Conference Day One

7:20 am Registration & Coffee

8:20 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

Diving into Current Opportunities & Excitement in the TIL Field for Future Expansion

8:30 am Industry Leaders Fireside Chat: Challenges & Opportunities in Expanding Beyond Melanoma

Synopsis

  • What is the current state on developing TILs for indications beyond melanoma?
  • What are key hurdles that must be overcome to apply TILs to more diverse indications?
  • How do we evaluate what indications are most suitable to target with TILs?
  • What are some key opportunities and breakthroughs in applying TILs to uncharted indications?

9:20 am G-Rex® Grant Program: For the Advancement of CGT Development and Manufacturing

9:30 am Next-Gen TIL: Counteracting the Solid Tumor Microenvironment

  • Sean Hall Senior Director - Research, IOVANCE Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Synopsis

  • Targeting immune checkpoint targets using gene editing
  • Developing tethered cytokine approaches to increase TIL persistence post-infusion
  • Enhancing tumor-specific immunity through enrichment and selection

10:00 am Morning Refreshment Break & Networking

Synopsis

As the TIL community is reunited, this valuable session will ensure you can reconnect with your peers in the room to make new and lasting connections. Also, don’t forget to enjoy some refreshments before we split off into the two different tracks: Preclinical & Translation, Clinical Strategy & Manufacturing

Preclinical & Translation

Designing Next Generation TIL Products for Enhanced Potency

11:00 am eTIL: Enhancing Anti-Tumor Function through CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing

Synopsis

  • Immune CRISPRomics Platform discovered SOCS1 and Regnase-1 as top gene targets enhancing T-cell anti-tumor function
  • KSQ-001EX and KSQ-004EX are single and dual-edited engineered TIL (eTIL) products with inactivation of SOCS1 and Regnase-1

11:30 am Using Intracellular Checkpoint Knockout TILs for Increased Reactivity

Synopsis

  • First in-human clinical data on engineered TILs
  • Knockout of CISH checkpoint for TCR avidity

12:00 pm Roundtable Discussion: Highlighting Key TIL Genetic Targets Amenable for Engineering Enhanced TILs

Synopsis

  • Discussing which TIL genes may be of interest to amend for desired characteristics
  • What makes a TIL gene a good target for modification?
  • What are some of the most common TIL genes being modified and what makes them good targets?

Clinical Strategy & Manufacturing

Novel Understanding & Approaches to Simulating Neoantigen Reactive T-Cells for an Effective & Prolonged Response

11:00 am Targeting Clonal Neoantigens with Precision T-Cell Therapies: Key Mechanistic Insights From cNeT Clinical Trials

Synopsis

Unique translational science platform enables us to track the active component of TIL (clonal neoantigen reactive T-cell) in patients and determine key mechanisms underpinning in vivo activity 

Key insights to date include: 

  • Impact of host conditioning in T-cell persistence and engraftment 
  • Critical role of evasion mechanisms (such as HLA loss) in resistance to T-cell based therapies

11:30 am CTMC Tech Stack: Integrated Solutions to Develop Better TIL

Synopsis

  • Progressing Next Generation TIL therapies rapidly through clinical testing via a co-development model
  • Innovating Next Generation TIL Process and Analytical Development/Manufacturing/Regulatory/Clinical working in concert with partners to advance the development of promising TIL therapies to quickly reach patients
  • Committing to provide solutions or improvements to TIL process/product robustness through integration or development of enabling technologies
  • Establishing workflows with MD Anderson Cancer Center to ensure rapid trial start-up and execution of data-rich clinical studies

12:00 pm Clinical & Translational Learnings of BNT-221, a Neoantigen-Specific Adoptive T-Cell Therapy & Next Steps for Future Product Iterations

  • Marit Van Buuren Senior Director - Translational Cell Immunology, BioNTech New!

Synopsis

  • An insight into NEO-STIM and its applications: our process to prime, activate and expand neoantigen specific T-cells
  • An overview of clinical safety and efficacy results of BNT221 and deep characterization of the generated drug products and peripheral samples
  • An outlook of what is next including process improvements and product enhancements

12:30 pm Lunch Break

1:30 pm The Discovery & Development of Next-Generation Long-Lasting Anti-Exhaustion TIL Therapies

  • Jingwei Sun Senior Director of Early Discovery, Grit Therapeutics

Synopsis

  • Design and development of function and persistence enhanced GT2 series TIL products engineered by StaViral® virus platform
  • Development of GT3 series TIL products by CRISPR KO of potent immunoregulatory targets identified through ImmuT Finder®, a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screening platform
  • Preliminary safety and efficacy of next-gen TIL products in human trial as monotherapy in advanced solid tumors

Leveraging Resources Between Industry & Academia to Accelerate TIL Discovery

2:00 pm Roundtable: Aligning Industry & Academic Establishments to Accelerate TIL Discovery

  • Michael Lotze Professor & Assistant Vice Chancellor of Surgery, Immunology & Bioengineering, Sponsored Training Grants, UPitt
  • Eduardo Davila Chief Scientific Officer, Trampoline Pharma

Synopsis

  • Increasing access to tissue samples, clinical and real-life data to empower R&D efforts
  • Evaluating key opportunities in partnerships between clinical institutions and industry
  • Discussing hurdles in academia and industry to the spread of data and publishing of results to advance shared knowledge of TILs

Strategies for Enriching Tumor Reactive T-Cells to Maximize Manufacturing TIL Count

1:30 pm Cutting-Edge MSETM-TIL Platform for Enhanced Anti- Tumor Efficacy with Broader Clinical Applications

Synopsis

  • Introduction of the company and the backgroundUnique features of Biosyngen’s MSETM-TIL platform
  • Efficient ex vivo expansion from tumor biopsy samples
  • Efficient genetic modification system
  • Pre-clinical data on anti-tumor efficacy of the MSETM-TIL system

2:00 pm Unveiling Novel Approaches to Expanding Tumor- Reactive T-Cells & Reducing Bystander T-Cells

Synopsis

  • Sorting CD8 TIL for CD39 and CD103 prior to expansion enhances for tumor reactivity
  • This selected expanded TIL has clinical activity in late-stage cancer patients

2:30 pm Afternoon Break & Poster Session

Improving Patient Outcomes & Toxicity of TIL Therapies by Reducing IL2 Burden

3:30 pm Rational Engineering of TIL with Membrane-Bound IL15 to Optimize Expansion, Persistence, Safety, & Efficacy of TIL Cell Therapy for Solid Tumors

Synopsis

  • Evaluating the design of T-cells to utilize IL15
  • Key advantages of membrane bound IL15 over IL2
  • Clinical data on effects of IL15 and its safety characterization

4:00 pm Clinical-scale selection & expansion of GBM tumor-reactive T cells using the CliniMACS Prodigy TRT Process

  • Ian Hardy Director Preclinical & Translational T Cell Therapy, Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG

Synopsis

  • CliniMACS Prodigy TRT system is a GMP compliant TIL manufacturing platform
  • Automated CD137+ selection and enrichment of GBM-TRTs at clinical scale
  • CD137+ selected GBM-TRTs have significantly enhanced tumor reactivity

4:30 pm Optimizing Manufacture Culture Conditions to Reduce Dependence on IL2 In Vivo

  • Yi Zhao Chief Technology Officer & Chief Executive Officer, Sino-Cell Biomed New!

Synopsis

  • Reduced IL-2 in culture system
  • Target production time 16 days
  • Significantly less IL-2 after TIL infusion and TCR data show TIL repopulation in vivo

5:00 pm Lowering TCR & IL2 Receptor Activation Threshold

Synopsis

  • Importance of reducing or eliminating IL2 for TIL therapy
  • Mechanisms that lower the activation threshold activation threshold of gamma common chain signaling enhance T-cell persistence while reducing toxicity

5:30 pm Closing Remarks

5:40 pm Drinks Reception