Speaker Profile
Ph.D., 2025 Nobel Laureate, Senior Program Manager, Inst. for Systems Biology
Biography
Dr. Mary Brunkow is a recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Drs. Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi, for groundbreaking discoveries in peripheral immune tolerance, including the identification of the FOXP3 gene and regulatory T cells. In 1994 she joined Darwin Molecular Corporation, a pioneering gene-discovery biotechnology start-up in Bothell, WA. Brunkow remained at the company through successive transitions (Chiroscience Group PLC, 1996; Celltech Group PLC, 1999) until the Bothell sites closure in early 2004, contributing to landmark discoveries that advanced molecular immunology and paved the way for her later Nobel-recognized work. Since 2009, Brunkow has worked as Senior Program Manager in the Hood Lab at Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), where she coordinates complex, multi-disciplinary projects that integrate human genetics, multi-omic profiling, and computational biology to uncover molecular mechanisms underlying wellness and disease.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Jedd D. Wolchok, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Levi Garraway, Roche
Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment (TME) in Practice: Biomarkers & Combos
• Chair: Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
• Dmitry Gabrilovich, AstraZeneca
• Shannon Turley, Amgen
Immunotherapy with Personalized Cancer Vaccines: Who, When, How Fast?
• Chair: Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Tal Zaks, Orbimed
• Lelia Delamarre, Genentech
Fireside Chat: Immune Tolerance to Cure, A Conversation With...
• Mary E. Brunkow, Institute for Systems Biology
• Lee Hood, Institute for Systems Biology
ADCs in the Checkpoint Era: Who Benefits, What to Combine, What to Avoid
• Chair: Shreya Badhrinarayanan, Pfizer
• S. Peter Kang, Daiichi Sankyo
• Vadim Koshkin, UCSF
Strategic IP Management in Cell and Gene Therapy: Navigating Legal and Practical Challenges
• Janet Xiao, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Checkpoint 2.0 in Practice: PD-1+VEGF Wins, Resistance Salvage & Biomarker Gates
• Chair: Anne Kasmar, Parexel
• Jedd D. Wolchok, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Roy S. Herbst, Yale
Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: New Targets, Isotopes, and Challenges
• Chair: William Oh, Yale
• Munir Ghesanim, United Theranostics
• Sandy Srinivas, Stanford
• Anna Karmann, AdvanCell
Future Breakthroughs in Immuno-Oncology: New Targets, Modalities & Combinations
• Chair: Levi Garraway, Roche
