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 |
| |
* Paul J Carter, Genentech, Inc.
Session Chair |
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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 |
| |
Charlotte Deane, University of Oxford
Remote Presentation: 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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John Corbin, 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 |
|
| 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 |
| 3:00–4:30 PM |
Symposia Spotlight 1 |
Cascade Ballroom |
| |
* 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
SynCodonLM: A Protein-agnostic, Coding-DNA Language Model |
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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 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| 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 |
|
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* Uli C Bialucha, Xilio Therapeutics
Unlocking the Potential of Masked Immuno-Oncology Therapies |
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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 |
|
| 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 Reduce Viscosity 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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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 |
| |
Samuel T Haile, Kite Pharma
Director |
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Marc-André Langlois, University of Ottawa
Professor |
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Andrew McGuire, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Associate Professor |
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Rianne van der Windt, Genmab
Senior Scientist |
|
| 4:00–5:00 PM |
Coffee Break with Hot Chocolate, Firepits & Mountain Views |
Conservatory Terrace |
| 5:00–5:45 PM |
Keynote Address |
Cascade Ballroom |
| |
* John R. Desjarlais, Xencor, Inc.
Session Chair |
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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 |
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Peter Tessier, University of Michigan
Next-generation CNS Antibody Shuttles |
|
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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 |
|
| 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 |
|
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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 for Oncology and Autoimmune Disease |
|
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Rony Dahan, Weizmann Institute of Science
Cell-selective Bispecific Agonists to Overcome Systemic Toxicity |
|
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Ruth Muench, Rondo Therapeutics
Short Talk: Development of a Novel Costimulatory T-Cell Engager RNDO-564 for the Treatment of Bladder Cancer |
|
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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 |
|
| 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 |
|
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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 |
|
| |
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 |
|
| 4:30–5:00 PM |
Coffee Available |
Riverview Lounge |
| 5:00–6:15 PM |
Experience with Antibodies Beyond Oncology |
Cascade Ballroom |
| |
* Karen Silence, argenx
Restoring Neuromuscular Signaling: Developing a First-in-Class Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Specific for MuSK |
|
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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 |
|
| 6:15–7:00 PM |
Closing Keynote Address |
Cascade Ballroom |
| |
* E. Sally Ward, University of Southampton
Sessoin Chair |
|
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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 |
| 8:15–9:15 PM |
Entertainment |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
| 8:15–9:15 PM |
Cash Bar |
Alberta/New Brunswick |
Thursday, February 5, 2026
