Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Professor,
Biography
Dr. Roybal is the Director of the UCSF Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. He was awarded the Sartorius and Science Magazine Prize for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy in 2017, the NIH New Innovator Award in 2018, and the Cancer Research Institute STAR Award in 2022. The Roybal Lab harnesses the tools of Synthetic Biology and Immunology to control and customize immune cell therapeutics for cancer and autoimmunity. His work was foundational to the next-generation immune cell therapy company, Cell Design Labs, where he was a founding scientist (acquired by Gilead). He was also instrumental in developing universal CAR T cell technology in collaboration with Xyphos Biosciences (acquired by Astellas). Recently, he co-founded cell therapy companies Arsenal Bio (now clinical stage), Dispatch Biotherapeutics, and Moonlight Bio focused on the treatment of solid tumors.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Cindy Perettie, Kite Pharma
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
• Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
Keynote: Engineering the Future: Innovations in CAR-T Therapy Design
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
CAR-T Cell Therapies: Strategies in Mitigating Challenges in Solid Tumor Delivery
• Chair: David Barrett, Kite Pharma
• Carl June, University of Pennsylvania
• Michel Sadelain, Columbia
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs): Advances and Challenges in Solid Tumors
• Chair: Allison Betof Warner, Stanford
• George Coukos, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• Max Julve, Royal Marsden
• Stephanie Goff, NIH/NCI
Allogeneic & In Vivo Cell Therapies: Manufacturing & Clinical Progress
• Chair: Arie S. Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
• David Chang, Allogene Therapeutics
• Adrian Bot, Capstan Therapeutics
• Aliya Omer, AstraZeneca
• Priti Hegde, Kite Pharma
Designing Automated Platforms for Scalable Cell Therapy Manufacturing
• Fabian Gerlinghaus, Cellares
TCR-Based Cell Therapies: New Targets and Clinical Advances
• Chair: Diwakar Davar, UPMC
• Lauren Harshman, Clasp Therapeutics
• Cassian Yee, MD Anderson
Gene Editing & Synthetic Biology for Therapy
• Chair: Matthew Porteus, Stanford
• Rachel Haurwitz, Caribou Biosciences
• Kole T. Roybal, Parker Institute
• Ken Drazan, ArsenalBio
In-Vivo Myeloid Programming: Engineering the Innate Immune System for Solid Tumor Therapy
• Daniel Getts, Create Medicines
Synthetic Circuits for Smarter Cell Therapies: Enhancing NK Precision and Persistence
• Gudrun Stengel, Alida BioSciences
