Cassian Yee

Biography
Dr. Yee is an oncologist, immunologistand endowed professor in Division of Cancer Medicine, Dept of Immunology, and Director of Solid Tumor Cell Therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center, elected to A SCI in 2009. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Yees discoveries in cell therapy provided first proof-of-concept of the importance of T cell persistence, antigen-spreading and combination strategies by pioneering the use of antigen-specific T cells in a modality known as Endogenous T Cell therapy. He holds more than 18 inventions in the field of cellular therapy and is founder of an AI startup and TCR-T cell therapy company (Mongoose Bio). Assets developed in Yee Lab are focused on solid tumors for common and rare cancers in the global population, leveraging one of the largest immunopeptidomes established from MS-defined datasets in his lab. His latest project is a NASA-funded initiative to take T cells to the International Space Station

Rare cancers offer a unique clinical window into TCR discovery, acting as a gateway to broader applications. By leveraging the distinct antigenic landscapes of niche malignancies, we can identify and validate TCR targets that scale, ultimately providing a blueprint for effective immunotherapy across more prevalent, high-burden solid tumor

Lauren Harshman

Biography
Dr. Harshman leads the Clinical Development efforts at Clasp Therapeutics. A medical oncologist, she brings over 15 years of experience as a practicing physician and clinical trialist first at the patient bedside and now in biotech leadership. Most recently, Lauren served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Surface Oncology, before its acquisition by Coherus Biosciences. Earlier in her career, Dr. Harshman was on faculty at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she served as Co-Director of the Kidney Cancer Center and as a Senior Physician in the Division of Oncology. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Chicago Medical School, completed her internal medicine residency at Yale, and her medical oncology fellowship at Stanford, where she later joined the faculty at Stanford Cancer Institute and Stanford School of Medicine.

Michael Chavez

Biography
Michael co-founded Enoda Cellworks Inc. in 2022 after graduating from Stanford Bioengineering. In Professor Stanley Qis lab, he pioneered multiple lentiviral, CRISPR, and receptor technologies to realize the next generation of cell therapies. As a student, he led biology at Fifty Years, a venture capital firm that supports early-stage deep tech startups. Michael has received several prestigious awards, including the Siebel Scholarship, the NIH Predoctoral National Research Service Award, and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. His commitment to using synthetic biology for societal benefit reflects his passion for addressing significant global challenges through scientific innovation.

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Talk
Harnessing Unexplored Cytokine Signals for Solid Tumor Cell Therapies
Enoda engineers cells with MIMICs, synthetic cytokine receptors that controllably and safely harness previously inaccessible and unknown signals. Screening all of cytokine space with MIMICs identified assets that enable T cells to resist immunosuppression, improving efficacy for both ex vivo and in vivo cell therapies compared to state-of-the-art armoring tools.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Enoda Cellworks
Enoda Cellworks is a team of synthetic biologists and immunologists whose mission is to expand the curative power of in vivo and ex vivo engineered therapeutic cells by arming them with cytokine signaling pathways unreachable and unknown to other technologies

Sherine Chan

Biography
Sherine Chan leads Neuroene Therapeutics, a biotech company developing novel mitochondrial small-molecule therapies for difficult-to-treat neurological diseases, including pharmacoresistant epilepsies, Parkinsons disease, and those resulting from toxic exposures. Trained as a mitochondrial biologist, Dr. Chan previously served as an Associate Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, where her academic lab developed new animal models and assays to study mitochondrial dysfunction. During this time, she co-founded Neuroene with medicinal chemist Dr. James Chou. Dr. Chan now leads Neuroene full-time from the Washington, DC region. Neuroene is as a JLABS and Blue Knight company, validating its CNS and medical countermeasure strategy.

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Talk
Mitochondrial Protective Therapies For Neurological Diseases
This talk will present Neuroenes path from academic discovery to commercialization of patented mitochondrial therapies addressing a fundamental driver of neurological disease. We will discuss our dual-use approach, commitment to rigorous science and partnerships, and how this strategy can deliver new options for patients and caregivers facing diseases with limited effective treatments.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Neuroene Therapeutics
Neuroene Therapeutics is an early-stage biotech company advancing first-in-class, brain-penetrant mitochondrial small-molecule therapies for severe neurological diseases with high unmet need, including drug-resistant epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and toxin-induced brain injury.

David Krag

Biography
International leader of surgical oncology. Developed radiotracer guided sentinel node biopsy used worldwide. Led world's largest surgical randomized trial in breast cancer. Founder of 3 companies. Holder of multiple patents. Leader of team developing new category of cancer therapy (this proposal)

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Talk
Personalized Panels of Antibodies to Cure Cancer
Cancers grow and continue to mutate. Each cancer generates a vast, highly unique set of mutated proteins on the cell surface. Moonshot makes the ultimate personalized medicine, custom antibodies to bind each patients unique mutated proteins. Powerful preclinical results have led to FDA approved Phase 1 trial.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Moonshot Antibodies
Moonshot is a new cancer treatment company that has developed the ultimate personalized therapy by making small batch custom antibodies that target the unique signature of cell surface mutated proteins.

Tracy Ryan

Biography
Tracy Ryan is an award-winning entrepreneur, pediatric cancer advocate and global public speaker that is a driving force behind NKore, a cutting-edge immunotherapy company commercializing a non-toxic, supercharged natural killer (NK) cell therapy for cancer and immune-related diseases. Tracy is a regular speaker on Capitol Hill, shes been an invited guest to the White House 5 times, and shes raised millions in capital for her companies. Tracys journey began when her infant daughter, Sophie, was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor at 8 ½ months old. Sophie later became patient number 2 and now her incurable brain tumor is crumbling without any adverse effects. With a path set to file for FDA clearance to treat patients in the US in 2026, Tracy

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Talk
Engineering Scalable Immunotherapy
Born from a personal catalyst but built for global scale, this talk reveals how our engineered NK-cell platform overcomes the cost, toxicity, and manufacturing barriers limiting todays immunotherapies. We present a de-risked path to commercialization, strong early clinical signals, and a strategy to unlock a multibillion-dollar market with safer, more accessible cancer treatments.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
NKore BioTherapeutics
NKore is advancing a first-in-class preventative immunotherapy platform powered by natural killer (NK) cells, initially targeting a major unmet need in oncology. Our lead candidate, NK101, is designed to eliminate both cancer cells and cancer stem-like cells, while uniquely restoring immune regulatory balance critical for durable disease control.

Zoya Gluzman-Poltorak

Biography
A biotech veteran with 25+ years of experience leading drug development in gene and cell therapy, genome editing, and targeted biologics. She has taken multiple programs from early research to the clinic, serving as lead on seven FDA IN Ds and overseeing development across immunology, oncology, hematology, neurology, rare diseases, and cardiology. Shes built and led cross-functional teams, secured over $250M in public and private funding, and managed key partnerships with NIH, DoD, BARDA, and research collaborators.

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Talk
1.Introduction of ODC a new class of naked, targeted oligonucleotide therapeutics combining precision delivery, switchable cytotoxicity, and programmable immunomodulation.2.ADC concept, upgraded: simpler, programmable oligo platform, backed by a validated MoA, strong preclinical efficacysafety, and a clear path to the clinic.3.Integrated FortaGuideAI engine for generative, multi-objective ODC design and optimization

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Forta Bio
Forta Bio is a next-generation biotech company developing ODC™, a new class of precision and programmable DNA/RNA medicines that selectively eliminate pathogenic cells - without compromising healthy immunity. Backed by validated science from City of Hope and led by a team with a track record of execution, Forta Bio is on a mission to bring smarter, safer, and more targeted therapies.

Brendon Boot

Biography
Dr. Brendon Boot is CEO and Managing Director of S2N.Bio. He trained as a neurologist in Sydney, Australia and Mayo Clinic. He spent 12 years on faculty at Harvard and Mass General Brigham. In industry, Brendon led the early development of numerous breakthrough programs in neurology, including the first ever disease-modifying therapies in Alzheimer (Aduhelm, Leqembi) and the first gene and pluripotent stem cell therapies developed for Parkinson’s Disease (VYAADC01, bemdaneprocel, ANPD001). He returned to Australia as an Entrepreneur In Residence at the IP Group before joining S2N in 2024.

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Talk
Unique Cell Therapy Biotech with Profound Alzheimer PoC
Every day, stem cells in your brain’s memory center make 700 new neurons. In Alzheimer’s, you lose more cells than you make. In a clinical trial of dogs with amyloid and tau, S2N's autologous cell therapy produced a 9 sd increase in synapses and significant memory improvements that lasted years.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
S2N.Bio
S2N’s cell therapy tech is unique, our CMC closed and automated, and we're the only company that has reversed clinical decline in a large animal with Alzheimer pathology. If this effect is replicated in humans, patients in nursing home will return to independent living.

Armon Sharei

Biography
Armon Sharei has built a scalable technology platform that enables efficient intracellular delivery for cell engineering and drug discovery. He has led the development and commercialization of mechanoporation technologies that support high-throughput, reproducible workflows, serving a growing customer base across biopharma and clinical research. Previously, he founded and scaled a biotechnology company from inception through public markets, raising over $300 million, advancing multiple oncology programs into the clinic, and establishing a multibillion-dollar strategic collaboration with Roche. His work spans invention, company building, and the translation of complex engineering into practical biological tools. He is an inventor on more than 30 patents and is widely recognized for bridging deep technical innovation with real-world impact in the life sciences.

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Talk
Ridiculously Simple, Scalable Cell Engineering
Portal is building the universal infrastructure for advanced cell engineering. Our platform enables scalable, multimodal modification of hard-to-transfect cells beyond traditional limits, generating high-dimensional, multiplexed perturbation data. Trusted by top pharma, Portal powers programmable cell therapies and produces the datasets needed to train AI models that decode complex cellular systems and accelerate precision medicine.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Portal Biotechnologies
Portal is building the universal infrastructure for cell engineering across drug discovery and cell therapy. Its proprietary mechanical delivery platform enables scalable, multimodal modification of hard-to-transfect cells, empowering top pharma and biotech to run more predictive screens, multi-engineer therapeutic cells, and advance toward future point-of-care manufacturing.

Lauren Harshman

Biography
Dr. Harshman leads the Clinical Development efforts at Clasp Therapeutics. A medical oncologist, she brings over 15 years of experience as a practicing physician and clinical trialist first at the patient bedside and now in biotech leadership. Most recently, Lauren served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Surface Oncology, before its acquisition by Coherus Biosciences. Earlier in her career, Dr. Harshman was on faculty at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she served as Co-Director of the Kidney Cancer Center and as a Senior Physician in the Division of Oncology. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Chicago Medical School, completed her internal medicine residency at Yale, and her medical oncology fellowship at Stanford, where she later joined the faculty at Stanford Cancer Institute and Stanford School of Medicine.

Emerging Therapeutics Showcase:
Clasp Therapeutics