Oxford Global’s Q&A Session With Two Speakers at Cell & Gene Therapy Congress & 2nd Annual Stem Cell Congress

Oxford Global’s Q&A session with Gabor Veres from Bluedbird Bio and Francesco Saverio Tedesco from the University College London, speakers at the Cell & Gene Therapy Congress and the co-located 2nd Annual Stem Cell Congress.

 

In the run up to Oxford Global’s Cell & Gene Therapy Congress and the co-located 2nd Annual Stem Cell Congress, we spoke with Gabor Veres, the Vice-President of Bluebird Bio and Francesco Saverio Tedesco, a principal research associate at the University College London. Both are confirmed speakers at the congress, where they will respectively talk about the challenges of developing a gene therapy prior to clinical trials and the development of a platform of muscle differentiation on iPSC cells.

 

Gabor Veres: You are presenting on the recent progress on Thalassemia & Sickle Cell Gene Therapy this year. What are the key challenges for the industry when developing a gene therapy prior to clinical trials?

 

 “This depends on the indications, but I think one thing is that clinical trial design is really important. Some of the earlier failures were contributed to by the fact that the trials were small and not well controlled and didn’t take into account the potential for placebo effect. For example, several clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease have been conducted where the early data was exciting, but did not scale in a Phase II trial. Another problem is that manufacturing capabilities are still under development, and whilst that’s clearly improved substantially in the last 10 years or so it’s still not at the level that you can see with other biologics such as monoclonal antibodies or recombinant proteins […]”

 

To read the full interview of Gabor Veres, please click here: http://www.celltherapy-congress.com/who-is-speaking/qa-session/

 

Francesco Saverio Tedesco: You are speaking on Developing a Human iPSC-Based Platform of Muscle Differentiation at the Congress this year. Could you give an overview of what your group is working on at the moment?

 

 “We mainly work on muscle regeneration, looking specifically at muscle stem cells and how can we use them for different applications in developing therapies for muscle disorders. For example, we use them for cell and gene therapies for muscular dystrophy. We also try to use the same muscle stem cells derived either from muscle tissue or from iPS cells for other applications, such as muscle tissue engineering or, more recently, drug screening and disease modelling for muscle disorders.”

 

To read the full interview of Francesco Saverio Tedesco, please click here: http://www.stemcells-congress.com/who-is-speaking/q-a/

 

 

The Cell & Gene Therapy Congress and the co-located 2nd Annual Stem Cell are taking place on the 9th & 10th of November 2015 in London. Over 170 senior delegates will represent global pharmaceutical organisations, leading biotech companies and internationally renowned academic institutions. The two conferences altogether will provide over 50 presentations and case studies focusing on the key issues in:

 

  •  The stem cell industry from stem cell development and bioprocessing optimisation to commercial production and clinical trials.

  •  The cell & gene therapy industry from development and bioprocessing optimisation to commercial production.

 

Register your interest today to hear over 50 presentations, case studies and panel discussions across 4 interactive streams:

  •  Stem Cell & iPSC Bioprocessing and Manufacturing

  •  Stem Cell Therapy inc. Clinical & Commercialisation

  •  Cell & Gene Therapy: Development, Clinical Trials & Commercialisation

  •  Cell Therapy Bioprocessing

 

Download the conference programme to find out more about this two day congress: http://www.celltherapy-congress.com/download-agenda-marketing/

 

What is included in your package?

  •  Full access to the 2 days of conference presentations

  •  Free access to our 2nd Annual Stem Cell Congress and co-located Cell & Gene Therapy Congress

  •  Lunch and refreshments during the congress

  •  Access to all networking activities

  •  Access to exhibition area

  •  Conference workbook and online access to conference materials, notes and presentations

 

Reserve Your Place Today! For further information on booking your place today, or to find out more regarding prices and discounts, please contact Guillaume Alonso on g.alonso@oxfordglobal.co.uk or call +44 (0)1865 248455.

 

You can also discover even more and discuss the latest topics in Cell and Gene Therapy and Stem Cell on our social media: LinkedIn: Stem Cell Networking Group Twitter: https://twitter.com/CellCultureConf