Speaker Profile
PMWC PIONEER AWARD
M.D., Nobel Laureate, Professor & Investigator, Stanford U. & Howard Hughes Medical Inst.
Biography
Thomas Christian Südhof is a neuroscientist whose work has focused on how neurons communicate with each other at synapses. Südhof’s postdoctoral work with Drs. Mike Brown and Joe Goldstein at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX, examined cholesterol metabolism, but he switched his research focus to neuroscience to study synapses when he started his own laboratory in 1986. Here, Südhof’s research initially studied how a presynaptic neuron rapidly secretes neurotransmitters, which initiates synaptic transmission. This work revealed a general mechanism of regulated secretion which was honored by a Nobel Prize in 2013 shared with Jim Rothman and Randy Scheckman. More recently, Südhof’s studies focused on how synapses in brain are formed and shaped, resulting in the identification of trans-neuronal signaling networks that control synaptic connections. Moreover, Südhof’s work addressed how these synaptic connections become impaired in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, with the hope of gaining access to possible new therapeutic avenues.
Talk
Progress towards Alzheimer's disease drug targets
Alzheimer's disease causes the most prevalent dementia in our aging populations, but poorly understood mechanistically. Here, I will argue that synaptic impairments likely inititiate Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis and therefore need to be urgently understood for development of new treatments for this devastating disorder.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Jedd D. Wolchok, Weill Cornell Medicine
• Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Levi Garraway, Roche
Keynote: Future Breakthroughs in Immuno-Oncology: New Targets, Modalities & Combinations
• Levi Garraway, Roche
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
• Nathan Fowler, BostonGene
Immunotherapy with Personalized Cancer Vaccines: Who, When, How Fast?
• Chair: Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins
• Tal Zaks, Orbimed
• Lelia Delamarre, Genentech
The Next Era: Neutralizing On-Target, Off-Tumor Effects by Turning Cancer Against Itself
• Cyriac Roeding, Earli
Fireside Chat: Immune Tolerance to Cure, A Conversation With...
• Lee Hood, Institute for Systems Biology
• Mary E. Brunkow, Institute for Systems Biology
ADCs in the Checkpoint Era: Who Benefits, What to Combine, What to Avoid
• Chair: Shreya Badhrinarayanan, Pfizer
• Gerold Meinhardt, Daiichi Sankyo
• Vadim Koshkin, UCSF
Strategic IP Management in Cell and Gene Therapy: Navigating Legal and Practical Challenges
• Janet Xiao, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment (TME) in Practice: Biomarkers & Combos
• Chair: Ira Mellman, Medici Therapeutics
• Dmitry Gabrilovich, AstraZeneca
• Jennifer Mataraza, Novartis
• Nathan Fowler, BostonGene
• Christine Moussion, Genentech
Future Breakthroughs in TME Reprogramming: New Modalities, Smarter Delivery & Overcoming Resistance
• David Kirn, ReIGNITE
Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: New Targets, Isotopes, and Challenges
• Chair: William Oh, Yale
• Munir Ghesani, United Theranostics
• Sandy Srinivas, Stanford
• Anna Karmann, AdvanCell
