assistant Professor with a research focus on human antiviral cell-mediated immunity. His initial discoveries on antiviral recirculating and resident memory T cells led him to establish major initiatives in translational immunology to study tissue immunity in human organ donors, immunocompromised cohorts, and vaccinated individuals. Dr. Buggert is a leading expert in the field of cell-mediated immunity against SARS-CoV-2. He is the main PI on several large project grants from the Swedish and European Research Council and served as an advisor and member of several national and international grant organizations, university committees, and editorial boards.

Assistant Professor, Karolinska Institutet

Dr. Alexander-Miller is Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM). In addition, she serves as Director of the WFUSM Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging and is the Director of an NIH-funded T32 pre-doctoral training grant. She holds the Dolores G. Evans, PhD endowed chair in Microbiology and Immunology.

As departmental chair, Dr. Alexander-Miller oversees a group of highly interactive faculty working on host-pathogen interactions. Dr. Alexander-Miller joined the faculty of WFUSM in 1997 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. She obtained her doctorate at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Alexander-Miller’s career has been dedicated to understanding regulation of the immune response following pathogen infection. She was the first to report the T cell attribute of functional avidity as a critical determinant of the effectiveness of these cells for viral clearance. Based on her seminal work, this is now a routine measure of cellular function. Her current area of focus is the development of influenza vaccines that are effective in young infants. Her passion around this goal led to the establishment of the WFUSM Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging. In addition to facilitating basic and clinical research in this area, the center is committed to public outreach and education, including delivering seminars for teachers across North Carolina.

Dr. Alexander-Miller has been the recipient of the Mid-Career Investigator Award and the Innovator Award. She has served on numerous NIH study sections. Currently, Dr. Alexander-Miller is an Associate Editor for the journal Frontiers in Immunology and a member of the editorial board for Vaccines. She is the senior representative to the Council of Faculty and Academic Societies for the Association of American Medical Colleges, a national organization that serves as a voice for medical school faculty within AAMC’s leadership and governance structures. In this role she serves as a member of the Program Committee and Vice-Chair for the Biomedical Research and Training Committee. She has served in a number of faculty-elected positions at WFUSM, including representative to the Wake Forest Graduate Council and Faculty Senate and as the Director of the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Graduate Program.

Dolores G. Evans Ph.D. Chair in Microbiology and Immunology, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, Director Center for Vaccines at the Extremes of Aging, Wake Forest School of Medicine

Sukrit Srivastava has done his doctoral and pre-doctoral trainings at Mangalayatan University, Max Delbrück Center and Uni Graz. Dr Srivastava is Associate Professor and one of the founding member of Indian Foundation for Fundamental Research Trust. Dr Srivastava is currently working as Guest Scientist at CSSB-Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research. His major interest is developing novel vaccine and diagnostic candidates. With Prof Michael Kolbe, Dr Srivastava has also provided a novel approach to design immunogenic compositions and call it Reverse Epitomics.

Center for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) & Indian Foundation for Fundamental Research Trust

Dr. Gongyi Zhang obtained his Ph.D from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was a visiting fellow at NIDDK, NIH. He did a postdoctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University and is currently a Professor in the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, at National Jewish Health. He set up a company, NB Life Laboratory, to develop long-lasting vaccines against pathogens such as influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and others since 2018.

Professor, Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, National Jewish Health, Founder, NB Life Laboratory, LLC, Colorado, USA

Dr. Yuri L. Lyubchenko is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE. His research spans a broad range of biomedical problems aimed at unraveling molecular mechanisms of such diseases as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. He has authored 320 research articles/book chapters. He was named UNMC distinguished scientist (2008). He is an Academic Editor for Nature-Scientific Reports, associate editor for New Journal of Science, Frontiers in Bioscience, Journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Precision Nanomedicine and serves as editorial member of a number of reputed journals. He also serves on NIH and NSF grant proposal review panels.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Andrew Lees, founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fina Biosolutions, holds over 20 patents and is the author or co-author of more than 60 peer-reviewed papers. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University. GlaxoSmithKline, the Serum Institute of India, the Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, and others all use conjugation chemistry (CDAP) developed by Dr. Lees in their S. pneumonia and meningococcal conjugate vaccines.

Dr. Lees is also an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development, an affiliate at the University of Maryland Bioprocessing Scale-Up Facility, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University. He teaches protein chromatography through the post-graduate level, and is a frequent speaker on conjugation chemistry and biotech entrepreneurship.

CEO/CSO, Fina Biosolutions

Dr. Gary Matyas received his Ph.D. in biology from Purdue University and completed his postdoctoral studies at the National Institute Neurological, Communicative Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. His postdoctoral research and his Ph.D. studies were centered on the biochemistry and function of glycolipids. In 1988, Dr. Matyas joined the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as a research chemist in the Department of Membrane Biochemistry, Division of Biochemistry, which later merged with US Military HIV Research Program. The focus of his research was on vaccines for various infectious diseases, using liposome adjuvants and transcutaneous immunization. He has studied liposomes as adjuvants for vaccines, including HIV, malaria, Campylobacter and COVID-19. He oversees the cGMP manufacture of Army Liposome Formulations (ALF) including ALF43 and ALFQ. Dr. Matyas’ research efforts focus on the development of adjuvants for HIV vaccines. He is the principal investigator for a comparative adjuvant phase 1 clinical trial that studies the effect of various adjuvants on DNA immunization and HIV-1 envelope protein boosts. The trial is being conducted in Kenya. Dr. Matyas has participated in multiple clinical trials with ALF and ALFQ for HIV, malaria, Campylobacter and COVID-19. In July 2012, Dr. Matyas was awarded the Avant-Garde Award for Medications Development from the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop a combination heroin/HIV vaccine. As part of this award and extended research, Dr. Matyas has developed an ALF-based vaccines that blocks the biological effects of opioids such as heroin and fentanyl. His heroin vaccine has proven effective in preventing overdose in animal studies and is funded for a phase 1 clinical trial.

Chief, Adjuvants and Formulation Section, Laboratory of Adjuvant and Antigen Research, US Military HIV Research Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Oretta holds a master’s degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Pavia. She completed her PhD and Post-doc at Harvard Medical School before joining the pharmaceutical sector in 1993. In her career she developed a strong scientific expertise in vaccines immunology contributing to several projects (MenB, Flu, RSV, new Adjuvants). Since 2016 she is leading a team of immunologists to provide evidence and understanding on the mode of action of new vaccine candidates in preclinical models or in early clinical studies. She contributed to the growth of capabilities in the analysis of human B cell response and profiling of the antibody repertoire that led to the creation of the B cell CoE.

Head of B Cell Center of Excellence (CoE) and Head of IT-Immunology, GSK (Bacterial Vaccines Unit)

Professor Painter obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of Otago in 1995 (synthetic methodology) which was followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge (the synthesis of inositol phospholipids for the elucidation of PI3K pathways). Since joining the Ferrier Research Institute in New Zealand his research laboratory has focussed on the synthesis of lipid-based materials including phosphatidyl inositol mannosides, glycolipids, glycolipid-peptide conjugates and novel lipid nano-delivery vehicles for encapsulation of various vaccine components including RNA, peptides, glycolipids and various immune stimulates.

Professor Painter has a strong interest in the immunological evaluation of vaccines and vaccine components. He holds a joint position with the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research Wellington New Zealand incorporating multiple national and international collaborations with immunologists.

Victoria University Wellington

Dr. Tolia became the Chief of the Host-Pathogen Interactions and Structural Vaccinology section in the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology in May 2018. He is a tenured Senior Investigator in the Division of Intramural Research, NIAID. He has pioneered the structural and biophysical studies of host-pathogen interactions, antibody neutralization and immunogen design for malaria, and has recently expanded his efforts to address pandemic viral diseases. A major goal is to define how processes required for pathogen survival are mediated and can be exploited to develop vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. His laboratory uses the tools of protein design, structural biology, immunology, vaccinology, microbiology, and biophysics to develop potent and durable interventions for infectious diseases.

Dr. Tolia received his B.Sc from Imperial College, and his Ph.D. from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences as a Leslie Quick Jr. Fellow. He began his independent career as an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology, and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University in November 2007. He was the recipient of an Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and his research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Senior Investigator, Chief, Host-Pathogen Interactions and Structural Vaccinology Section, Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, Division of Intramural Research, NIAID/NIH

Dr. Jörg Hermann Fritz graduated from the University of Vienna, Austria, where he received his Ph.D. in Immunology in cooperation with the biotech start-up Intercell (now Valneva). There he developed the vaccine adjuvant IC31, which is currently in Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials for novel vaccine candidates.

Following two postdoctoral training periods at the Institute Pasteur Paris and the University of Toronto he joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2010.

Since summer 2022 Jörg is the Director of the McGill Research Center on Complex Traits (MRCCT) and member of the the recently formed Dahdaleh Institute of Genomic Medicine (DIgM).

Jörg's research interests are focused on how innate immunity shapes antigen-specific memory and contributes to chronic inflammatory diseases. His research in the field of cellular and molecular immunology was awarded several project grants by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the New Frontiers Research Fund (NFRF) of the Canadian government.

Director, McGill Research Center on Complex Traits (MRCCT), Associate Professor, McGill University

Sebastian L Johnston: is Professor of Respiratory Medicine & Allergy and Head of Airway Disease at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK. He has been working in respiratory virus research for more than 30 years and is widely regarded as a leading global expert in respiratory viral infections. He developed the world’s first mouse model of rhinovirus infection and has used this model extensively in his work towards a rhinovirus vaccine. He also performs human experimental rhinovirus infection studies in healthy subjects, and in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), both academically, and commercially at his CRO Virtus Respiratory Research Ltd https://virtus-rr.com/.

Background

He was the Director of the Medical Research Council & Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma and the Asthma UK Clinical Professor, both from 2010-2021. He is a former and current European Research Council Advanced Grant holder. He is Emeritus Senior Investigator at the National Institute of Health Research, UK.

He became a Professor at Imperial in 1999. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London in 2000, of the Royal Society of Biology in 2011, of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the European Respiratory Society in 2014, of the European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology in 2020 and of the Association of Physicians in 2021.

He won the Paul Ehrlich Award for his research in Allergy & Clinical Immunology in 2018, the BMJ research paper of the year in 2018 and the European Respiratory Society Gold Medal for his asthma research in 2020.

He edited The International Respiratory Journal “Thorax” from 2002-2010. He has published >520 scholarly manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and has 18 patents. He has an h-index of 120, and more than 68,000 lifetime citations.

Professor of Respiratory Medicine & Allergy, Head, Airway Disease, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London

Edward T. Ryan, M.D. is a physician-scientist focusing on vaccine development for enteric diseases. Dr. Ryan is a Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Professor of Medicine-Harvard Medical School, and Director of Global Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Ryan’s investigative efforts are funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the CDC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the RIGHT Fund (Research in Global Health Technologies). Dr. Ryan is a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) MERIT Awardee, and directs the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) national Global TravEpiNet program. Dr. Ryan’s scholarly efforts include over 260 peer-reviewed publications, and 100 editorials, chapters and reviews. He also serves in a number of editorial capacities, and has served on expert and advisory committees and working groups for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute of Medicine-National Academy of Sciences-EngineeringMedicine, the U.S. CDC, the U.S. NIH, the Wellcome Trust, and PATH (formerly the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health). Dr. Ryan is a previous President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH), and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the ASTMH, and the American Academy of Microbiology, and is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

Director, Global Infectious Diseases; Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Professor of Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Roberto Adamo has a long standing experience in vaccine discovery. After post docs at the NIH and Utrecht University, in 2007 he joined Novartis, where he became Head of the Carbohydrate Chemistry Laboratory and Leader of the Conjugation & Synthesis platform. Following the company acquisition by GSK, he has covered the role of Conjugation Platform Leader and Discovery Project Leader. Currently he leads projects in early clinical phase as Vaccine Development Leader projects. His research interests vary from the synthesis of glycans, glycoconjugates and glyconanoparticles to structural glycobiology for the design of carbohydrate and protein based therapeutics.

Vaccine Development Leader, GSK

Dr. De-chu Christopher Tang and his associates were the first to have developed DNA vaccines (Tang DC et al. Nature 356: 152, 1992), noninvasive skin-patch vaccines (Tang DC et al. Nature 388: 729, 1997; Zhang J et al. Infect. Immun. 74: 3607, 2006), innate-adaptive immunity duo vaccines (Zhang J et al. PLOS ONE 6: e22605, 2011; Tang DC. PLOS ONE 15: e0241266, 2020), and in vivo cytotoxicity assay (Tang DC et al. J. Immunol. Methods 189: 173, 1996), etc. Dr. Tang obtained his PhD degree from Indiana University, and carried out his postdoctoral work at Baylor College of Medicine and Duke University. He was appointed as Assistant Instructor/Instructor at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and subsequently as Assistant Professor/Associate Professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He founded Vaxin Inc. (currently known as Altimmune, Inc.; Nasdaq: ALT) on UAB campus in 1997, and won the Wallace H. Coulter Award for innovation and entrepreneurship in 2000. He was selected as a Distinguished Overseas Scientist in South Korea in 2012; subsequently joined International Vaccine Institute in Seoul. He was appointed as the CEO of Global Research and Industry Alliance at National Central University in Taiwan in 2018. He is currently the Founder CEO of VaxDome Inc. under the Commercialization Program at University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

CEO; VaxDome Inc., Commercialization Program, University of North Texas Health Science Center

Dr. van Oosterwijk is the Chief Scientific Officer at US BIOLOGIC, and leads all development of US BIOLOGIC’s OrisBio platform, including orally delivered antimicrobials and vaccines for both animals and humans. With a focus on pandemic prevention, Dr. van Oosterwijk is currently leading the development of a chewable influenza vaccine

Chief Scientific Officer, US BIOLOGIC

Wei Zou received his Ph. D. in Organic Chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1988. He then went to Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, as a postdoctoral fellow before joining the Institute for Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada in 1993. Currently, he is a Senior Research Officer at Human Health Therapeutic Research Center, National Research Council of Canada. His research interests include glycocojugate vaccine, carbohydrate synthesis, enzyme inhibitors, and targeted delivery of therapeutics.

Senior Research Officer, Human Health Therapeutic Research Center, National Research Council of Canada

Mehul S. Suthar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics-Infectious Disease at the Emory University School of Medicine. He is also a member of the Emory Vaccine Center and the Emory National Primate Research Center. Dr. Suthar’s lab is focused on understanding the molecular and immunological mechanisms by which emerging viral infections are controlled by the host. His lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand virus-host interactions that regulate innate immune signaling and viral control, understand how CD8+ T cells mediate viral control and clearance, and understand the antibody response to virus infection. More recently, Dr. Suthar has been involved in a major effort to study the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. His group is focused on identifying, characterizing, and assessing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 variants on vaccines currently in use

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics-Infectious Disease, Emory University School of Medicine

Dr. Sun is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF). He holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology & Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry at USF, and USF Genomics. He received his PhD in Natural Sciences from the University of Kiel, Germany, and his Master Degree in Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology from the Nanjing Agricultural University, China. He received his postdoctoral training in Molecular Microbiology and Biochemistry at Brown University, USA. The research in his laboratory is focused on the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile and the development of novel therapeutics including vaccines to prevent / treat C. difficile infection (CDI). ​​He was an NIH (National Institutes of Health) Career Development K01 Awardee. His laboratory has been continuously supported by the NIH. He has been actively serving NIH study section panels including chairing the NIH study section panel in 2020. He serves as an Associate Editor for “Molecular Medicine”, Associate topic editor for “Frontiers in Microbiology”, and editorial boards for “Infection and Immunity” and “Applied and Environmental Microbiology”. He received Tufts Institute for Innovation Inaugural Award in 2014. In 2018, he was awarded "Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Award" at USF. In 2019, he was awarded "Excellence in Innovation Award" at USF. He chaired the Research Committee of College of Medicine at USF from 2019 to 2020. Currently, he serves as the President for the USF Chapter, National Academy of Inventors, USA.

Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF).

Mark A. Emalfarb is the founder of Dyadic. He has been a member of Dyadic’s board of directors since October 2004 and has served as its Chairman as well as President and Chief Executive Officer from October 2004 until April 2007 and from June 2008 until the present.

Since founding Dyadic in 1979, Mr. Emalfarb has successfully led and managed the evolution of Dyadic from its origins as a pioneer and leader in providing ingredients used in the stone-washing of blue jeans to the discovery, development, manufacturing and commercialization of specialty enzymes used in various industrial applications and the development of an integrated technology platform based on Dyadic’s patented and proprietary C1 fungal microorganism.

Mr. Emalfarb is an inventor of over 25 U.S. and foreign biotechnology patents and patent applications resulting from discoveries related to the Company’s patented and proprietary C1 fungus, and has been the architect behind its formation of several strategic research and development, manufacturing and marketing relationships with U.S. and international partners.

CEO, Dyadic International, Inc.

Ruben Rizzi, MD, is VP of Global Regulatory Affairs at BioNTech. He joined the company in December 2019 and he has worked on both infectious diseases and immune-oncology programs, being the global regulatory lead for BioNTech for the COVID-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with Pfizer (COMIRNATY). Today, Ruben is still supporting the lifecycle of COVID-19 vaccines and leading the teams working on the development of BioNTech´s pipeline, post-approval activities and labeling.  

Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs, BioNTech

Director Business Development, Scientist Process Development Conjugate Vaccines, Intravacc.nl

Thomas Tillett – Cofounder and CEO of MBF Therapeutics, an immunotherapeutics company that has developed and patented an innovative, proprietary T-Max™ DNA vaccine platform to deliver commercial protective vaccines that provide safe, durable, heterologous protection against endemic, emerging and re-emerging diseases of global concern to livestock and companion animals, with significant translational opportunities in human health. Tom is the founder and Executive Director of Sustained Acts, a Christian non-profit focusing on sustainable projects in Africa and serves on the Friends of Kijabe Hospital Board of Directors. Mr. Tillett was founder, and CEO of RHeoGene. As RheoGene CEO, he and his team created the RheoSwitch® Therapeutic System (RTS) that led to the first human clinical trial of a small molecule-induced gene regulation system. In 2007, he successfully completed the merger of RheoGene Inc. with Intrexon Corporation who has continued the development of RTS through a various clinical trials for cancer and other important therapeutic indications. In April, 2019 the FDA announced that the RheoSwitch Therapeutic System for glioma blastoma was approved for Fast Track designation. Mr. Tillett has served on the board of numerous non-profits including; University of North Carolina General Alumni Association, Impact Thrift Stores, Chelten Church Elder Board, and the American School of Paris. He was also elected to the Hatboro-Horsham Hall of Fame in 2017.

Cofounder and CEO, MBF Therapeutics

Dr Jerald C. Sadoff is an Employee of Janssen R&D US where he is the Senior Advisor for Development in the Infectious Diseases and Vaccines Therapeutic Area. Dr. Sadoff has spent his entire career developing vaccines against many bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases, 14 of which have been approved for human use. He is currently the Medical Lead for Phase I, II and pivotal Phase III efficacy studies of the Janssen SARS-COV-2 vaccine and the Janssen Uniflu Vaccine. He serves on many advisory and review panels including the NIAID AIDS Vaccine Research Working Group. Over the last 40 years, he has authored and co-authored over 350 articles, book chapters, abstracts and 22 patents.

Senior Advisor Development, ID&V Therapeutic Area for Janssen R&D US, Johnson & Johnson

Dr. Nash Rochman is currently a Principal Investigator at the National Institutes of Health. Employing diverse computational approaches, from the mechanical phenotyping of cancer cells using machine learning to the phylodynamic analysis of epidemic viruses, he seeks to uncover and explain deeply conserved mechanisms of host adaptation. Under a microscope, smallpox and influenza do not look alike. One is much bigger; the other is densely spiked. They are not even encoded by the same genetic material, and yet the evolutionary histories of each are marked by very similar events. Over time, genes are lost and virulence is heightened. Surface proteins bend and twist. Albeit using different pieces, both must ultimately play by a shared set of rules–those facilitating stable relationships among all hosts and all pathogens. These rules are not always clear but may be uncovered through an examination of conserved evolutionary features emerging during periods of rapid host adaptation

Principal Investigator, National Institutes of Health

Ulo is the Chief Medical Officer of Vaxxinity. He has 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D in a range of clinical, operational, and quality functions. He was recognized by CenterWatch as one of 20 innovators changing the face of the clinical trials industry and by The Medicine Maker as one of the 100 most influential people in clinical trials in 2015. Over the course of his career, Ulo has contributed to 30+ successful New Drug Applications (NDAs) in major therapeutic areas and has led strategy development and implementation of new, groundbreaking technologies in clinical research.

Before joining Vaxxinity, he was co-founder and CMO at Ordaos Bio, an AI drug design company with the mission of using digital sciences, machine learning, and AI to increase the speed and efficacy of drug R&D. Prior to Ordaos, Ulo was SVP at Allergan where he led Digital Sciences and Global Drug Development Operations.  Ulo’s preceding roles include SVP of Clinical Operations & Biometrics and Therapeutic Area Head of Respiratory Clinical Development with Forest Labs; Global Head, Laboratory & Preclinical Quality Assurance and Global Head of Clinical Operations Oncology with Novartis; and various drug development roles at Schering-Plough and Bayer.

He has also been the past Chair of the Oversight Committee and Corporate Secretary of TransCelerate BioPharma, a nonprofit organization formed by the top 20 global biopharmaceutical companies to collaborate in modernizing clinical research globally and accelerate the development of new efficient, effective, and high-quality new medicines. He is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality and a certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence. His work at the ASQ includes initiating and co-authoring the ASQ report on “Best Quality Practices For Biomedical Research In Drug Development”.

Ulo earned his MD and PhD from the Free University of Berlin and a MBA from the AKAD University of Applied Sciences in Rendsburg, Germany.

Chief Medical Office, Vaxxinity

Dr. Aman is a molecular immunologist and corporate executive with over 30 years of experience in the field of immunology, infectious disease, and vaccine and immunotherapeutics development. He received his M.S. in Pharmacy from University of Frankfurt and Ph.D. in molecular immunology from University of Mainz, Germany. He performed his post-doctoral research at NIH and University of Virginia on signal transduction in immune cells. Dr. Aman has published over 130 papers ranging from basic research in immunology, signal transduction, to vaccine and antibody discovery in international scientific journals. He has established Integrated BioTherapeutics, Inc. (IBT) that combined a discovery CRO business and an R&D program focused on structure-based design and development of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies against emerging infectious diseases with a strong non-dilutive funding of over $115M and a strategic funding from Novo Holdings. IBT’s lead product, a vaccine for prevention of recurrent MRSA infection supported by CARB-X and NIH, is currently nearing Phase 1 clinical trial. Recently, Dr. Aman spun off the R&D programs of IBT into a new company named AbVacc focused on rational vaccine and monoclonal antibody design.

President and CEO, AbVacc, Inc

Alexander (Sasha) Rumyantsev, MD, PhD, MBA has over 20 years of experience of developing vaccines in the private and government sectors. Currently, he is a Therapeutic Area Head, Infectious Diseases at Vaxxinity, with its novel COVID-19 vaccine at the regulatory submission stage. Previously he led preclinical and strategic efforts across a broad range of vaccine platforms and target programs at Sanofi and Acambis. 

Therapeutic Area Head, Infectious Diseases, Vaxxinity

Dr. Byron Brook earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia and has since been a postdoctoral research fellow in the Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) at Boston Children’s Hospital, with secondary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, working with Dr. Ofer Levy and Dr. David Dowling.

Dr. Brook’s interests are centered around maximizing vaccine benefits, via application of existing and novel adjuvantation technologies to maximize immunogenicity, permitting dose sparing to extend vaccine reach, reduce reactogenicity, and enable multivalent immunization, or from evaluation and application of BCG nonspecific effect mechanisms able to protect vulnerable populations. He has published on a variety of applications including adjuvantation, challenge model development, elucidation of BCG-induced emergency granulopoiesis sufficient and required for protection, AI-modeling to predict subsequent outcome, and SARS-CoV-2 related research of vulnerable populations. Recently, he has investigated ontogeny-specific immunity identifying contributors to distinct immunity in the elderly and has adjuvanted mRNA vaccines through admixing lipid nanoparticles encapsulating mRNA encoding IL-12p70 with BNT162b2 to subsequently amplify SARS-CoV-2 specific immunity.

Research Fellow, Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Institutes of Medicine

Stephen Elledge is the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in biology from MIT. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences and of Medicine. His awards include the Gairdner Award, Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Breakthrough Prize, and the Gruber Prize in Genetics.

His interests center on genetic approaches to biological problems including the DNA damage response, cell cycle, cancer evolution and immunity. With Wade Harper he uncovered the two largest families of E3 ubiquitin ligases: the CRLs and the RING ligases. He has also worked in unraveling the role of cancer drivers in the evolution of cancer and how tumor suppressors allow cancers to evade the immune system. Dr. Elledge has developed a suite of immunological methods, such as T-Scan, VirScan and EpiScan, that allows the genome-wide identification of epitopes recognized by B and T cells to investigate the role of viruses in human disease.

Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Chen has been a Professor in the State Key Lab of Respiratory Disease, at Guangzhou Medical University since 2013. Dr. Chen received a medical degree from Shanghai Medical College in 1984. He obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. From 1997-2001, Dr. Chen served as a Senior Research Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was the first inventor of Merck’s MRK Ad5-based AIDS vaccine that entered clinical trials worldwide. Dr. Chen served as Vice President of R&D for GlaxoSmithKline in 2009-2011 and as Vice President at Sanofi Pasteur in 2012. Dr. Chen has over 200 publications in infectious diseases, vaccine research, and cancer research. His current research is focused on vaccine and antibody research on adenovirus, influenza virus, and emerging viruses. Since 2020, Dr. Chen has been working on developing a user-friendly intranasal vaccine to induce mucosal immunity. In a recent study, this intranasal vaccine showed promising results in inducing nasal secretory IgA and efficacy in preventing Omicron infection.

Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China

Dr. Afzal A. Siddiqui holds the highest academic rank of Grover E. Murray Professor that Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) bestows on its faculty. He is the Chair of the Department of Immunology & Molecular Microbiology at the TTUHSC-School of Medicine. He has earned his B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. and M. Phil. degrees from the Aligarh Muslim University in India and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. His professional training is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morehouse College, University of Illinois College of Medicine, and Harvard University School of Public Health. He is a recipient of Fulbright Research and Teaching Scholarship for Southeast Asia.

Dr. Siddiqui has authored over 100 research papers, book chapters/reviews and articles. He serves on several Editorial Boards of scientific journals and has served as peer-reviewer for over 100 international journals. He has served on numerous NIAID and NIH study sections. He serves as a consultant to US FDA. He has reviewed grants for Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Policies, Republic of Italy; Romanian National Council for Scientific Research; Medical Research Council, Australia; Czech Science Foundation; and Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

Dr. Siddiqui has developed a vaccine against schistosomiasis, called SchistoShield® which has received patents in the USA and internationally. Schistosomiasis is a debilitating disease with which 252 million people are currently infected and an additional 779 million are at risk of acquiring the infection in 79 countries.

Phase 1 human clinical trials of SchistoShield® in USA have just been completed at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (NIAID’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium). Phase 1b/2a trials in Africa (Madagascar, Burkina Faso) starting in the fall of 2023 are funded through Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Union/Horizon 2020 and RIGHT Foundations grants. SchistoShield® is concurrently optimized in schistosome human challenge infection model (Funded by Wellcome Trust) in Europe (The Netherlands) and Africa (Uganda).

Grover E. Murray Professor, Chair, Immunology & Molecular Microbiology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Dr. Nara is one of the co-founders, the Chief Scientific Officer and President Business Development for Keystone Bio Inc. in St. Louis, Mo., a Systemic-Oral Health Biotech with bio-therapeutics, vaccines and CDx for the elimination of a specific oral virulent bacterial associated with systemic inflammation. Dr. Nara was formerly Section Chief at the National Cancer Institute, serial biotech entrepreneur and The Endowed Eugene Lloyd Entrepreneurial Chair and Translational Center Director at Iowa State University, College of Veterinary Medicine an He holds a M.Sc. in Immuno-pharmacology, a combined Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Ph.D. (retro-virology/oncogenesis) from The Ohio State University, 4 year combined residency in Comparative Pathology and NIH post-doctoral Fellowship at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and a NIH. He is also elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011 and distinguished Alumni of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine 2014.

Co-Founders, Chief Scientific Officer, and President of Business Development for Keystone Bio Inc.

Dr. Hangwen Li holds a Ph.D from MD. Anderson Cancer Center. He was Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Therapy of MD Anderson Cancer Center and successively received grants and awards from the US Department of Defense. He is currently a distinguished researcher of Dongfang Hospital of Tongji University, a member of the Vaccine International Cooperation Promotion Branch of the China Association For Vaccines, and a permanent member of the Nucleic Acid Vaccine Branch of the China Association For Vaccines. Dr. Li has more than 19 years of experience in the field of RNA and cancer immunotherapy. His research fields include tumor immunotherapy, RNA drugs and cancer stem cells. He has published more than 30 SCI articles and publications, and his articles have been cited for more than 3000 times. In 2021, he won the National Science and Technology System's award for Distinguished Individual in Fighting the Covid-19 Pandemic, and in 2022, he won the “Gold Gathering Award” in the Shanghai Global Talents Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition.

In 2016, Dr. Li returned to China and founded StemiRNA, which is the first company in Asia that focuses on the research and development of innovative mRNA drugs and vaccines. StemiRNA has now developed into a global leader and the first domestic platform innovative drug enterprise for mRNA vaccine and drug research and development in China. Its self-developed lipid polymer nano carrier (LPP) technology platform has been granted patents in Europe, America and other places. StemiRNA’s pipelines include mRNA vaccines and drugs for a series of infectious diseases (including COVID-19, influenza, etc.), tumors, and rare diseases.

Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Stemirna Therapeutics Co., Ltd.

Jessica McDonough is a co-founder of Attivare Tx, a new immunotherapy company developing technology from the Wyss Institute at Harvard. Jessica joined Attivare Tx in July of 2021 to develop innovative immunotherapies. Prior to joining Attivare, Jessica in business development roles at the Wyss Institute at Harvard from 2014-2021. Jessica was responsible for translating technologies in the areas of synthetic biology and molecular robotics. Prior to joining Wyss, Jessica worked at Decision Resources (now Clarivate) as a Principal in their custom consulting division. She worked with top pharmaceutical and biotech companies on over fifty engagements including topics such as therapeutic area landscapes, opportunity assessments, and valuations focusing on both the major and emerging markets. Jessica holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Co-Founder, Attivare Tx

Dr. Mandler is founder and CEO of Tridem Bioscience with over 15 years of collaborative research and management experience in academia and industry. Serving as Head of the Neurodegeneration Division of AFFiRiS AG he was developing new vaccination-based treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Focusing on Alzheimer's disease and synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease and multisystem atrophy. Dr: Mandler – together with his Affiris team - was responsible for the selection of the first two peptide-based vaccines for Parkinson's disease and multisystem atrophy ever tested in humans. Before founding Tridem he served as CSO of Accanis Biotech where he was working on mRNA therapeutics in dermal applications. Dr. Mandler has authored numerous publications in high impact journals and holds several patents and patent applications. His work was awarded with multiple national as well as international research grants.

Founder and CEO, of Tridem Bioscience

Dr. Mukesh Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Georgia State University. He is a virologist and immunologist with expertise in the studies of RNA virus/host interactions. Kumar’s major area of research interest is to identify novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for emerging infectious diseases, which include COVID-19, West Nile virus encephalitis and Zika virus-associated neurological disease. His lab is studying the pathogenic mechanisms underlying the development of brain dysfunction during neurotropic virus infection.

Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Georgia State University

Eric A. Appel is an Associate Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at Stanford University. He received his BS in Chemistry and MS in Polymer Science from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. Eric performed his MS thesis research with Dr Jim Hedrick and Dr Robert Miller on the synthesis of polymers for drug delivery applications at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. He then obtained his PhD in Chemistry with Prof. Oren A. Scherman at the University of Cambridge. For his PhD work, Eric was the recipient of the Jon Weaver PhD prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Graduate Student Award from the Materials Research Society. Upon graduating from Cambridge, he was awarded a National Research Service Award from the NIBIB and a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT. Eric’s research at Stanford focuses on the development of biomimetic polymeric materials that can be used as tools to better understand fundamental biological processes and to engineer advanced healthcare solutions. His research has led to more than one hundred publications and 35 patents. He has been awarded young faculty awards from the Hellman Foundation, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, and PhRMA Foundation. Eric received the IUPAC Hanwha-TotalEnergies Young Polymer Scientist Award in 2022 and the Society for Biomaterials Young Investigator Award in 2023.

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Stanford University

Rachel Liberatore is the President and Chief Scientific Officer at RenBio, a biotechnology company in New York City developing a platform technology for the DNA-based delivery of monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins for the prevention of infectious diseases and the treatment of chronic diseases. RenBio’s MYO Technology platform uses intramuscular electroporation of plasmid DNA to deliver sustained levels of antibodies and other therapeutic proteins. Current programs include the development of a monoclonal antibody for the prevention of Zika virus disease and a therapeutic protein for chronic neutropenia treatment.

Previously, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, she used genetic techniques to understand how intrinsic cellular defenses restrict the spreading of retroviruses, including murine leukemia viruses and HIV-1. She also studied the elicitation of antiviral antibodies directed at viral envelope proteins using recombinant viruses.

Dr. Liberatore received her bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies from Columbia University.

President & Chief Scientific Officer, RenBio, Inc

Dr. Schotsaert obtained a master’s degree in bio-engineering (2003), a master’s degree in molecular medical biotechnology (2004) and a PhD in molecular biotechnology (2011) from Ghent University (Belgium). In 2013 he joined the lab of Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre for postdoctoral work as an immunologist and vaccinologist and has since established different vaccination and infection models (BSL2, BSL3 and BSL3+). Dr. Schotsaert’s work focuses on influenza, ZIKA and SARS-CoV-2 viruses and he has over fifteen years of experience with studying host-pathogen interactions in preclinical infection models to immunologically characterize and validate candidate vaccines, adjuvants and antiviral treatments. From an immunological point of view, his research focuses on the interplay and cross-talk between innate and adaptive immune responses during virus infection. Since January 2020, the Schotsaert laboratory is established in the Department of Microbiology and the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and together with his team he continues to study host-immune responses to infection and vaccination in the context of comorbidities like obesity, diabetes and advanced age.

Assistant Professor, Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

I earned my Bachelor (1998) and PhD's (2002) degrees in Physical Chemistry (1998) at the University of Siena (Italy). During my PhD course I worked on the physicochemical characterization of metal-peptide complexes by spectroscopic techniques (two years at Department of Chemistry - University of Siena) on the preparation and structural characterization of meningococcal ACWY polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines (one year at Chiron Vaccines - Siena, currently GSK Vaccines and formerly Novartis Vaccines). In 2002 I joined GSK Vaccines (formerly Novartis Vaccines; formerly Chiron Vaccines) as a young scientist and in the following 10 years was appointed Project Leader, Lab Head, Unit Head, Head of Vaccine Chemistry and Formulation Department and Head of Antigen Design Department. In September 2022 I have been appointed Senior Director – Bacterial Vaccines R&D, which is my current position. I served as a visiting scientist at the Institute of Biological Sciences (National Research Council) in Ottawa (Canada) in 2008 and at the Genomic Institute of Novartis Foundation (La Jolla, CA, US) in 2010. In the last 22 years, I have been working on research and development of several carbohydrate based vaccines, particularly focusing on carbohydrate- and protein-based antigens against bacterial (Neisseria meningitidis ACWYX, Streptococcus pneumoniae, group B Streptococcus, group A Streptococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, etc.), viral (HIV, RSV, CMV, etc.) and fungal (Candida albicans, etc.) infections. I have authored and co-authored of 108 published scientific papers and reviews and more than 20 patents.

Senior Director, GSK Vaccines, Presentation Title: Recent advancements in the glycoconjugate vaccines field

Sabine Hauck is Executive Vice President Corporate Development at Munich-based biotech company Leukocare AG. She has 20+ years of experience in the biotech industry, in which she held various positions in pharmaceutical development, quality assurance and regulatory affairs. Her experience spans from small molecules to cell therapies and includes a variety of dosage forms. In the current position, Sabine is responsible for digitalization activities at Leukocare AG as well as for Business Process and Quality Management. In this role, she supports the ongoing digital transformation of the organization related to the algorithm-based formulation development approach at Leukocare.

EVP Corporate Development, Leukocare AG

I am involved in generating the evidence package for the immuno-potency and preclinical safety (toxicology studies) of the vaccines currently under development at the GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health, Siena, Italy. My current research interests are on novel vaccine platforms like GMMA and on cross-platform, combination vaccines aimed at enabling multicomponent vaccine immunization maximizing immunogenicity, dose sparing and vaccine affordability.

I earned my Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and then moved to Jena, Germany as postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology.

My research during the Ph.D. and the postdoc focussed on nutritional immunity, a process by which a host organism sequesters trace minerals to limit pathogenicity during infection and the strategies that the invading pathogen use to overcome this restriction, with the discovery of the molecular mechanism of host-derived zinc acquisition used by major human fungal pathogens; the Pra1-Zrt1 zincophore system.

Senior Scientist, Research and Development skills in vaccinology, GSK

Dr Olivia Burn received her PhD in immunology from the University of Otago in 2020 and has since been a postdoctoral research fellow at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research Wellington New Zealand. Olivia’s research is centred around the phenotype of T cell responses in the setting of hepatotropic diseases, such as Hepatitis B. With Prof Gavin Painter and Prof Ian Hermans, Dr Burn investigates how vaccine design and the use of novel adjuvants can influence these T cell responses. Olivia is currently undergoing a fellowship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai with Ass Prof Amaia Lujambio, an experienced liver cancer biologist who has developed state-of the-art animal models of liver cancer. Dr Burn is using these models to assess the influence of vaccine design on tumour-specific T cells and animal survival

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research

Dr. Kevin O. Saunders graduated from Davidson College in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. At Davidson College, he trained in the laboratory of Dr. Karen Hales identifying the genetic basis of infertility. Dr. Saunders completed his doctoral research on CD8+ T cell immunity against HIV-1 infection with Dr. Georgia Tomaras at Duke University in 2010. He subsequently trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Drs. Gary Nabel and John Mascola at the National Institutes of Health NIAID Vaccine Research Center. In 2014, Dr. Saunders joined the faculty at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and is currently an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Surgery. He was subsequently appointed as the Duke Human Vaccine Institute Director of the Laboratory of Protein Expression and Associate Director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. Dr. Saunders has given invited lectures at international conferences such as HIVR4P and the Keystone Symposia for HIV Vaccines. He has authored book chapters and numerous journal articles, and holds patents on vaccine design concepts and antiviral antibodies. His current research interests include vaccine and antibody development to combat viral infections.

Director, Laboratory of Protein Expression, Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Associate Director, Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University Medical Center

Dr. Giuseppe Stefanetti has been Assistant Professor at Urbino University since 2022, specializing in the interaction between microbes and the immune system, with a particular emphasis on developing new vaccines and exploring microbiome science.

Previously, Giuseppe worked at Harvard Medical School starting in 2015, first as a Principal Investigator on a Marie Curie grant fellowship in collaboration with the University of Milan, and then as an Instructor in Immunology. During his time at Harvard, he focused on studying the interaction of microbial carbohydrates with the immune system, aiming to develop innovative glycoconjugate vaccines.

In 2014, he successfully completed his Ph.D. in Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology at the Novartis Vaccine Institute for Global Health in Siena. His research there centered around investigating the impact of polysaccharide antigen structure and conjugation chemistry on Nontyphoidal Salmonella glycoconjugate vaccines. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the GSK Vaccine Institute for Global Health, where he focused on outer membrane vesicles as candidate vaccines.

Giuseppe earned a Master’s degree in Chemical Science and pursued a Master’s course in Polymer and Nanocomposites Science from the University of Perugia. He also holds an Executive MBA from Politecnico di Milano Business School.

Assistant Professor, Urbino University

Alan Herbert is leading the team at InsideOut Bio to develop cancer therapeutics based on his pioneering work that has unraveled the role played by left-handed Z-DNA and Z-RNA in the regulation of innate immune responses to viruses and cancers

President and Founder, InsideOutBio.com

Richard S. Kornbluth, MD, PhD is the founder, president, and chief scientific officer of Multimeric Biotherapeutics, Inc. which is a vaccine and cancer immunotherapy company located in San Diego, CA. He trained at Harvard, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Columbia, and Scripps Research. Prior to founding Multimeric Biotherapeutics, he was a Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego. He is currently a Professor at the Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego. His main research interests are the TNF SuperFamily (TNFSF) of ligands, especially CD40 ligand (CD40L) and 4-1BB ligand (4-1BBL). He also studies MAVS and STING as vaccine adjuvants and immuno-oncology agents. He is an inventor on several vaccine patents and is the co-inventor of the company’s lead technology, FortiVac. He has authored >60 papers and has been the principal investigator on numerous grants from the NIH and CDC. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

President & Chief Scientific Officer, Multimeric Biotherapeutics, Inc

Dr. Yuri L. Lyubchenko is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE. His research spans a broad range of biomedical problems aimed at unraveling molecular mechanisms of such diseases as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. He has authored 320 research articles/book chapters. He was named UNMC distinguished scientist (2008). He is an Academic Editor for Nature-Scientific Reports, associate editor for New Journal of Science, Frontiers in Bioscience, Journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Precision Nanomedicine and serves as editorial member of a number of reputed journals. He also serves on NIH and NSF grant proposal review panels.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Boyer leads a team of scientists at Imunon in vaccine development for novel DNA based vaccines in preclinical research focusing on both infectious disease and cancer targets. The scientific team is a multidisciplinary group that is responsible for characterization of immunological profiles and analytical assays. Further, Dr. Boyer has led immunology and analytical programs for Phase I through Phase III clinical trials for infectious diseases and oncology at Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to joining the Biotechnology Industry, Dr. Boyer lead a research team as an Associate Research Professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1996 to 2018 in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. In conducting original research Dr. Boyer had over 100 publications. She also served as Director of the Human Immunology Core within Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Boyer led cutting edge immunology for clinical development, collaborating with scientists and physicians across multiple departments and scientific areas at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and the Abramson Cancer Center.

In addition, at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Boyer was Director of the Post Baccalaureate Research Education Program with the goal of developing a diverse pool of scientists focused on PhD and MD/PhD programs.

Dr. Boyer received her BS and PhD from Rutgers University, NJ. Her PhD degree was in Biochemical Engineering where she focused on developing a mathematical model to predict plasmid concentration during the fermentation of recombinant bacteria.

VP Preclinical R&D, IMUNON

Ramesh Matur has been heading Vaccines R&D Division since 2013 at Biological E Ltd, Hyderabad. Vaccines R&D Division comprises all scientific functions for vaccines development from ideation to proof of concept - bacterial, viral and subunit recombinant, manufacturing process development on different platforms-microbial and cell lines, analytical development, and animal studies for vaccine immunogenicity, and all the way to clinical Phase3 studies. Clinical Development function is part of R&D Division. He established a highly talented, vibrant, strong scientific team with cross functional expertise. He actively reviews potential technologies for novel products, opportunities for collaboration, technology-in licensing, and sponsored research in the USA, India and globally. The Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine PCV14 received regulatory and marketing approval in December 2022. The next gen version PCV24 was developed and completed the Phase1 safety study in adults. Created a strong product pipeline of vaccines such as Hepatitis A, Measles, Human Papilloma Virus vaccine (HPV), and a novel Human Polyoma Virus Vaccine (HPyV) at various stage of development. Recently he created a team to develop mRNA platform based vaccines for selected infectious diseases. Prior to joining BioE, Dr. Matur worked for Wyeth at Pearl River, NY (now Pfizer) in the USA, and led vaccines R&D at Indian Immunologicals Ltd. He also lead the Industrial Biotechnology R&D at DuPont Knowledge Centre, India. He has 28 research publications, filed 20 patents of which 8 were globally granted and other applications are under review in multiple countries. Dr. Matur has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & M.Sc. in Microbiology. He pursued his postdoctoral research at Michigan State University, E Lansing, Michigan and at The Ohio State University Biotechnology Centre

Senior Vice President and Head, Vaccines R&D Division, Biological E Ltd

Sumana Sundaramurthy is the Technical Account Manager at Sino Biological where she supports R&D projects for industry and academic clients. Sumana completed her PhD in Cell Biology from SUNY Upstate Medical University. Dr. Sundaramurthy’s expertise lies in cytoskeleton, oncology and immunology.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Sumana held various leadership positions at Upstate and other professional organizations. She has also worked for a preclinical CRO and a few notable research groups at Loyola University, the University of Chicago, and Sanofi Pasteur.

Technical Account Manager at Sino Biological

Dr. Byron Brook earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia and has since been a postdoctoral research fellow in the Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) at Boston Children’s Hospital, with secondary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, working with Dr. Ofer Levy and Dr. David Dowling.

Dr. Brook’s interests are centered around maximizing vaccine benefits, via application of existing and novel adjuvantation technologies to maximize immunogenicity, permitting dose sparing to extend vaccine reach, reduce reactogenicity, and enable multivalent immunization, or from evaluation and application of BCG nonspecific effect mechanisms able to protect vulnerable populations. He has published on a variety of applications including adjuvantation, challenge model development, elucidation of BCG-induced emergency granulopoiesis sufficient and required for protection, AI-modeling to predict subsequent outcome, and SARS-CoV-2 related research of vulnerable populations. Recently, he has investigated ontogeny-specific immunity identifying contributors to distinct immunity in the elderly and has adjuvanted mRNA vaccines through admixing lipid nanoparticles encapsulating mRNA encoding IL-12p70 with BNT162b2 to subsequently amplify SARS-CoV-2 specific immunity.

Research Fellow, Precision Vaccines Program, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Institutes of Medicine

Lauren Charbon is a highly accomplished Product Marketer with over a decade of experience in the technology industry. She is currently the Head of Product Marketing, a leading force in the intersection of AI and disease intelligence at BlueDot. Her responsibilities span the orchestration of AI product launches and the development of robust go-to-market strategies, ensuring that BlueDot's cutting-edge solutions reach their full potential in the market. She holds an Honors Business Administration (HBA) degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Head of Product Marketing, BlueDot Global

Jason He worked in WuXi Biologics started from Feb 2021 as CMC lead and took the role of WuXi Vaccines CMC Head on Mar 2023. Prior to working at WuXi Biologics, Jason had 14-year experience of product development in Merck, with growing leadership responsibilities in R&D and commercialization of recombinant proteins, conjugates, viral & virus like particle vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies.

Through Merck career, Jason’s primary function was on development, qualification, transfer of analytical methods for large molecule release/stability and characterization. Jason has led assay development using a variety of LC/CE separation and spectroscopic techniques; He has led size and glycan (N-glycan and O-glycan) analytical groups to support Merck bio-venture projects covering mAbs or fusion proteins; He has also served as Analytical Lead of a VLP vaccine to set analytical strategy, to support process and formulation development, and to deliver the analytical commitments to external partner under research CRADA. In the last 6 years of Merck, Jason served as drug substance and drug product lead of a couple of vaccine products, governing the integrated process, analytical, and formulation teams on CMC activities through preclinical, clinical and BLA stages.

Jason received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Pennsylvania, and his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University.

CMC Head, WuXi Vaccines