Antibodies as Drugs: Engineering and Computational Tools Enabling Clinical Advances (K1)
February 1-4, 2026
| Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Paul J Carter, John R. Desjarlais and E. Sally Ward
Scholarship Deadline: Oct. 29, 2025 | Abstract Deadline: Jan. 9, 2026 | Early Registration Deadline: Dec. 3, 2025
| 4:00–8:00 PM |
Registration |
Riverview Lounge |
| 6:00–8:00 PM |
Welcome Mixer |
Riverview Lounge |
| 7:00–8:00 AM |
Breakfast |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 8:00–8:10 AM |
Welcome Remarks |
Cascade Ballroom |
| 8:10–9:00 AM |
Keynote Address |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Elaine Hurt, AstraZeneca Lessons Learned from 30 Years of ADC Development |
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| 9:00–11:15 AM |
Computational Technologies for Antibody Design and Optimization |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Charlotte Deane, University of Oxford How Far are we from Designing an Antibody Therapeutic on a Computer |
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Peter S. Kim, Stanford University Unsupervised Evolution of Protein and Antibody Complexes with a Structure-Informed Language Model |
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Peyton Greenside, BigHat Biosciences Combining Active Learning with a Rapid Synthetic Biology Platform to Design Therapeutic Antibodies |
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Luca Giancardo †, Amazon AWS Short Talk: Context-aware Multi-Property Antibody Predictor: a Novel Framework Integrating Text and Protein Language Models |
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| 9:30–9:50 AM |
Coffee Break |
Riverview Lounge |
| 9:50–9:55 AM |
Award Recipient Acknowledgement |
Cascade Ballroom |
| 11:15–1:00 PM |
Poster Setup |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 11:15–2:30 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
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| 1:00–10:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 2:30–4:30 PM |
Symposia Spotlight 1 |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Lance Hepler †, Infinimmune From Human B Cells to Enhanced Therapeutics: The GLIMPSE Platform for Antibody Engineering |
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William Kelton †, The University of Waikato AI-assisted Approaches for Programmable Fc Domain Engineering |
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James Heuschkel †, Boehringer Ingelheim Advancing Codon Language Modeling with Synonymous Codon Constrained Masking |
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Stefan Schmidt †, Evitira AG Predicting and Ranking of Heavy and Light Chain Pairing Efficiencies of Various Bispecific Antibody Formats by Combining Experimental Data and Computational Tools |
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Tony Pham †, AstraZeneca Revisiting CSI-BLI as an Early-Stage Predictor of High Concentration Formulation Viscosity |
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Marco Pravetoni †, University of Washington School of Medicine Rational Design of Antibody-Based Countermeasures Against Ultrapotent Synthetic Opioids |
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Forrest Epstein †, UCLA School of Medicine A Robust High-throughput Method for Identifying Diagnostic Antibodies |
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Natalia Freund †, Tel Aviv University Neutralization by Antibodies Targeting the Mpox Virus |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Riverview Lounge |
| 5:00–7:00 PM |
Antibody Activity on Demand - Engineering Strategies to Emerging Clinical Outcomes |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Naoka Hironiwa, Chugai Pharmabody Research Antibody Activation using Ca2+ or ATP-Switches |
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Carl U Bialucha, Xilio Therapeutics Talk Title to be Announced |
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Dikran Aivazian, ADAXION Therapeutics Engineering of Hypoimmunogenic Biotherapeutics through a Novel bioconjugate Platform |
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Naruhisa Ota †, Genentech, Inc. Short Talk: A Modular Platform for Sterically Masked Activated Cytokines (SMACks) |
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Ben Hackel †, University of Minnesota Short Talk: Engineered Dual Expression-dependent Molecular AND Gates |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 7:30–10:00 PM |
Poster Session 1 |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
| 7:00–8:00 AM |
Breakfast |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 8:00–11:00 AM |
Emerging Antibody-based Modalities and Engineering Strategies |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Jo L Viney, Seismic Therapeutic AI/ML for Biologics Drug Discovery for Immunology |
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James A Wells, University of California, San Francisco Degraders to Attack the Cancer Surfaceomewell |
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Paul J Carter, Genentech, Inc. Engineering Antibodies to Improve High Concentration Properties for Subcutaneous Delivery |
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E. Sally Ward, University of Southampton Targeting Subcellular Trafficking for the Generation of Therapeutics |
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Peter Tessier †, University of Michigan Short Talk: Next-generation CNS Antibody Shuttles |
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Amy Li †, T Therapeutics Short Talk: T-Therapeutics: Unlocking pMHC Target Space for Next Generation T Cell Engagers in Oncology and Autoimmunity |
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| 9:00–9:20 AM |
Coffee Break |
Riverview Lounge |
| 11:00–1:00 PM |
Poster Setup |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 11:00–3:00 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
|
| 1:00–10:00 PM |
Poster Viewing |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 1:45–2:45 PM |
Career Roundtable (Joint) |
Alhambra Ballroom |
| 4:00–5:00 PM |
Coffee Break with Hot Chocolate, Firepits & Mountain Views |
Conservatory Terrace |
| 5:00–5:45 PM |
Keynote Address |
Cascade Ballroom |
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David Baker, University of Washington Remote Presentation: Computational Design of Proteins for Therapeutic Applications |
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| 5:45–7:00 PM |
Antibody-Drug Conjugates |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Greg Thurber, University of Michigan Optimizing ADC Delivery by Avidity/Affinity Tuning |
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William M Flanagan, Avidity Biosciences, Inc. Antibody-Oligonucleotide Conjugates |
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Peyton High †, UTHealth Houston Short Talk: Evaluation of EGFR and LGR5 Antibody-Drug Conjugate-Based Dual-Targeting Therapeutic Strategies for the Improved Treatment of Colorectal Cancer |
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| 7:00–8:00 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 7:30–10:00 PM |
Poster Session 2 |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
| 7:00–8:00 AM |
Breakfast |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 8:00–11:00 AM |
Harnessing the Immune System with Antibodies |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Eric Smith, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CD28 Bispecifics for Costimulation of T Cells |
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Pamela M. Holland, InduPro Proximity Labeling to Identify Target Pairs for ADCs and T Cell Engagers |
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John R. Desjarlais, Xencor, Inc. T Cell Engagers |
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Rony Dahan, Weizmann Institute of Science Recruitment of Dendritic Cells with Bispecifics / Fc Glycoengineering |
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Ruth Muench †, Rondo Therapeutics Short Talk: Development of a Novel T-Cell Engager for the Treatment of Solid Tumors |
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Ana Paula Barradas Vintem †, Sanofi R&D Belgium Short Talk: Multivalent Bispecific NANOBODY® Domain-based Anti-HER2 T Cell Engager: Novel Binding Profile and Selective Targeting of HER2-Low Cancers |
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| 9:00–9:20 AM |
Coffee Break |
Riverview Lounge |
| 11:00–2:30 PM |
On Own for Lunch |
|
| 2:30–4:30 PM |
Symposia Spotlight 2 |
Cascade Ballroom |
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David P. Humphreys †, UCB Pharma The Biological Function of Rheumatoid Factor (RF) Autoantibodies in vitro |
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Elise Lechine †, Light Chain Bioscience Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment with an Anti-CD47/IL-2 Fusion Protein |
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Alyssa Ehni †, Vanderbilt University Multi-Specific Nanobody-Fc Fusions against TcdB Protect in vivo from Diverse Clostridioides Difficile Strains |
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Rory Henderson †, Duke University Synergy between Antibody Germline residues and Somatic Mutants Enables Broad HIV-1 Recognition |
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Zaria Contejean †, Stanford University Structural Profiling and Engineering of Neutralizing and Cross-reactive TBEV Monoclonal Antibodies |
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Parastoo Amlashi †, Vanderbilt University Prefusion Glycoprotein B Human Antibodies Protect Against Neonatal HSV-2 Infection |
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Olivia C Powers †, Vanderbilt University Public Antibody Clonotypes Reveal Shared Features of Human B Cell Responses to Seasonal and COBRA Influenza Antigens |
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Mizumi Setia †, Fred Hutch Cancer Center Tissue-derived Antibodies Exhibit Potent Antiviral Activity Against HSV-2 |
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| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Riverview Lounge |
| 5:00–6:15 PM |
Experience with Antibodies Beyond Oncology |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Karen Silence, arGEN-X BVBA Agonist MuSK Antibodies for the Treatment of Myasthenia Gravis |
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James E Crowe, Jr., Vanderbilt University Medical Center Human Monoclonal Antibodies for Emerging Infections |
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Phil Noble †, UCB Pharma Short Talk: Novel Methodologies for Therapeutic Antibody Discovery and Optimisation |
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| 6:15–7:00 PM |
Closing Keynote Address |
Cascade Ballroom |
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Erica O Saphire, La Jolla Institute for Immunology New Antibodies Against an Old Virus |
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| 7:00–7:15 PM |
Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) |
Cascade Ballroom |
| 7:15–8:15 PM |
Social Hour with Dinner |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 8:00–11:00 PM |
Entertainment |
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Thursday, February 5, 2026