Cell Culture Engineering XX
Session Descriptions
Cell Line Development: Engineering Next-Generation Cell Factories Across Therapeutic Modalities
Session Chairs:
Jennitte Stevens, Insitro
Mark Blenner, University of Delaware
Simon Fischer, Boehringer Ingelheim
Engineering the cell itself remains one of the most powerful levers for advancing biomanufacturing across therapeutic modalities. This session invites abstracts focused on innovations in host cell engineering, genome editing and transgene integration, synthetic biology approaches, advanced cell analytics and vector design that enhance cell performance, productivity, robustness and product quality.
Topics of interest include novel strategies for cell line development, screening and clone selection, engineering of any relevant mammalian expression system, and approaches to optimize and characterize cell phenotypes, metabolism, and stress response. Abstracts describing advances in primary cell engineering for cell and gene therapy applications, including ex vivo gene modification, control of cell state and differentiation, and expansion of engineered cell populations, are encouraged. Data-rich contributions spanning diverse modalities, from recombinant proteins and viral vectors to cell-based therapeutics and emerging non-traditional production systems, are welcome. Both fundamental studies illuminating cell biology and applied work demonstrating clear process or product impact are of interest.
This session aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working across the full spectrum of therapeutic modalities to share insights, highlight emerging tools and trends, and advance our collective understanding of how engineered cell factories can meet the demands of modern biomanufacturing.
Culture Process Development: Innovating for Speed, Productivity, Robustness, and Sustainability Across Modalities
Session Chairs:
Anne Robinson, Carnegie Mellon University
Henry Lin, Sanofi
Shawn Lawrence, Regeneron
Process development advances should demonstrate improved speed to the clinic and address commercialization, productivity, robustness and transferability, and sustainability needs. This session seeks talks focused on advances in process development that cover one or more of these aspects and include all modalities: monoclonal antibodies, multispecifics, antibody drug conjugates, recombinant proteins, and cell and gene therapies.
Topics of interest include: (1) Scale-up and scale-down strategies to ensure predictability and transferability; (2) Medium development and optimization leveraging metabolite profiling and metabolic understanding; (3) Process intensification approaches for fed-batch, perfusion, hybrid, and emerging modes that reduce COGs; (4) Development of waste-reducing and energy-efficient cell culture processes to improve sustainability; and (5) Platform, acceleration or process control strategies throughout the product lifecycle, including post-approval changes. Case studies and platform advancements that illustrate significant innovation, impact, or implementation in manufacturing are particularly emphasized.
Controlling Product Quality Across Biologic Modalities
Session Chairs:
Ioscani Jimenez Del Val, University College, Dublin
Michael Handlogten, AstraZeneca
Nitya Jacob, Biogen
Substantial progress has been made in understanding how process controls impact product quality attributes. This session will showcase state-of-the-art approaches to identifying, understanding, and achieving desired critical quality attributes (CQAs) across the full spectrum of biologic modalities, including protein therapeutics, cell and gene therapies, and emerging complex biologics.
Topics of interest include implementation of novel sensor technologies, mechanistic connections from process control to CQAs, and novel CQA control strategies. We particularly encourage submissions describing case studies that demonstrate successful implementation of novel control strategies, CQA prediction and identification, and regulatory experiences with advanced strategies to control product quality. Emphasis will be placed on work that bridges the gap between process development and clinical/commercial manufacturing, demonstrating tangible improvements in product quality consistency, and process robustness across diverse therapeutic modalities.
Systems Biology Technologies for Advanced Cell Culture Applications
Session Chairs:
Cleo Kontoravdi, Imperial College London
Delia Lyons, AbbVie
Sarika Mehra, IIT Bombay
Weiwei Hu, Lilly
Systems biology is a multidisciplinary integrated model-based approach that combines omics and sequencing data, mechanistic knowledge, and dynamic interaction analysis to understand and engineer biological systems and processes. Methods in the field have evolved significantly in the last decade, but significant challenges and opportunities still exist. This session aims to showcase cutting-edge analytical strategies, integrative data science, and real-world case studies that accelerate the design, optimization, and verification of advanced cell culture systems. We welcome submissions in experimental demonstration, industrial application and translational success stories in the context of cell culture based biomanufacturing processes and beyond.
Topics of interest include: (1) Applications to manufacturing of biologics, including process characterization and regulatory considerations for omics-supported claims; (2) Approaches to address common challenges, such as time-series analysis of multiomics and process linkage, and standardization of data collection, reporting, and analysis across the community; (3) Innovative analytical technologies and computational methodologies enabling deeper analytics, higher throughput or novel applications; (4) Expansion of systems biology applications beyond CHO to non-traditional expression systems and emerging production platforms; (5) Studies focused on CHO genome architecture including chromosomal organization, genomic instability, epigenetic regulation, and their downstream consequences on cell line behavior, productivity, and product quality.
From Data to Decisions: Automation, AI, and Advanced Monitoring and Control
Session Chairs:
Sanjeev Ahuja, Merck & Co.
Sarah Harcum, Clemson University
Vince Price, Johnson & Johnson
The drive to reduce cost of goods for antibodies, expansion of increasingly complex therapeutic modalities (e.g., multispecific mAb-like molecules, antibody drug conjugates, and cell and gene therapies) and the need to maintain consistent quality have catalyzed the need for advanced approaches to manufacturing and development. This session will highlight current and future-looking approaches aimed at real-world applications of digital and enabling technologies in cell culture and manufacturing, including ML/AI, automation, data infrastructure, digital twins, advanced analytics, and process analytical technologies (PAT). Areas of focus include discovery interface, molecular design, cell line development, cell culture development, in-process analytics, and clinical and commercial manufacturing.
This session will emphasize deployed or near-deployed approaches that improve developability, process and product understanding, process control, robustness, scalability, productivity, efficiency, and/or decision making across the development lifecycle. Submissions to this session should articulate how the advanced tools solved a real-world business problem. Abstracts related to lessons learned and challenges (e.g., data architecture, calibration shifts, instrumentation offsets, etc.) for implementation and deployment of advanced technologies are also welcome.
Cell Culture Interfaces: Bridging Upstream Operations with Partner Functions
Session Chairs:
Britta Anderson, MilliporeSigma
Eric Hodgman, Bristol Myers Squibb
Jessica Wuu, Genentech
OIivier Henry, Polytechnique Montréal
Biopharmaceutical manufacturing success is deeply influenced by upstream decisions that ripple across the entire process chain, impacting the downstream, analytical, formulation, regulatory, and supply chain functions. In this session, we will explore these interdependencies, focusing on creation of more robust, efficient, and compliant manufacturing processes, with special interest in complex recombinant proteins and emerging therapeutic modalities.
This session invites contributions addressing key interfaces between cell culture processes and partner functions. Exemplary topics of interest include cell culture raw materials, media, and additives impacting purification efficiency and robustness; next-generation harvest and cell separation technologies; and the impact of molecule design and product format on upstream and downstream performance. Studies correlating upstream culture conditions with formulation performance and product stability are encouraged, as are novel analytical methods challenged by difficult processes, modalities, or raw materials.
Intensified and integrated continuous processes introduce new challenges for process scalability and manufacturing optimization, creating vulnerability around raw material quality and supply chain planning. Similarly, these processes influence the regulatory interface, requiring evolution of process characterization, material testing, and control strategies. Mechanistic and data-driven case studies are welcome, as are digital and modeling tools that take a holistic view across upstream and downstream unit operations.
Call for Abstracts
One-page abstracts should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than the deadlines noted below. The abstract should include both the significance of the research as well as results that will be discussed in order to allow a scientific assessment of the work by the organizers.
Please choose at least one, and up to two, of the most relevant session topics, as noted in the sessions listed above, where you believe your work fits best.
Oral abstract submission deadline: August 28, 2026
Poster abstract submission deadline: September 24, 2026
- Abstracts must be submitted electronically and prepared according to this template: docx or doc.
- All submissions will be considered for both oral and poster presentation.
- Abstracts of all presentations will be made available to conference participants prior to the start of the conference.
Awards will be presented to the top poster presentations.
Poster Guidelines
The best posters display a succinct statement of major conclusions at the beginning, followed by supporting text in later segments and a brief summary at the end. Click here for more information.
Poster Size: 1.0 meter wide and 1.5 meters in length (Portrait style).