November 1, 2017
11 am to 12 pm EST

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

Cancer immunotherapy delivers treatment of high specificity, low toxicity and prolonged activity in subsets of patients. With this revolutionary treatment approach, immunotherapy has had unprecedented momentum resulting in mounting experimental strategies and not enough patients for clinical trials.

This exciting new strategy has brought several challenges, including tumor evasion, tumor heterogeneity and discovering appropriate biomarkers to predict response to treatment. Currently, there is an unmet need for clinically relevant preclinical models and translational strategies that recapitulate the complexity of the tumor immune microenvironment to test the therapeutic potential of these drugs, identify rational combination therapies and to develop novel predictive biomarkers of clinical response.

Understanding the immunosuppressive mechanisms in the tumor immune microenvironment is essential to predicting drug response and development of biomarkers. Utilizing novel assays, including un-propagated fresh patient platforms with intact immune microenvironment will help facilitate immuno-oncology drug development, including biomarker discovery, biomarker-driven rational drug combinations and de-risking drug development with a higher probability of clinical success.

Learning Objectives:

• Introduce immunotherapy, current drugs in market and the importance of the tumor immune microenvironment.
• Understand the challenges associated with the development of immunotherapy drugs.
• Learn about novel options including fresh patient tissue models and their application in immunotherapy drug development.

Speakers:

Scott Antonia, M.D., Ph.D.

Chair, Department of Thoracic Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Centery
Professor of Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa

Chief Medical Officer, Nilogen Oncosystems

Dr. Antonia is the Department Chair of the Thoracic Oncology Department at the Moffitt Cancer Center. He is also a Professor of Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa. Dr. Antonia received both his medical degree and a doctorate in Immunology from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut. He completed his internal medicine residency, medical oncology fellowship, and post-doctoral fellowship in Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Antonia also serves as Medical Director of the tumor vaccine production facility at Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. Antonia is a world-renowned pioneer and leader in the immuno-oncology space.

Melanie Mediavilla-Varela, Ph.D.

Director of Research

Nilogen Oncosystems

Dr. Mediavilla-Varela holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Loma Linda University in California. She pursued her post-doctoral fellowship in Immuno-oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida. She has broad expertise in designing and managing translational studies in the oncology and immunology space. She also has a Business Certificate from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Cost: No cost!

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