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
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of November 25, 2025 10 AM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Sunday, February 1, 2026
4:00–8:00 PM Registration Riverview Lounge
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Riverview Lounge
Monday, February 2, 2026
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
  Elaine Hurt, AstraZeneca
Lessons Learned from 30 Years of ADC Development
 
9:00–11:15 AM Computational Technologies for Antibody Design and Optimization Cascade Ballroom
  Charlotte Deane, University of Oxford
How Far are we from Designing an Antibody Therapeutic on a Computer
 
  Peter S. Kim, Stanford University
Unsupervised Evolution of Protein and Antibody Complexes with a Structure-Informed Language Model
 
  Peyton Greenside, BigHat Biosciences
Combining Active Learning with a Rapid Synthetic Biology Platform to Design Therapeutic Antibodies
 
  Luca Giancardo †, Amazon AWS
Short Talk: Context-aware Multi-Property Antibody Predictor: a Novel Framework Integrating Text and Protein Language Models
 
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
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Alberta/New Brunswick
2:30–4:30 PM Symposia Spotlight 1 Cascade Ballroom
  Lance Hepler †, Infinimmune
From Human B Cells to Enhanced Therapeutics: The GLIMPSE Platform for Antibody Engineering
 
  William Kelton †, The University of Waikato
AI-assisted Approaches for Programmable Fc Domain Engineering
 
  James Heuschkel †, Boehringer Ingelheim
Advancing Codon Language Modeling with Synonymous Codon Constrained Masking
 
  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
 
  Tony Pham †, AstraZeneca
Revisiting CSI-BLI as an Early-Stage Predictor of High Concentration Formulation Viscosity
 
  Marco Pravetoni †, University of Washington School of Medicine
Rational Design of Antibody-Based Countermeasures Against Ultrapotent Synthetic Opioids
 
  Forrest Epstein †, UCLA School of Medicine
A Robust High-throughput Method for Identifying Diagnostic Antibodies
 
  Natalia Freund †, Tel Aviv University
Neutralization by Antibodies Targeting the Mpox Virus
 
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
  Naoka Hironiwa, Chugai Pharmabody Research
Antibody Activation using Ca2+ or ATP-Switches
 
  Carl U Bialucha, Xilio Therapeutics
Talk Title to be Announced
 
  Dikran Aivazian, ADAXION Therapeutics
Engineering of Hypoimmunogenic Biotherapeutics through a Novel bioconjugate Platform
 
  Naruhisa Ota †, Genentech, Inc.
Short Talk: A Modular Platform for Sterically Masked Activated Cytokines (SMACks)
 
  Ben Hackel †, University of Minnesota
Short Talk: Engineered Dual Expression-dependent Molecular AND Gates
 
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
  Jo L Viney, Seismic Therapeutic
AI/ML for Biologics Drug Discovery for Immunology
 
  James A Wells, University of California, San Francisco
Degraders to Attack the Cancer Surfaceomewell
 
  Paul J Carter, Genentech, Inc.
Engineering Antibodies to Improve High Concentration Properties for Subcutaneous Delivery
 
  E. Sally Ward, University of Southampton
Targeting Subcellular Trafficking for the Generation of Therapeutics
 
  Peter Tessier †, University of Michigan
Short Talk: Next-generation CNS Antibody Shuttles
 
  Amy Li †, T Therapeutics
Short Talk: T-Therapeutics: Unlocking pMHC Target Space for Next Generation T Cell Engagers in Oncology and Autoimmunity
 
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
  David Baker, University of Washington
Remote Presentation: Computational Design of Proteins for Therapeutic Applications
 
5:45–7:00 PM Antibody-Drug Conjugates Cascade Ballroom
  Greg Thurber, University of Michigan
Optimizing ADC Delivery by Avidity/Affinity Tuning
 
  William M Flanagan, Avidity Biosciences, Inc.
Antibody-Oligonucleotide Conjugates
 
  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
 
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
  Eric Smith, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CD28 Bispecifics for Costimulation of T Cells
 
  Pamela M. Holland, InduPro
Proximity Labeling to Identify Target Pairs for ADCs and T Cell Engagers
 
  John R. Desjarlais, Xencor, Inc.
T Cell Engagers
 
  Rony Dahan, Weizmann Institute of Science
Recruitment of Dendritic Cells with Bispecifics / Fc Glycoengineering
 
  Ruth Muench †, Rondo Therapeutics
Short Talk: Development of a Novel T-Cell Engager for the Treatment of Solid Tumors
 
  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
 
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
  David P. Humphreys †, UCB Pharma
The Biological Function of Rheumatoid Factor (RF) Autoantibodies in vitro
 
  Elise Lechine †, Light Chain Bioscience
Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment with an Anti-CD47/IL-2 Fusion Protein
 
  Alyssa Ehni †, Vanderbilt University
Multi-Specific Nanobody-Fc Fusions against TcdB Protect in vivo from Diverse Clostridioides Difficile Strains
 
  Rory Henderson †, Duke University
Synergy between Antibody Germline residues and Somatic Mutants Enables Broad HIV-1 Recognition
 
  Zaria Contejean †, Stanford University
Structural Profiling and Engineering of Neutralizing and Cross-reactive TBEV Monoclonal Antibodies
 
  Parastoo Amlashi †, Vanderbilt University
Prefusion Glycoprotein B Human Antibodies Protect Against Neonatal HSV-2 Infection
 
  Olivia C Powers †, Vanderbilt University
Public Antibody Clonotypes Reveal Shared Features of Human B Cell Responses to Seasonal and COBRA Influenza Antigens
 
  Mizumi Setia †, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Tissue-derived Antibodies Exhibit Potent Antiviral Activity Against HSV-2
 
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Riverview Lounge
5:00–6:15 PM Experience with Antibodies Beyond Oncology Cascade Ballroom
  Karen Silence, arGEN-X BVBA
Agonist MuSK Antibodies for the Treatment of Myasthenia Gravis
 
  James E Crowe, Jr., Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Human Monoclonal Antibodies for Emerging Infections
 
  Phil Noble †, UCB Pharma
Short Talk: Novel Methodologies for Therapeutic Antibody Discovery and Optimisation
 
6:15–7:00 PM Closing Keynote Address Cascade Ballroom
  Erica O Saphire, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
New Antibodies Against an Old Virus
 
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
8:00–11:00 PM Cash Bar
Thursday, February 5, 2026
12:00–11:59 PM Departure