Research Innovation Spotlight on Cell Therapy | 3 28 22

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The Research Innovation Spotlight Series is an exclusive invite-only opportunity for selected industry professionals (corporate representatives and venture investors) to connect with four leading researchers based in Southern California from institutions such as UCLA, UC Irvine, USC, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, Children's Hospital, Caltech, and City of Hope.

You will learn about current research from principle investigators who are working on breakthroughs with clear applications that would benefit from relationships with industry and/or additional investment in the research. This is a unique opportunity to see early advances before they are commercialized.

For our Life Sciences spotlight series, the Alliance has partnered with BioscienceLA who bring an abundance of subject matter and industry experience. In addition, we are grateful to Foresite Capital for underwriting the series in 2023 and providing additional expertise and guidance.

Presenting Researchers

Christopher Richardson, PhD., Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UC Santa Barbara (profile)

Research focus: How, why, and when cells deploy DNA repair factors in response to damage – and the impact these decisions make on repair outcomes – are central questions in genome biology. We use genetic, biochemical, and systems biology tools to investigate these topics.

Michael Demetriou, MD, PhD., Director, National Multiple Sclerosis Society Designated Comprehensive Care Clinic, Neurology, School of Medicine at UC Irvine (profile)

Research focus: the roles of complex Asn(N)-linked glycans in cell function and diseases such as autoimmunity, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and cancer. Our work has revealed how genetic and metabolic regulation of N-glycosylation controls the function and activity of cell surface glycoproteins to affect cell growth/differentiation and diseases such as MS.

Cristina (Cris) Puig Saus, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor, Medicine at UCLA

Research focus: designing novel T-cell therapies including leading a multi-center effort to understand the natural neoepitope-specific T-cell responses induced after immune checkpoint blockade therapy and use this knowledge to improve the design of personalized T-cell therapies. Her interests are also focused on developing novel CAR-based adoptive T-cell therapies for solid tumors and on the improvement of T-cell gene editing strategies.

Saul Priceman, PhD., Associate Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope (profile)

Research focus: building more relevant preclinical models to address the challenges facing T cell therapies for solid tumors and to evaluate innovative combination approaches that aim to improve the overall immunotherapy response rates in patients.

Event Moderator: Sumant Ramachandra, M.D., Ph.D, President and CEO at ImmPACT Bio

ImmPACT Bio is dedicated to the discovery of transformative CAR-T cell therapies for cancer patients who have exhausted their treatment options. Our technology is designed to precisely distinguish cancerous cells from normal cells; thereby eliminating tumors without damaging normal tissues. Our goal is to eradicate tumors without generating the severe side effects that are difficult, sometimes impossible, for cancer patients to endure.

Program Format

• Virtual live presentations of 4 research projects
• Each project lead gets 20 minutes of total 'airtime' of which the first 8-10 minutes will be to present their research followed by moderated attendee Q&A for the remainder of their time.