Joint with: Emerging Cell Therapies
Antibodies as Drugs: Engineering and Computational Tools Enabling Clinical Advances
Feb 01–04, 2026 | Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Scientific Organizers:
Paul J Carter, John R. Desjarlais, and E. Sally Ward
In Person
On Demand
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Feb 01–04, 2026 | Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Scientific Organizers: Paul J Carter, John R. Desjarlais, and E. Sally Ward
Paul J Carter, PhD
Genentech, Inc.
Paul J. Carter, Ph.D., is a Genentech Fellow in the Department of Antibody Engineering at Genentech, Inc. His research focuses on developing broadly applicable antibody technologies and their application to antibody drugs. He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2022 for “for creating novel approaches to discovering and developing life-saving antibody therapeutics, including bispecific antibodies.” His contributions at Genentech include being a co-inventor of humanization methods used for 9 approved antibody drugs. He is also a co-inventor of Herceptin, which has been used to treat over 4 million patients with breast cancer, and a co-inventor of ‘knobs-into-holes’ technology used in the design of least 3 approved bispecific antibodies. Dr. Carter has co-organized 23 international conferences on protein/antibody engineering and therapeutics including 5 Keystone Symposia meetings.
John R. Desjarlais, PhD
Xencor, Inc.
John Desjarlais, Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer of Xencor and oversees all aspects of discovery and research at the company, including technology development, protein and antibody engineering and generation of drug candidates. Prior to joining Xencor, Dr. Desjarlais was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University, where he developed protein engineering methods. His team at Xencor has created numerous antibody optimization platforms, including Fc domain enhancements for effector function, inhibitory signaling, and extended half-life, which have been used extensively to endow antibody therapies with enhanced properties, leading to multiple approved antibodies for oncology and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Desjarlais has co-organized the Gordon Research Conference ‘Antibody Biology and Engineering’ and has
served as session chair at numerous conferences.
served as session chair at numerous conferences.
E. Sally Ward, PhD
University of Southampton
E. Sally Ward, Ph.D., FRS, is a Professor of Molecular Immunology and Director of Translational Immunology at the University of Southampton (UK) and has previously held faculty positions at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas A&M University. Her interdisciplinary research involves the use of a combination of fluorescence imaging, protein engineering and in vivo studies to develop antibody-based therapeutics to treat autoimmunity, cancer and infectious disease. This has led to several half-life extension technologies that have been licensed to biopharma, some of which are currently approved for clinical use. A FcRn antagonist identified in her laboratory, efgartigimod (Vyvgart), has been developed by argenx, and has recently been approved to treat several antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases. Dr. Ward was a founding co-organizer of the Gordon Research Conference ‘Antibody Biology and Engineering’ and has co-organized Keystone Symposia meetings and FASEB SRCs. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.
Available Formats:
Supported by:
In Person
On Demand
***Meeting program subject to change.
Available Formats: = In Person = On DemandSunday, February 1, 2026
Fundraising
Booking Function
Merchandise Options
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Registration
4:00–8:00 PM
Riverview Lounge
Welcome Mixer
6:00–8:00 PM
Riverview Lounge
Monday, February 2, 2026
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Welcome Remarks
8:00–8:10 AM
Cascade Ballroom
Keynote Address
8:10–9:00 AM
Cascade Ballroom
* Paul J Carter, Genentech, Inc.
Session Chair
Session Chair
Elaine Hurt, AstraZeneca
Lessons Learned from 30 Years of ADC Development
Lessons Learned from 30 Years of ADC Development
Computational Technologies for Antibody Design and Optimization
9:00–11:15 AM
Cascade Ballroom
Charlotte Deane, University of Oxford
Remote Presentation: How Far are we from Designing an Antibody Therapeutic on a Computer
Remote Presentation: How Far are we from Designing an Antibody Therapeutic on a Computer
* Peter S. Kim, Stanford University
Unsupervised Evolution of Protein and Antibody Complexes with a Structure-Informed Language Model
Unsupervised Evolution of Protein and Antibody Complexes with a Structure-Informed Language Model
John Corbin, BigHat Biosciences
Combining Active Learning with a Rapid Synthetic Biology Platform to Design Therapeutic Antibodies
Combining Active Learning with a Rapid Synthetic Biology Platform to Design Therapeutic Antibodies
Luca Giancardo, Amazon AWS
Short Talk: Context-aware Multi-Property Antibody Predictor: a Novel Framework Integrating Text and Protein Language Models
Short Talk: Context-aware Multi-Property Antibody Predictor: a Novel Framework Integrating Text and Protein Language Models
Coffee Break
9:30–9:50 AM
Riverview Lounge
Award Recipient Acknowledgement
9:50–9:55 AM
Cascade Ballroom
Poster Setup
11:15–1:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
On Own for Lunch
11:15–2:30 PM
Poster Viewing
1:00–10:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Symposia Spotlight 1
3:00–4:30 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* Lance Hepler, Infinimmune
From Human B Cells to Enhanced Therapeutics: The GLIMPSE Platform for Antibody Engineering
From Human B Cells to Enhanced Therapeutics: The GLIMPSE Platform for Antibody Engineering
William Kelton, The University of Waikato
AI-assisted Approaches for Programmable Fc Domain Engineering
AI-assisted Approaches for Programmable Fc Domain Engineering
James Heuschkel, Boehringer Ingelheim
SynCodonLM: A Protein-agnostic, Coding-DNA Language Model
SynCodonLM: A Protein-agnostic, Coding-DNA Language Model
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
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
Rational Design of Antibody-Based Countermeasures Against Ultrapotent Synthetic Opioids
Forrest Epstein, UCLA School of Medicine
A Robust High-throughput Method for Identifying Diagnostic Antibodies
A Robust High-throughput Method for Identifying Diagnostic Antibodies
Coffee Available
4:30–5:00 PM
Riverview Lounge
Antibody Activity on Demand - Engineering Strategies to Emerging Clinical Outcomes
5:00–7:00 PM
Cascade Ballroom
Naoka Hironiwa, Chugai Pharmabody Research
Antibody Activation using Ca2+ or ATP-Switches
Antibody Activation using Ca2+ or ATP-Switches
* Uli C Bialucha, Xilio Therapeutics
Unlocking the Potential of Masked Immuno-Oncology Therapies
Unlocking the Potential of Masked Immuno-Oncology Therapies
Dikran Aivazian, ADAXION Therapeutics
Engineering of Hypoimmunogenic Biotherapeutics through a Novel bioconjugate Platform
Engineering of Hypoimmunogenic Biotherapeutics through a Novel bioconjugate Platform
Naruhisa Ota, Genentech, Inc.
Short Talk: A Modular Platform for Sterically Masked Activated Cytokines (SMACks)
Short Talk: A Modular Platform for Sterically Masked Activated Cytokines (SMACks)
Ben Hackel, University of Minnesota
Short Talk: Engineered Dual Expression-dependent Molecular AND Gates
Short Talk: Engineered Dual Expression-dependent Molecular AND Gates
Social Hour with Dinner
7:00–8:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Poster Session 1
7:30–10:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Emerging Antibody-based Modalities and Engineering Strategies
8:00–11:00 AM
Cascade Ballroom
Jo L Viney, Seismic Therapeutic
AI/ML for Biologics Drug Discovery for Immunology
AI/ML for Biologics Drug Discovery for Immunology
* James A Wells, University of California, San Francisco
Degraders to Attack the Cancer Surfaceomewell
Degraders to Attack the Cancer Surfaceomewell
Paul J Carter, Genentech, Inc.
Engineering Antibodies to Reduce Viscosity for Subcutaneous Delivery
Engineering Antibodies to Reduce Viscosity for Subcutaneous Delivery
E. Sally Ward, University of Southampton
Targeting Subcellular Trafficking for the Generation of Therapeutics
Targeting Subcellular Trafficking for the Generation of Therapeutics
Amy Li, T Therapeutics
Short Talk: T-Therapeutics: Unlocking pMHC Target Space for Next Generation T Cell Engagers in Oncology and Autoimmunity
Short Talk: T-Therapeutics: Unlocking pMHC Target Space for Next Generation T Cell Engagers in Oncology and Autoimmunity
Coffee Break
9:00–9:20 AM
Riverview Lounge
Poster Setup
11:00–1:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
On Own for Lunch
11:00–3:00 PM
Poster Viewing
1:00–10:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Career Roundtable (Joint)
1:45–2:45 PM
Alhambra Ballroom
Samuel T Haile, Kite Pharma
Director
Director
Marc-André Langlois, University of Ottawa
Professor
Professor
Andrew McGuire, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Rianne van der Windt, Genmab
Senior Scientist
Senior Scientist
Coffee Break with Hot Chocolate, Firepits & Mountain Views
4:00–5:00 PM
Conservatory Terrace
Keynote Address
5:00–5:45 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* John R. Desjarlais, Xencor, Inc.
Session Chair
Session Chair
David Baker, University of Washington
Remote Presentation: Computational Design of Proteins for Therapeutic Applications
Remote Presentation: Computational Design of Proteins for Therapeutic Applications
Antibody-Drug Conjugates
5:45–7:00 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* Greg Thurber, University of Michigan
Optimizing ADC Delivery by Avidity/Affinity Tuning
Optimizing ADC Delivery by Avidity/Affinity Tuning
Peter Tessier, University of Michigan
Next-generation CNS Antibody Shuttles
Next-generation CNS Antibody Shuttles
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
Short Talk: Evaluation of EGFR and LGR5 Antibody-Drug Conjugate-Based Dual-Targeting Therapeutic Strategies for the Improved Treatment of Colorectal Cancer
Social Hour with Dinner
7:00–8:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Poster Session 2
7:30–10:00 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Harnessing the Immune System with Antibodies
8:00–11:00 AM
Cascade Ballroom
* Eric Smith, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CD28 Bispecifics for Costimulation of T Cells
CD28 Bispecifics for Costimulation of T Cells
Pamela M. Holland, InduPro
Proximity Labeling to Identify Target Pairs for ADCs and T Cell Engagers
Proximity Labeling to Identify Target Pairs for ADCs and T Cell Engagers
John R. Desjarlais, Xencor, Inc.
T Cell Engagers for Oncology and Autoimmune Disease
T Cell Engagers for Oncology and Autoimmune Disease
Rony Dahan, Weizmann Institute of Science
Cell-selective Bispecific Agonists to Overcome Systemic Toxicity
Cell-selective Bispecific Agonists to Overcome Systemic Toxicity
Ruth Muench, Rondo Therapeutics
Short Talk: Development of a Novel Costimulatory T-Cell Engager RNDO-564 for the Treatment of Bladder Cancer
Short Talk: Development of a Novel Costimulatory T-Cell Engager RNDO-564 for the Treatment of Bladder Cancer
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
Short Talk: Multivalent Bispecific NANOBODY® Domain-based Anti-HER2 T Cell Engager: Novel Binding Profile and Selective Targeting of HER2-Low Cancers
Coffee Break
9:00–9:20 AM
Riverview Lounge
On Own for Lunch
11:00–2:30 PM
Symposia Spotlight 2
2:30–4:30 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* David P. Humphreys, UCB Pharma
The Biological Function of Rheumatoid Factor (RF) Autoantibodies in vitro
The Biological Function of Rheumatoid Factor (RF) Autoantibodies in vitro
Elise Lechine, Light Chain Bioscience
Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment with an Anti-CD47/IL-2 Fusion Protein
Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment with an Anti-CD47/IL-2 Fusion Protein
Alyssa Ehni, Vanderbilt University
Multi-Specific Nanobody-Fc Fusions against TcdB Protect in vivo from Diverse Clostridioides Difficile Strains
Multi-Specific Nanobody-Fc Fusions against TcdB Protect in vivo from Diverse Clostridioides Difficile Strains
Rory Henderson, Duke University
Synergy between Antibody Germline residues and Somatic Mutants Enables Broad HIV-1 Recognition
Synergy between Antibody Germline residues and Somatic Mutants Enables Broad HIV-1 Recognition
Zaria Contejean, Stanford University
Structural Profiling and Engineering of Neutralizing and Cross-reactive TBEV Monoclonal Antibodies
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
Prefusion Glycoprotein B Human Antibodies Protect Against Neonatal HSV-2 Infection
Olivia C Powers, Vanderbilt University
Public Antibody Clonotypes Reveal Shared Features of Human B Cell Responses to Seasonal and COBRA Influenza Antigens
Public Antibody Clonotypes Reveal Shared Features of Human B Cell Responses to Seasonal and COBRA Influenza Antigens
Mizumi Setia, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Tissue-derived Antibodies Exhibit Potent Antiviral Activity Against HSV-2
Tissue-derived Antibodies Exhibit Potent Antiviral Activity Against HSV-2
Coffee Available
4:30–5:00 PM
Riverview Lounge
Experience with Antibodies Beyond Oncology
5:00–6:15 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* Karen Silence, argenx
Restoring Neuromuscular Signaling: Developing a First-in-Class Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Specific for MuSK
Restoring Neuromuscular Signaling: Developing a First-in-Class Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Specific for MuSK
James E Crowe, Jr., Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Human Monoclonal Antibodies for Emerging Infections
Human Monoclonal Antibodies for Emerging Infections
Phil Noble, UCB Pharma
Short Talk: Novel Methodologies for Therapeutic Antibody Discovery and Optimisation
Short Talk: Novel Methodologies for Therapeutic Antibody Discovery and Optimisation
Closing Keynote Address
6:15–7:00 PM
Cascade Ballroom
* E. Sally Ward, University of Southampton
Sessoin Chair
Sessoin Chair
Erica O Saphire, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
New Antibodies Against an Old Virus
New Antibodies Against an Old Virus
Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers)
7:00–7:15 PM
Cascade Ballroom
Social Hour with Dinner
7:15–8:15 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Entertainment
8:15–9:15 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Cash Bar
8:15–9:15 PM
Alberta/New Brunswick
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Departure
12:00–11:59 PM
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