An afternoon of short talks followed by a discussion session will provide an opportunity for Crick and LifeArc scientists to connect and to hear about each others research and interests. Please join the event in person if you can.

Lifearc is an independent medical research charity that helps to turn promising science into benefits for patients. The Crick and Lifearc work in partnership at various levels, including the Lifearc-Crick translation fund and the KQ Lab programme. 

Lifearc has an embedded lab at the Crick dedicated to the discovery of fully humanised antibodies for therapeutic targets. 

LifeArc will showcase some of their capabilities and activities, and will share thoughts on Translational challenges of interest to their organisation followed by talks from Crick scientists with a focus on the area of respiratory infection.

We want this to be an interactive meeting so please join us in auditorium 2. The event will end with a networking session in the seminar breakout space.

The panel discussion will focus on the following questions:

• Where are the key areas of unmet need in this area to bring patient benefit?
• How can we gain a greater understanding of the pathophysiology of pulmonary exacerbations that informs and leads to better ways of treating & managing patients?
• How can developments in science/technologies enable us to tackle some of these challenges?

Programme

13:00 – 13:05 :    Opening Remarks: Alison Maloney, Head Translational Science, Crick

13:05– 14:30 :     Session 1: Introduction to LifeArc (Chair: Katy Kettleborough, LifeArc)

13.05 - 13.20 :     Presenter Katy Kettleborough | LifeArc-" Introduction to the LifeArc organisation" - LifeArc project case studies focused on respiratory area demonstrating LifeArc capabilities

13:20 – 13:45     Ciaran Fulton| LifeArc "Developing a Molecular Bacterial Load Assay for TB, from bench to bedside"

13:45 – 14:10     Pete Coombs| LifeArc "Fragment based Target Screening as an empirical approach to prioritise targets for drug discovery: a case study on anti-bacterials"

14:10 – 14:35     Kov Sawmynaden| LifeArc "Discovery and Development of Cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies -a collaborative approach"

14:35 – 14:45     Break

14:45 – 15:40     Session 2: (Chair: Gitta Stockinger , Francis Crick Institute)

14:45 – 15:00     Katy Kettleborough| LifeArc "Introduction to Translational Challenge: Serious Respiratory Infections in conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis and Bronchiectasis"

15:00 – 15:25     Andreas Wack| Francis Crick Institute "In vivo models for respiratory viral and bacterial infections "

15:25 – 15:50     Veni Papagiannopoulos |Francis Crick Institute "How neutrophils impact acute infection and chronic inflammatory disease"

15:50 – 16:15     Max Gutierrez|Francis Crick Institute "Human stem cell‐based models for studying host‐pathogen interactions in tuberculosis"

16:15 – 16:55     Session 3 Panel Discussion (Chair: Alison Maloney, Crick)

16:55 – 17:00     Closing Remarks: Katy Kettleborough, LifeArc and Gitta Stockinger, Crick

17:00 - 18:30       Networking drinks