Date
Monday, May 11 - Friday, May 15, 2026
Location
Thomas M Menino Convention & Exhibition Center
Boston, MA
Booth 1337
| Time | Type | Description | Room / Location | Presenter |
| 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM ET | General Session | Catalyst Award Recognition
This session features keynotes by ASGCT’s Mendell Award, Founders Award, and Catalyst Award recipients, plus recognition of this year's Career Development Award and Underrepresented Populations Fellowship recipients.
Danaher Corporation |
| Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, MD, Ph.D., Kiran Musunuru, MD, Ph.D. , Fyodor Urnov, PhD , Danaher Corporation |
| 08:00 AM - 08:30 AM ET | Scientific Talks | Democratizing Gene Therapy: Upstream Innovations to Streamline CMC and Reduce Cost per Dose
As gene therapy shifts from rare diseases to more prevalent indications, there is increasing regulatory focus on safety, efficacy, and the consistency of manufacturing processes.
This presentation will focus on biology and upstream innovations that improve cell line performance, increase viral vector yields, enhance product purity, and optimize the use of media and plasmids. These advancements work together to drive down costs, improve efficiency, and ensure consistent quality—making gene therapy more accessible to a broader patient population.
Cytiva | MCEC Room 109AB (Level 1) | Emmanuelle Cameau MsC |
| Ke Li: Toward CRISPR-on-Demand: A Platform Manufacturing Approach for Gene-Edited Cell Therapies in Familial HLH | ||||
| 12:15 PM - 01:15 PM ET | Lunch Symposium | Cytiva: The risk–reward balance of in vivo CAR T: Are we ready for the next leap in advanced therapies?
The 2017 landmark approval of the first CAR T cell therapy transformed treatment options and outcomes for patients with blood cancers. Yet, nearly a decade later, ex vivo CAR T manufacturing remains complex, costly, time consuming, and difficult to scale, restricting access to a limited number of people despite greater need. As science quickly unlocks new cell therapy possibilities, the biopharma industry faces a pivotal question: Are we ready, and willing, to take the leap?
Emerging approaches to cell therapy administration ― including in vivo CAR T, allogeneic formulations, and novel delivery strategies ― promise broader patient reach, shorter wait times, reduced manufacturing burden, and lower costs. But these major advantages also come with significant scientific, regulatory, and translational uncertainties. With recent challenges across adjacent modalities testing the industry’s risk tolerance, clinical progress hinges on finding a secure path forward.
This panel will bring leaders from academia, biotech, pharma, and advanced manufacturing together to critically examine the risk-benefit tradeoffs of next-generation CAR T strategies while evaluating the technologies that could enable the shift. Discussion will focus on safety, scalability, and infrastructure readiness, lessons learned from past platforms, and the partnership models required to accelerate innovation. Ultimately, we ask: How can we collectively win the in vivo cell therapy transition — and how do we ensure the rewards reach patients at scale?
Cytiva | MCEC Room 107ABC (Level 1) | Moderator:
Panel: Dr. Shimobi Onuoha, Chimeris Tx
Dr. Connor Tsuchida, Scientific Cofounder, Azalea Therapeutics
Cécile Bauche, Alaya Bio
David Perrit, Lupagen |
| 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET | Knowledge Lab | Advancing mRNA Manufacturing With Alchemy™: Next-Generation Cell-Free DNA Solutions for Speed, Quality, and Scalability
The production of next-generation mRNA therapeutics requires rapid, efficient, and high-fidelity cell-free template DNA solutions. Aldevron’s Alchemy platform is engineered to meet these demands, delivering template DNA that ensures unmatched quality and scalability. This session will detail how our technology facilitates successful downstream applications and supports groundbreaking therapeutic advancements. Lunch will be provided.
Aldevron | Room 213 | Nate Russart |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Engineering an mRNA Prime Editing Platform with Broad Utility in Genome Editing
IDT | Dr. Christopher A. Vakulskas, Ph.D. | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Arrayed synthetic gRNA libraries for high-throughput knockout screens in immortalized cell lines, primary human T-Cells, and iPSCs
IDT | Ashley Jacobi | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Accelerated Population-aware gRNA Candidate Selection Using High-throughput Nomination Methods
IDT | Olakekan Usman | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Engineering an Improved Inhibitor of 53BP1 to Enhance HDR Efficiency
IDT | Michael Collingwood | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Advancing AAV Purification: Enhanced Workflow with Automated Iodixanol Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences | Dr. Amy Henrickson | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Unified In-House Platform for Assay Development and Data Integrity for GMP Ready NGS Analytics
Genedata | Hunter Stamba | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | A higher throughput single‑sector sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation method for recombinant AAV empty and full ratio analysis
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences | Akash Bhattacharya |
| Time | Type | Description | Room / Location | Presenter |
| 8:26 AM | Scientific Talks | Podium Presentation: Next-generation predictive algorithms for translational gRNA selection
IDT |
| Gavin Kurgan |
| 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET | Knowledge Lab | From Design to Delivery: A Translational Framework for Non-Viral Gene Editing
Advancing non-viral CRISPR-mediated gene editing from concept to clinical application requires a seamless and robust workflow. This process demands careful consideration of specificity, manufacturability, and regulatory compliance to ensure therapeutic success. In this session, our experts will explore a comprehensive, end-to-end framework designed to support both in vivo and ex vivo genomic medicine applications. We will demonstrate how our integrated approach, which includes guide RNA (gRNA), off-target analysis, nucleases, Nanoplasmid™ vectors, and other gene editing tools, ensures your cell and gene therapies meet the highest standards at every stage of development. Lunch with be provided.
Aldevron | Room 213 | Max Sellman (Aldevron) and Ashley Jacobi (Integrated DNA Technologies) |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Engineering DNA templates for cell specificity, safety and cGMP scalability for In Vivo gene editing therapeutics
Aldevron | Tyler Kozisek, PhD | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Automated NGS Data Analysis in AAV Upstream Manufacturing and Producer Cell Line Characterization
Genedata | Thipa Asvarak | |
| 8:00 AM | Posters | Next-generation predictive algorithms for translational gRNA selection apriori
IDT | Gavin Kurgan |
| Time | Type | Description | Room / Location | Presenter |
| 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM ET | Scientific Talks | Cytiva: From workflow to platform: configurable, scalable manufacturing solutions for autologous CAR T and solid tumor applications
As autologous CART programs mature, manufacturers face a difficult balance: legacy workflows that are costly to modify, and emerging indications—particularly solid tumors—that demand higher cell doses and more robust, scalable manufacturing. In this session, we’ll share new data demonstrating how the Sefia™ cell therapy manufacturing platform supports continuity as processes evolve and scale out. Built around a modular, functionally closed design, the Sefia™ platform uses configurable unit operations and single-use consumables that readily accommodate common process variants, simplifying the transition from existing workflows with minimal procedural change. We’ll also highlight data showing that the system can support increasing production demands while maintaining consistent biological performance, including scenarios relevant to solid tumor development. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for mapping their existing processes to Sefia™ configurations and identifying automation opportunities to reduce variability and enable reliable scalability from development through commercialization.
| MCEC Room 259AB (Level 2)
| Federico Franchi
|
| 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM | Lunch Symposium | Manufacturing the Future: The Path from N=1 to N=Many
Baby KJ’s landmark treatment, the first personalized mRNA base editing therapy for a life-threatening urea cycle disorder, demonstrated that precision gene editing can save a single life. But the true obligation of medicine is scale: transforming singular breakthroughs into solutions that can reach all who need them.
This scientific presentation and panel will explore the intellectual, technical, and translational journey from that Nof1 clinical triumph to a platform capable of treating many patients. Achieving this vision requires a new model of partnership, one grounded in platform thinking and shared innovation. Optimized process development frameworks, scalable manufacturing, advanced QC analytics, and modern regulatory paradigms must converge to convert bespoke interventions into reproducible, accessible, and cost-effective genetic medicines.
IDT, Aldevron, and Cytiva | 109AB
| Tom Foti Sadik Kassim Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD, MPH, ML Scott Ripley Venkata Indurthi, Ph.D., and Patricia L Musolino MD, PhD |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Reducing sample consumption in sedimentation velocity AUC for quantitative characterization of AAV capsid loading
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences | Akash Bhattacharya | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | Optimization and data analysis strategies for density gradient equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation applied to AAV characterization
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences | Akash Bhattacharya | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | A Scalable RCA‑Based Platform for Producing High‑Quality Linear DNA Templates for IVT mRNA Production
Aldevron | Nate Russart | |
| 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Posters | A Unified NGS MAM Framework for Comprehensive Vector Characterization
Genedata | Ziwei (Coco) Li |
| Time | Type | Description | Room / Location | Presenter |
| 09:15 AM | Scientific Talks | Platform Presentation: Oral Abstract
Title: Guide RNA Comparability Study: Considerations in Translational Gene Editing
IDT | Garrett Rettig |