Speakers
Christophe Carite
Director, CMC & Development
4D Pharma
Track B - Day 2 PM
2:30 pm | Effectively Scaling Up Microbiome Manufacturing
Christopher Missling
CEO
Anavex Corp
Track C - Day 2 AM
1:00 pm | Exploring Gut Microbiota as a Source of Potential Biomarkers
Mark Bamforth
President & CEO
Arranta Bio
Mark Bamforth founded a new CDMO, Arranta Bio, in May 2019. Previously, Mark founded Brammer Bio in 2015, a best-in-class viral vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) supporting cell and gene therapies. Brammer’s team grew from 110 in 2016 with the addition of 100 from the acquisition of two Biogen commercial facilities, to over 600 at the time of its acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific in April 2019. In 2010, Mark founded a biologics CDMO, Gallus BioPharmaceuticals, and acquired a world-class facility and team of 160 from J&J with a commercial supply agreement. Gallus tripled through organic growth and merging with Laureate Biopharma. Gallus was sold to DPx Holdings B.V. in Sept. 2014. Mark previously spent 22 years in the UK and USA running a global manufacturing operation and a pharmaceutical CMO business for Genzyme and served as a corporate officer for 9 years. He began his career as a petroleum engineer exploring for North Sea oil with Britoil, then as a chemical engineer in the whisky industry with Whitbread. Mark serves on the boards of Avid Bioservices, MassBio, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Entrepreneurial Scotland. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Strathclyde University and an MBA from Henley Management College.
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
10:15 am | Meeting the Maturing Supply Needs of the Microbiome Sector
Taylor Cohen
Principal Scientist
AstraZeneca
Track A - Day 1 AM
12:30 pm | Examining the Role of the Microbiome in Metabolic Disease
David Donabedian
CEO
Axial Therapeutics
Dr. Donabedian is an accomplished business development and strategy executive with extensive leadership experience. Dr. Donabedian has a track record of building companies, most recently as a Venture Partner at Longwood Fund. Prior to joining Longwood, Dr. Donabedian has held various leadership roles at biopharmaceutical companies including AbbVie and GSK. At AbbVie, Dr. Donabedian served as Vice President & Global Head of Ventures and Early Stage Collaborations where he led a global team that completed significant transactions across multiple therapeutic areas and stages of development. Prior to AbbVie, Dr. Donabedian served as Vice President Global New Deal Strategy and Development at GlaxoSmithKline, and Senior Manager at Accenture’s Strategic Services Consulting Group. He holds a BA in Chemistry from St. Anselm College, a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He currently serves on the Board of Alcyone Life Sciences, a privately held CNS company which he co-founded.
Track B - Day 2 PM
3:45 pm | Disruptive Approaches to Treat CNS Disease Via the Gut-Brain Axis
Travis Whitfill
Co-Founder
Azitra
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
5:30 pm | Closing Remarks – Day One
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
8:55 am | Chair’s Opening Remarks
Jean-Marc Billod
CTO
Bio-Me
Track C - Day 2 PM
2:45 pm | Exploring Microbiome Diagnostics
Morten Isaksen
CEO
Bio-Me
Track C - Day 2 PM
2:25 pm | Microbiome Analytics in a Clinical Setting
Jonathan Solomon
CEO
BiomX
Track A - Day 2 AM
12:00 pm | Phage Therapies to Eradicate Pathogenic Bacteria in Chronic Indications
Assaf Oron
CBO
BiomX
Assaf Oron has served as chief business officer since January 2017. Prior to this position, he served for over a decade at Evogene (NYSE:EVGN), an agriculture biotechnology company which utilizes a proprietary integrated technology infrastructure to enhance seed traits underlying crop productivity. At Evogene, he worked in various roles such as executive vice president of corporate development and executive vice president of strategy and business development. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Oron served as CEO of ChondroSite Ltd., a biotechnology company that develops engineered tissue products in the field of orthopedics. From 1999 to 2003, Mr. Oron was a senior project manager and strategic consultant at POC Ltd., a leading Israeli management consulting company. Mr. Oron holds an M.Sc. in Biology (bioinformatics) and a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Economics, both from Tel Aviv University.
Track C - Day 1 AM
12:00 pm | Xmarker – A Novel Platform to Discover Microbiome Based Biomarkers
Track C - Day 1 AM 2
2:15 pm | Panel Discussion – What Are We Looking for in a Microbiome Biomarker?
Adrien Nivolez
CEO
Biose Industrie
Track B - Day 2 AM
1:00 pm | Building a Strategic Partnership to Effectively Scale & Manufacture Microbiome Based Therapeutics
Yvonne Nyavor
Principal Scientist, Microbiome
Boston Analytical
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
10:15 am | Microbiome Endgame: Preparing Microbiome Products for Regulatory Requirements Through cGMP Program Design
Brian Klein
CEO
BrickBuilt Therapeutics
Nancy Caralla
Founding President & Executive Director
C.diff Foundation
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
4:45 pm | Bringing it Back to the Patient - The Importance of Microbiome Therapeutics for the Treatment of C.difficile infection
Dan Knights
CEO
CoreBiome
Dan Knights is a computer scientist, computational biologist, and globally recognized expert in microbiome informatics who has developed some of the leading methods for analyzing microbiome data. He directs informatics & software development at CoreBiome, and was educated at Middlebury, University of Colorado, and Harvard Medical School.
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
9:45 am | A Trifeca in Microbiome Advancement: Expectations from the Partnership of Diversigen, CoreBiome & DNA Genotek
Manoj Dadlani
CEO
CosmosID
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
11:15 am | Shotgun Sequencing & Strain-Level Analysis: Study Design for Pre-Clinical & Clinical Development
Gerard Honig
Associate Director, Research Innovation
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Track C - Day 1 AM 2
2:15 pm | Panel Discussion – What Are We Looking for in a Microbiome Biomarker?
Jean De Gunzburg
CSO
Da Volterra
Track B - Day 1 AM
12:30 pm | Protecting and Preserving the Intestinal Microbiota From Antibiotic-Induced Dysbiosis With dav132, a Novel Colon-Targeted Adsorbent: An Effective and Safe Solution for Cancer Patients
Chengwei Luo
CEO
DeepBiome Therapeutics
Track A - Day 1 PM
5:00 pm | Inventing Medicine by Accessing the Microbiome Dark Matter
Denise Barbut
Co-Chairman, Co- Founder & CMO
Enterin
Track B - Day 2 PM
4:15 pm | Targeting the Enteric Neuron to Treat Parkinson’s Disease
Paul Carlson
Principal Investigator
FDA
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
9:00 am | Regulatory Considerations for Microbiome-based Therapeutics
Emily Drabant Conley
CEO
Federation Bio
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
10:45 am | Panel Discussion: How Has Late Stage Clinical Success Impacted Investment Within the Microbiome Space?
Track A - Day 1 AM
12:00 pm | Health Through Diversity: Designing Microbial Consortia for Lasting Benefit
Natalie Ma
CBO
Felix Biotech
Track A - Day 2 AM
1:00 pm | Phages as Microbiome-Editing Tools and Therapeutics
Mark Smith
CEO
Finch Therapeutics
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Sonia Timberlake
VP Research
Finch Therapeutics
Dr. Sonia Timberlake is the VP of Research at Finch Therapeutics, a microbiome therapeutics company. Sonia is an expert at designing NGS-based algorithms for applications in microbial genomics, immunogenomics, and evolution. Prior to joining Finch, she built and managed AbVitro's computational algorithms and infrastructure, supporting high throughput single-cell immune phenotyping and repertoire sequencing technology. This technology platform was acquired by Juno Therapeutics, where Sonia led a multidisciplinary team to harness native adaptive immune responses for developing engineered cell therapies in oncology. Sonia graduated from Caltech with a B.Sc in Molecular Biology and received her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT.
Track B - Day 1 AM 2
2:15 pm | A Human-First Discovery Approach: Leveraging Clinical Data to Identify Microbial Communities Driving Positive Clinical Outcomes
Andrea Nuzzo
Computational Biologist
GSK
Track A - Day 1 PM
4:30 pm | Expanding the Drug Discovery Space With Predicted Metabolite-Target Interactions
Kate Jefferey
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
11:00 am | Immunomodulation by the Human Enteric Virome
Timothy Wannier
Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard Medical School
Track A - Day 2 PM
4:15 pm | Toward Universal Functional Genomics: Enabling Efficient Recombineering in Diverse Bacteria
Sean Gibbons
Assistant Professor
Institute Systems Biology
Track C - Day 2 PM
4:15 pm | Towards Rational Engineering of Gut Microbiome Metabolic Outputs
Julia Drewes
Assistant Professor of Medicine
John Hopkins Medical Center
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
1:30 pm | Mechanisms of Colonic Biofilm-Associated Tumorigenesis
9:00 am | Panel Discussion – What do we need to know about the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system?
Fyza Shaikh
Instructor
John Hopkins Medical Center
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
2:30 pm | Single Pipeline Re-Analysis Revises Microbiome Associations With Anti-Tumor Response to Checkpoint Inhibitors
Daniel Meninchella
CEO
Kaleido Bioscience
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Johan van Hylckama Vlieg
CSO
Kaleido Biosciences
Dr. van Hylckama Vlieg has served as Kaleido's Chief Scientific Officer since July 2019. Dr. van Hylckama Vlieg has 25 years of experience leading teams and R&D programs in gut microbiology, probiotics and live biotherapeutics, and industrial biotechnology in industry and academia. Most recently, he served as Vice President for Microbiome and Human Health Innovation at Chr. Hansen in Denmark, responsible for new strain development for probiotic and therapeutic application, spanning discovery to clinical development and novel technology platforms. Previously, Dr. van Hylckama Vlieg worked at Danone Research and in several roles at NIZO Food Research. He completed his Ph.D. and post-doc in biochemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Track A - Day 1 PM
4:00 pm | Synthetic Glycans to Optimize Microbiome Composition & Function for Therapeutic Outcomes
Stacy Burns-Guydish
President
List Laboratories
Track B - Day 1 AM 2
3:15 pm | Overcoming Obstacles in the Development of Live Biotherapeutic Products
Tuval Ben-Yehezkel
CEO
Loop Genomics
Track A - Day 1 AM 2
3:15 pm | Next Generation Microbiome Profiling
Stacy Kahn
Attending Gastroenterologis
Massachusetts General Hospital
Dr. Stacy Kahn completed her undergraduate degree in history at Washington University in St. Louis, and her post-baccalaureate premedical training at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She attended New York University School of Medicine and then went on to complete her pediatric residency and pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago. While at the University of Chicago, she also completed an ethics fellowship at the Maclean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Clinically, Dr. Kahn’s interests have focused on the care of children with IBD, in particular she is interested in the care and management of teens and young adults with Crohn’s and colitis. While on the faculty at the University of Chicago, she founded and was the Director for the Transitional IBD Clinic. Dr. Kahn's other primary clinical focus is recurrent and refractory Clostridium difficile infection. She is a national expert and leader in the field of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and performed the first colonoscopic FMT in a child. Dr. Kahn's research interests include FMT for Clostridium difficile, FMT for inflammatory bowel disease, transition of care and self-management in IBD and research ethics. She is the director of the FMT research program at Boston Children’s Hospital and has led the development of the first national pediatric FMT registry.
Track B - Day 1 PM
4:10 pm | Designing & Executing Microbiome-Therapeutic Clinical Trials
Gokul Swaminathan
Associate Principal Scientist, Investigational Biology
Merck Exploratory Science
Track A - Day 1 AM 2
2:45 pm | Pre-Clinical Animal Models to Understand the Influence of the Microbiome on the Host-Immune System
Xue Liang
Microbiome Scientist
Merck Exploratory Science Center
Track C - Day 2 AM
12:00 pm | Xenobiotic Metabolism: The Role of the Gut Microbiome
Sandrine Miller Montgomery
CEO
Micronoma
Track C - Day 2 PM
3:15 pm | Tissue & Circulating Microbiomes – The New Frontier
Bharat Dixit
VP, Biopharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing
Morningside BioPharma Advisory
Track B - Day 2 PM
2:30 pm | Effectively Scaling Up Microbiome Manufacturing
Louis Cohen
Assistant Professor
Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
10:30 am | Moving Towards Live Biotherapeutics for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
9:00 am | Panel Discussion – What do we need to know about the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system?
Mark Fitzgerald
Partner
Nixon Peabody
Track B - Day 2 PM
3:15 pm | Achieving IP on a Microbiome Therapeutics
Blake Wise
CEO
Novome Biotechnologies
Track A - Day 2 PM
3:15 pm | Engineering Colonizing Microbes for Therapeutic Function
Christine Spencer
Senior Research Scientist
Parker Institute
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
2:00 pm | Going Bold on Cancer Immunotherapy and the Gut Microbiome
9:00 am | Panel Discussion – What do we need to know about the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system?
Stephanie Culler
Co-Founder & CEO
Persephone Biosciences
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Maireadh Pedersen
CEO
Quay Pharma
Track B - Day 1 AM 2
1:45 pm | Development of Microbiome Drug Products
Ken Blount
CSO
Rebiotix
Ken Blount, PhD, is a seasoned director of collaborative research programs in biotech, pharma, clinical, and academic research settings, and his scientific expertise includes antibiotics discovery and development, fecal microbiome analysis, translational medical oncology, and RNA-targeting therapeutics. Prior to joining Rebiotix, Dr. Blount coordinated translational urologic oncology research for the Yale Cancer Center. Previously, he was a cofounder and the Director of Biology at BioRelix, a venture-backed Connecticut biotech that developed new antibiotics to target structured bacterial messenger RNAs. At BioRelix, Dr. Blount led a combined force of internal scientists and external resources that delivered development candidates for treating Clostridium difficile infections. Dr. Blount received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Arkansas and earned a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder, after which he completed an NIH post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California San Diego.
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
10:45 am | Panel Discussion: How Has Late Stage Clinical Success Impacted Investment Within the Microbiome Space?
Paul Plumb
Director, Clinical Development
Rebiotix
Track B - Day 1 AM
12:00 pm | Forging a New Frontier – Driving Clinical Development of RBX2660, a Novel Live Biotherapeutic
Jeanette Mucha
CEO
SciBac
Track A - Day 1 AM 2
2:15 pm | Live Biotherapeutics to Treat and Prevent Chronic Lung Infections
Scott Plevy
CSO
Senda Biosciences
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
5:00 pm | Closing Remarks
10:45 am | Panel Discussion: How Has Late Stage Clinical Success Impacted Investment Within the Microbiome Space?
8:55 am | Chair’s Opening Remarks
Track C - Day 2 PM
3:45 pm | InterSystems Biology: The Next Frontier in Drug Discovery
Eric Shaff
CEO
Seres Therapeutics
Eric Shaff is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Seres. Mr. Shaff was previously the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Seres. He has more than 15 years of experience working in leadership roles in biotechnology finance, corporate development, and capital markets. Prior to joining Seres, he was Vice President, Corporate Finance, at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, where he helped manage Momenta’s accounting, finance, planning, and procurement functions, as well as contributing to Momenta’s investor relations efforts. Prior to joining Momenta, Mr. Shaff was Vice President, Finance, of Genzyme’s Rare Genetic Disease Division, responsible for a global portfolio of products. Mr. Shaff held several positions at Genzyme in business unit finance, corporate finance, and corporate development. Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Shaff worked in corporate finance at Pfizer and worked in investment banking for Broadview International (now Jefferies LLC). Mr. Shaff earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in political science and economics and his M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Matthew Henn
Executive VP & CSO
Seres Therapeutics
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
10:45 am | Developing Bacterial Consortia Therapeutics for Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Targets
David Ege
CTO
Seres Therapeutics
Track B - Day 2 PM
2:30 pm | Effectively Scaling Up Microbiome Manufacturing
Chris Ford
Senior Director, Computational Microbiome Scientist
Seres Therapeutics
Track C - Day 1 PM
4:00 pm | Biomarkers to Evaluate Microbiome Therapeutic Drug Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics
Denise Kelly
Investment Advisor
Seventure Partners
Day Two
Thursday, July 1 2021
10:45 am | Panel Discussion: How Has Late Stage Clinical Success Impacted Investment Within the Microbiome Space?
Nikole Kimes
CEO
Siolta Therapeutics
Track C - Day 1 AM 2
2:15 pm | Panel Discussion – What Are We Looking for in a Microbiome Biomarker?
Ricardo Valladares
CSO
Siolta Therapeutics
Track C - Day 2 PM
2:45 pm | Exploring Microbiome Diagnostics
Mark Charbonneau
Head, Quantitative Biology
Synlogic
Track A - Day 2 PM
3:45 pm | Development of a Synthetic Biotic for the Treatment of Enteric Hyperoxaluria
Julie Schwedock
Associate Director, Microbial Development
Takeda
Track B - Day 2 PM
2:30 pm | Effectively Scaling Up Microbiome Manufacturing
Joseph Maxwell
Associate Director, Translational Medicine
Takeda
Track C - Day 1 PM
4:30 pm | Biomarker Assay Development Considerations for Microbiome Therapies
Gregory Lambert
CEO and VP R&D
TargEDys
A Pharmacist, with a PhD in pharmaceutical technology, Gregory’s career has been split between Biotech and Pharma as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer in companies such as Novagali Pharma, Septodont and currently TargEDys. Gregory has led the development of several products from the laboratory to the market. In 2014, Gregory joined the scientific founders of TargEDys as CEO. Having completed preclinical development and produced industrial batches, TargEDys now concentrates on human clinical trials and commercial launch activities.
Track A - Day 2 PM
2:45 pm | A New Microbiome-Host Symbiosis, Lactobacillus Plantarum Wjl, a Precibiomic™ Strain Promoting Growth by Enhancing Host Capacity for Protein Degradation
R Balfour Sartor
Professor, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology
UNC Multidisciplinary IBD Center
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
10:00 am | Optimizing Pre-Clinical Models of Intestinal Inflammation to Better Translate Results of Microbiota Manipulation to Clinical Trials
Diwakar Davar
Assistant Professor, Melanome & Phase I Therapy
UPMC, Hillman Cancer Center
PRE-CONFERENCE IMMUNE-DISEASE FOCUS DAY
1:00 pm | Overcoming Resistance to Anti-PD-1 Therapy Through Microbiome Modulation
Benjamin Lelouvier
CSO
Vaiomer
Track C - Day 1 AM 2
3:15 pm | The Blood Microbiome: New Source of Biomarkers for Infectious and Cardiometabolic Diseases
Peter McCaffrey
CRO
VastBiome
Track C - Day 1 AM
12:30 pm | The Strategic Role of Microbiome Biomarkers in Diagnostics & Therapeutics
Bernat Olle
CEO
Vedanta Biosciences
Dr. Olle is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences. He has been a member of the founding teams of several companies of the PureTech portfolio and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Vedanta Biosciences and Follica Biosciences. In 2013 Dr. Olle was named "Innovator of the Year" in MIT Technology Review Spain's "Innovators under 35" awards. He completed his doctoral work at the Chemical Engineering Department at MIT, where he developed a novel method for large-scale bacterial culture. During his graduate work, Dr. Olle was awarded the "la Caixa" fellowship. Dr. Olle received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in the Republic of Catalonia, his M.S. and PhD. in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT, and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has published his work in journals including Nature and Nature Biotechnology.
Day One
Wednesday, June 30 2021
9:00 am | Industry Leaders Panel Discussion
Amanda Prince
Scientist II, Immunology
Vedanta Bioscience