Conference Day Two | Thursday, 30th January, 2025

8:25 am Morning Registration, Light Breakfast & Welcome Coffee

9:25 am
9:25 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

Mechanistic Data: Demonstrating Impact on Disease Pathways to Accelerate the Pace of Innovation

9:30 am Validating Microbiota Signatures Correlated with Pregnancy Success

Synopsis

  • Results from prospective cohort study in IVF
  • Expansion of microbiome biomarker data, where dysbiosis microbiomes show a proinflammatory profile as compared with healthy states which are correlated with higher pregnancy outcomes
  • The development of a blueprint to guide intervention studies and improve our mechanistic understanding of the microbiome and disease, to determine predictive markers of drug response through better defining dysbiosis

10:00 am Enhancing Understanding of Mechanisms of Action to Demonstrate Re-Programming of the Immune System

Synopsis

  • Understanding the MoA of microbiome therapeutics, using an approach to investigate the immune system and targets of interest
  • Identifying components of bacteria and immune cells interacting with cellular pathways to demonstrate re programming of the immune system, using both in vivo and ex vivo models
  • Outlining next steps, for both translational studies and clinical trials ongoing

10:30 am Morning Networking Break

Synopsis

Meet and connect with your peers in this dedicated networking session

Leveraging Analytical Methodologies to Bring Clarity to Complex Modalities

11:30 am Preclinical Development of KAN-001: Using Kanvas’ In-House Spatial Host-Microbiome Platform to Inform & Accelerate LBP Development

Synopsis

  • KAN-001 is a complex LBP consortia candidate derived from a single cancer patient who had a complete response to ICI therapy
  • The patient’s stool, through FMT, has converted multiple ICI-refractory patients to responders
  • Kanvas’ spatial biology platform was used to accelerate strain isolation, visually measure engraftment and inform consortia member selection via microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions

12:00 pm Panel Discussion: Unravelling Complex Technologies in Microbiome Analysis

  • Michael Cox Institute of Microbiology & Infection, Assistant Professor Respiratory Microbiome, University of Birmingham
  • Pilar Manrique Senior Research Scientist, Microviable Therapeutics
  • Kinga Zielinska Researcher & Bioinformatics Consultant, Jagiellonian University

Synopsis

  • Which bioinformatics tools are allowing for more precise identification of microbial species and their functions, enabling better understanding of the role of specific microbes in health and disease?
  • How can we address the current challenges of standardisation and reproducibility in microbiome analysis?
  • What role does AI/Machine learning play in the future of microbiome analysis?

1:00 pm Lunch Break

Synopsis

Take this chance to meet the expert speakers, connect with your peers and explore our exhibition booths.

Microbiome Discoveries & Innovations: Enhancing Drug Delivery, Prediction of Response & Addressing Unmet Need

2:30 pm Leveraging Big Data to Link Microbiome Changes to Human Readouts – Where Are We?

Synopsis

  • Sharing the development of a translational platform, discussing data generation and model training approaches to predict in-human response
  • Evolving correlative hypothesis to contextual expressions, through understanding how environments impact microbial functions
  • Meaningful progression towards a disease-agnostic approach to microbial MoA prediction

3:00 pm Living Cures: Engineering a Programmable Therapeutic Platform

Synopsis

  • Engineering a new class of programmable bacteria for precise and targeted therapeutic payload delivery to tumour sites
  • Leveraging synthetic biology tools to increase the safety and efficacy of therapeutic interventions

3:30 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks & End of Summit