Nancy Sajjadi joins The Chain to share her quality control knowledge and experience of adopting a quality-by-design approach for assays. We discuss how the focus of her QC work has changed through the years, and what kind of challenges she foresees as the cell and gene therapy fields move forward. Ms. Sajjadi talks about consulting with clients who are developing cutting edge therapies and explains her approach of creating a “culture of quality” within scientific organizations to lead to more...

In this episode, Dr. Willem Overwijk returns for a conversation with Dr. Éric Vivier. Dr. Vivier is a professor of immunology at Aix-Marseille and a hospital practitioner at Marseille Public University Hospital. Éric Vivier is also the Chief Scientific Officer at Innate Pharma, a clinical-stage biotech company that creates novel antibodies that activate the immune system to treat patients with cancer. They discuss Dr. Vivier’s scientific background, the importance and the potential of Natural...

This episode of The Chain features a live panel discussion moderated by Erica Ollmann Saphire, PhD of La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Expert panelists from academia and government assess the COVID-19 antibody and vaccine development thus far, including what did and did not go well during the pandemic. They also look towards the future and the role mRNA vaccines may play for diseases like influenza, what we learned about the United States’ ability to manufacture during surge production, and...

The Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University was prepared for COVID-19 long before the United States economy shut down. Now over a year since COVID-19 was first recorded in the U.S., co-director Dr. Karla Satchell speaks with The Chain about the role of structural genomics in preparing for disease outbreak and response. Karla Satchell, PhD, Professor, Microbiology; Principal Investigator and Co-Director, Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious...

Linoleic acid is an essential free fatty acid in the human body and its metabolic pathway is central to immune regulation and inflammation – which are also key symptoms in COVID-19. Using cryo-electron microscopy, Christine Toelzer’s research identified linoleic acid bound to a hydrophobic pocket of the SARS-CoV-2 glycoprotein. Christine shares her thoughts on how these findings will contribute to the fight against COVID-19 and how her lab work has been altered by the pandemic. Christine also...

In this episode we talk with Dennis Karthaus of IBA Lifesciences about his early science interests and pursing his PhD. His passion for marine biology eventually led him on a path to study biotechnology, where he now focuses on protein expression and purification. Specifically, tag-based purification that can help researchers increase lab productivity. But, as our guest explains, scientists should consider their specific bottlenecks and applications for the protein of interest, to determine...

In a roundtable discussion, three experts bring perspectives on different methods for generating antibodies, including generating antibodies from naive libraries, patients, and immunizations. They discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the advantages of refocusing on infectious disease research. As well as the importance of having ready immune libraries and immunized mice, plus other approaches, ahead of any future infectious disease outbreak.

The purification requirements in the biopharmaceutical industry will be even more demanding in the coming years due to increased awareness of product-related impurities like oligomers, variants, positional isomers, and glycoforms. These impurities need to be separated from the final product. Dr. Raja Ghosh’s work focuses on the design and development of efficient chromatography devices that combine high-speed with high-resolution in separation. He speaks with Dr. David Wood of the Ohio State...

On this episode of The Chain, Dr. Willem Overwijk shares his personal experience of his recent transition from academia to industry, and the differences between the two. Dr. Overwijk moved to industry, in part, to follow his research interest in a specific molecule that he had been working on since graduate studies: interleukin-2. Thanks to advances in protein engineering, this once ultra-potent molecule now can be administered with lower toxicity while still being an effective cancer...

Dr. Dimiter Dimitrov, Director of the Center for Antibody Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh, sits down with The Chain to discuss his research and its relevance to the current pandemic. His work focuses on human VH domains, which in contrast...

Dan Chen returns for the Science Commune segment and speaks with Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Dr. Marks reflects on his fortuitous path from academia to industry to government, plus the differences between each area. Dr. Marks explains the research and regulatory role of CBER, especially as it pertains to the latest cell therapies. And finally, the two discuss the impressive speed of COVID-19 vaccine science breakthroughs and...

Christian Klein is a longtime and key member of the protein and antibody community. In this episode, he speaks with Executive Conference Producer, Christina Lingham, on how the field has changed since their first collaboration. Dr. Klein offers an overview of the latest applications of bispecific antibodies, including the latest progress of clinical trials by Roche and others. He also explains how the PD1-X molecule is unique and can increase specificity of therapeutics even more.

There are no bad ideas in developing bioanalytical testing, says Jim McNally, CSO of BioAgilytix. Not all ideas will work, of course. But he has found that it is the outside-the-box ideas that often turn out to be the solution in challenging assay work. Dr. McNally speaks with The Chain about his background in bioanalytical testing and supporting clinical trials, the exciting future of cell and gene therapies, and the importance of setting precedent in bioanalysis of these new, life-saving...

There are some proteins that still evade scientists in the race for better therapeutics. Some of the most elusive drug targets in cancer research are RAS oncoproteins. In a paper published this July, researchers demonstrated the delivery of an extremely potent pan-RAS-cleaving enzyme, opening the door for the first targeted pan-RAS inhibitor for cancer therapy. In this episode we speak with two of the researchers from this project, a cancer biologist and a protein engineer, to learn what...

Carolyn Bertozzi grew up in a science family with a physicist father. But it was organic chemistry that “clicked” for Carolyn and started her down the path of understanding biology at a molecular level. Daniel Chen and Carolyn Bertozzi discuss her work in glycobiology. Bertozzi’s research finds that glycosylation has consequences in immune modulation, and that glycobiology plays an important role in human disease that has historically been underexploited in drug development. Finally, Chen and...

What was science like before the shift to big data technology? How did biologists learn about cells before we could do high throughput gene analysis? What we can learn about how to problem solve from those who helped get us to where we are today? In this Science Commune episode, Dr. Rik Derynck helps us answer those questions by sharing his stories as a young scientist in the “primitive” early days of cell biology. Derynck talks about his work on TGF-β and how his early pursuit of the unknown...

In this Science Commune segment, Dr. Daniel Chen and Dr. Pablo Umaña discuss what it means to be both a scientist and an engineer while utilizing principles from both disciplines to solve problems and advance innovation.

Dr. David Wood is working on novel technology with self-cleaving tags, but he knows the importance of failure in the grand scheme of success, as well as mentorship, making your own way, and going your own speed.

Sara Mangsbo is Entrepreneur of the Year, but her journey to success is much more than one title or one year. She shares the process and her biggest takeaways of building a company that is developing novel immunotherapies to fight cancer.

Dr. Nathan Ledeboer explains the power diagnostic testing has when combatting a pandemic, and the importance for collaboration in innovation during this time.

Infectious disease expert, Dr. Rita Rio discusses the Coronavirus pandemic from a public health perspective, current policies and long-term aftershocks.

We discuss five trends in the development of cancer immunotherapies and how these will impact patients and biopharmaceutical research and development.

The Science Commune segment explores Dr. Bruce Keyt’s passion for proteins, and how his creative ventures keep innovation alive.

Hank Greely, JD discusses his work at the intersection of biology, law, and ethics, particularly in gene editing, and what happens when scientific advancement becomes a catalyst for criminal recklessness.

Today’s episode continues the conversation with the 2019 and 2020 PEGS Young Scientist Keynote speakers, focusing on the challenges of their day to day work.