2024 ARCHIVES

Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics

Drive Precision Medicine through the Digitalization of Pharma R&D

April 16 - 17, 2024 ALL TIMES EST

The urgency surrounding generating, organizing, and analyzing data in the pharmaceutical industry has not waned. In fact, the desire to develop new technologies and to speed development of infrastructure and special projects in our new normal continues to grow at record speed. The Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics track explores digital transformation efforts and strategies for optimizing operations via new technologies and services to create an efficient informatics ecosystem while meeting scientific, business, and regulatory demands. We address trends in data science and analytics, particularly for target assessment, pharmacology prediction, and generative chemistry, as well as key projects around data products and finding better, cheaper ways to FAIRify data for these products. Large language models, such as ChatGPT, are also discussed, as well as ways AI and machine learning are driving innovation in R&D.

Monday, April 15

Recommended Pre-Conference Workshops and Symposia*8:00 am

On Monday, April 15, 2024, Cambridge Healthtech Institute is pleased to offer eight pre-conference Workshops scheduled across three time slots (8:00–10:00 am, 10:30 am–12:30 pm, and 2:00–4:00 pm) and six Symposia from 8:00 am–4:20 pm. All are designed to be instructional, and interactive and provide in-depth information on a specific topic. They allow for one-on-one interaction and provide a great way to explain more technical aspects that would otherwise not be covered during the main conference tracks that take place Tuesday–Wednesday.

*Separate registration required. See details on the Symposia here and details on the Workshops here.

4:30 pm

Organizer's Remarks

Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

4:35 pm

Plenary Keynote Introduction

Greg Mazzu, Regional Sales Manager, WEKA

4:45 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Unleashing the Power of Advanced Computing in Biomedical Informatics: A Vision for Transformative Collaboration

Daniel Stanzione, PhD, Executive Director, Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC)

In the dynamic intersection of life science and computing, our mission at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is to propel biomedical informatics into a new era of discovery and innovation. As computational leaders, we are dedicated to harnessing the potential of high-performance computing (HPC), machine learning (ML), and data analytics to revolutionize medicine. In this visionary pursuit, we prioritize the development of user-friendly interfaces and intuitive platforms. This approach ensures accessibility for executives and leaders in the life sciences industry, promoting seamless interaction with computational tools and fostering an environment where scientific and technological advancements coalesce. This presentation shares our vision for shaping the future of biomedical informatics where innovation, collaboration, and cutting-edge technologies converge to redefine the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of medicine.

Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)6:00 pm

Close of Day7:15 pm

Tuesday, April 16

Registration and Morning Coffee7:00 am

8:00 am

Organizer's Remarks

Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News

8:05 am

Plenary Keynote Introduction

Josh Bond, Head of Product Management, Product Management, Revvity Signals

8:15 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Unveiling Tomorrow's Possibilities: Embrace the Power of Digital Twins in Cancer Care and Research

Caroline Chung, MD, MSc, FRCPC, CIP, Vice President, Chief Data Officer, Director of Data Science Development & Implementation, Institute for Data Science in Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Explore the transformative potential of digital twins in revolutionizing cancer care and research. Gain insights into how digital twins can help deepen biological understanding, accelerate drug discovery, and personalize therapeutic strategies to optimize treatment outcomes for every individual. Amidst the exciting opportunities are the challenges that must be tackled to harness the power of digital twins to advance precision oncology, empower researchers and clinicians with unprecedented insights, and improve patient outcomes.

Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)9:30 am

Organizer's Welcome Remarks10:15 am

10:20 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Chris Stumpf, Senior Principal Marketing Professional, Product Marketing, Revvity Signals

10:25 am

Turning Applications and Platforms into a Product Architecture

Ralph Haffner, Vice President, Research Informatics - Head of Scientific Data and Products, Novartis BioMedical Research

How can a research informatics unit turn its application landscape into a modern product architecture? This talk will share successes and failures along our journey which hasn’t ended yet.

10:55 am

Building a Connected Research Data Platform from in vitro to in Vivo

Sean Liu, PhD, Global Head Scientific Assets & Decision Support, R&D IT, Takeda California, Inc.

I will present a multi-year Takeda research FAIR data initiative where we are building an end-to-end data platform to support lead identification and validation, in vivo PK, PD, tox assessment, and translational research. We started our journey from in vitro data and then we extended our effort into animal studies and in-life measurements. Recently, we initiated the effort of building the data infrastructure to support ex vivo data. I will share the approaches and lessons learned along the journey.

11:25 am

How Rebuilding J&J’s Small Molecule Discovery Engine Is Informing Its Large Molecule Digital Transformation

Scott J. Lusher, PhD, Head of Technology for Discovery, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

Over the last five years, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines has reimagined, rebuilt, and revitalized the technology ecosystem that has enabled its small molecule discovery engine. This digital transformation has been driven by the need to explore a richer chemical space with more diverse biological profiles, facilitated by laboratory automation and machine-enabled data processing and analysis. This presentation will share insights from this period and explain how these experiences are informing a similar transformation of our biologics discovery engine.

11:55 am

Introducing Luma - A New Multimodal Therapeutic R&D Paradigm

Christian Olsen, Associate Vice President, Industry Principal, Biologics, Dotmatics

For years, the biotech sector has struggled with fragmented R&D solutions, hindering seamless integration across labs. This results in siloed teams, outdated tech adoption, and inefficiencies. Innovation demands integrated, multimodal approaches. Introducing Luma: a low-code SaaS platform revolutionizing R&D. Luma enables seamless integration with lab equipment and software, streamlining workflows. Learn how Luma accelerates R&D, shortening drug discovery timelines, and reducing costs.

12:25 pm

Accelerate Drug Discovery with Secure, Real-Time CRO Collaborations across the DMTA Cycle

Tim Cheeseright, CEO, Torx Software, CTO, Cresset Group, Torx Software

Efficient teamwork across internal teams and external partners is essential to improve productivity across the Design-Make-Test-Analyze (DMTA) drug discovery cycle. Throughout this presentation we will present how Torx® Software deploys a modern, user-friendly platform for collaboration between chemistry teams and CROs. Considerations include security, scalability, systems integration and change management. Torx Make (previously chemTraX) has connected chemists and CROs in a chemistry-aware cloud platform for over a decade, addressing key bottlenecks in traditional systems. We will explore the impact of technology in modernizing processes and collaborations for better insights, a competitive edge and faster progression through the drug discovery pipeline.

12:40 pm

Focus on Science–Not Data Management–With a Turnkey Integrated Platform

Ralf Felsner, Director Business Development, Sales, Collaborative Drug Discovery

I will discuss my experience working at biotech startups, large pharma, and a CRO and their struggles working without connected research platforms. I will share case studies demonstrating how customers have used CDD vault to help internal and external research teams collaborate, reduce data retrieval times and errors, and manage and present data. I will then highlight examples of how customers have extended the platform via API into their solution ecosystems.

Session Break & Transition to Lunch12:55 pm

1:05 pm

LUNCHEON PRESENTATION:Enhancing Collaboration between Sponsors and Contract Partners in Drug Discovery

Chris Stumpf, Senior Principal Marketing Professional, Product Marketing, Revvity Signals

In today’s drug discovery and development environment, many factors drive the need to outsource some, or even all, of your drug discovery and development workflows to global contractors (e.g., CROs, CDMOs, CMOs, academic labs). This presentation introduces Signals Synergy as a trusted data steward and project management layer for Sponsor and contract partner collaboration and information exchange in drug discovery and development enabling organizations to gain more insight with less oversight.

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)1:35 pm

2:25 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

James Bonini, PhD, Executive Director, Scientific Business Analysis, R&pD-IT, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

2:30 pm

Chemical Patent Recognition and Analysis with Digital Automation

Yi Lin, PhD, Leader, Head of AI, Data and Digital (AIDD), China Innovation Center of Roche (CICoR)

Chemical patents contain lots of useful chemical structures and help chemists to gain new ideas while extracting them from images or PDFs is quite challenging. Here we developed a digital end-to-end solution to utilize deep learning and rule-based approaches to recognize and extract chemical structures, integrate an API to do the batch retrieving from the existing database, and build a chemist-friendly web interface for SAR analysis and result downloading.

3:00 pm

Accelerating the Molecule Journey: A Case Study in Automating Molecule Management

Matthieu Croissant, Senior Solution Architect, Roche Pharma

This talk will discuss how a new set of integrated solutions for molecule management and assay requesting brought us toward automated decisions, request automation, real-time tracking, and more collaboration.

3:30 pm PANEL DISCUSSION:

Pharma Knowledge Graphs and Large Language Models: Antagonistic or Synergistic?

PANEL MODERATOR:

Tom Plasterer, PhD, Director, Bioinformatics, Data Science & AI, Biopharmaceutical R&D, AstraZeneca

While powerful, knowledge graphs require deep expertise to assemble and are challenging to maintain. Conversely, large language models can “learn” from a broad corpus but may hallucinate for under-trained queries. Are these two paradigms incompatible or can they be made synergistic? In 2023 an impromptu expert panel debated the relative benefits/drawbacks of both. A year onwards, substantial synergistic progress occurred. We will debate the landscape's transformation throughout the year.

PANELISTS:

Ben Busby, PhD, Director, Solution Science, DNAnexus, Inc.

Helena Deus, PhD, Lead for Semantic Data Products, Bristol Myers Squibb

Brian Martin, Head of AI, R&D Information Research; Research Fellow, AbbVie, Inc.

4:00 pm

Ontologies and LLMs – Democratizing Scientific Data

Joe Mullen, PhD, Director Data Science & Professional Services, SciBite

We will explore the 'why' of ontologies - where they are used, the value they provide, and how they support our FAIR factory methodology. Furthermore, by creating explainable and reproducible conversational search interfaces over a semantic stack, we can leverage the foundation of our domain expertise for greater insight and understanding. Join us as we explore the practical applications of ontologies and their potential to transform the way we work.

Best of Show Awards Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)4:30 pm

Close of Day5:45 pm

Wednesday, April 17

Registration and Morning Coffee7:30 am

8:00 am

Organizer's Remarks

Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute

8:05 am

Innovative Practices Awards

Joseph Cerro, Independent Consultant

John Conway, Chief Visioneer Officer, 20/15 Visioneers

Chris Dwan, Independent Consultant, Dwan, LLC

Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News

Since 2003, Bio-IT World has hosted an elite awards program with the goal of highlighting outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives are being applied to advance life sciences research. The 2024 Innovative Practices Awards winners represent excellence in innovation in the areas of informatics, pre-competitive collaboration, clinical and health IT, and genomics. Companies driving the winning entries include AstraZeneca, DNAnexus, Pistoia Alliance, Regeneron, Tempus, and UK Biobank.

8:20 am

Plenary Keynote Introduction

Kshitij Kumar, Founder and CEO, Clovertex

8:30 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Lights, Camera, Science: Film and Social Media Influence on Real-World Scientific Progress and Innovation

David Hewlett, Actor/Writer/Director; Creator, The Tech Bandits

Now, more than ever, life sciences are subject to misinterpretation, reduction, and inaccuracies at the hands of social media and Hollywood. And while it might be tempting to ignore the fake science streaming on YouTube and TikTok, there’s a generation of would-be investigators for whom those platforms might be their primary introduction to research and discovery. David Hewlett has had his share of big screen roles representing science—and science fiction—and he believes it’s imperative that the scientific and technology communities take back the narrative, filling gaps between what’s real and what could be real soon! He’s meeting this future generation where they are in schools, on YouTube, and on Twitch, championing real science in all its iterative, messy, exploratory glory, to recruit bright, diverse minds to lead the next generation of real scientists. He’s got our report from the front lines.

Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)9:45 am

Organizer's Remarks10:30 am

10:35 am

Chairperson's Remarks

Christophe Aubry, Head of Life Sciences & Healthcare

10:40 am

From Ideas to Patients: How AI Is Changing AstraZeneca’s Approach to Toxicology

Nick Brown, Executive Director, Imaging & Data Analytics, AstraZeneca

Understanding the safety of new medicines is a fundamental part of the drug discovery process. Traditional methods of assessing the potential risks of new molecular entities are time-consuming and are becoming both economically and ethically unattractive. Artificial intelligence offers the ability to not only improve efficiency and reduce costs but also to enhance our ability to detect safety liabilities and mechanistically interpret the signals we identify. This presentation will showcase some of the challenges we face and how we at AstraZeneca are looking to apply AI in toxicology to deliver new medicines to our patients.

11:10 am

From Lab to Simulation: Unraveling Uncertainties for Enhanced Decision-Making

Andreas Lehmann, PhD, Scientific Associate Director, Digital Sciences, EMD Serono

EMD Serono presents the integration of a self-coded Python application for Design of Experiments (DoE) in lab experiments, followed by the utilization of PBPK modeling to predict drug product performance in the gastrointestinal tract. This presentation explores a transformative approach that seamlessly integrates digital applications from experimental planning to in silico simulations. By leveraging digital tools, researchers can unravel uncertainties, quantify their impact, and gain valuable insights to inform strategic decisions and predictions with increased confidence.

11:40 am CO-PRESENTATION:

The Evolution of PiG Disco: From the Centralization of HLA Peptide in Groove Data through the Advancements of New Enhancements for Quicker Target Discovery/Validation

Michelle Aponte, Principal Scientific Business Analyst, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Robert Salzler, Scientist, Bioanalytical & Biomarker Technologies, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Deciphering the composition of the human immunopeptidome is important to understand the immune system and to guide in the development of next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies against autoimmunity, infectious diseases, and cancers. Mass spectrometry is the only available technology to interrogate the immunopeptidome in an accurate manner, yet we had only had a rudimentary way of searching through all this data. Follow our journey in how we implemented a powerhouse application.

Presentation to be Announced (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)12:10 pm

12:25 pm

Advanced Analytics for Accelerating Ion Channel Drug Discovery

Nathan Zahler, PhD, Senior Informatics Scientist, OmniAb, Inc.

High-throughput electrophysiology (HTEP) provides high-content data critical for developing functional antibodies and small molecules targeting ion channels and opportunities to create new therapeutics. For full drug discovery campaigns, complex analysis and QC require large time commitments from Ph.D. scientists. OmniAb’s analytics system leverages multiple platforms, custom dashboards and AI/ML for analysis and QC at scale, while maintaining flexibility to rapidly purse new analyses and identify emergent properties in the data.

12:40 pm

Architecting Digital Innovation: Strategic blueprint and roadmap collaboration of Astrix and Cell Signaling Technology

Ken Raiche, Managing Director, Client Success - Astrix Consulting Services, Astrix

Dana Seehale, Vice President, Global Digital & IT, Cell Signaling Technology

Astrix partnered with Cell Signaling Technology (CST) to craft a transformative Lab Informatics roadmap. This talk explores CST's digital journey: defining goals, navigating challenges, and achieving success. We'll delve into the roadmap's development, outlining strategic direction and solution implementation. Join us to discover how CST plans to optimize their lab operations and empower researchers through informatics.

Session Break & Transition to Lunch1:10 pm

1:20 pm

LUNCHEON PRESENTATION:Accelerating Cancer Drug Discovery: g.nome’s Impact on Bioinformatic Insights for Benchtop Scientists

Dmitrij Frishman, PhD, Professor for Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich

Samir Courdy, Senior Vice President of Informatics, City of Hope Cancer Center

Early decisions during drug discovery determine the success years down the road after hundreds of millions in expenditure. Learn how Almaden Genomics' g.nome platform accelerates drug discovery by enabling intuitive data exploration and rapid iteration for non-coders. We show how g.nome streamlines colorectal cancer research using Bulk and single-cell RNAseq analyses leveraging curated datasets and advanced visualization tools. This approach significantly enhances early-stage decisions.

Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Last Chance Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)1:50 pm

2:30 pm

Chairperson's Remarks

Eric Stahlberg, PhD, Director, Cancer Data Science Initiatives, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Rockville, Maryland, USA

2:35 pm CO-PRESENTATION:

Rethinking Drug Development with Human Virtual Models

Priyanka Banerjee, PhD, Principal Investigator & Scientist, Charite University of Medicine, Berlin, Germany

Eric Stahlberg, PhD, Director, Cancer Data Science Initiatives, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Rockville, Maryland, USA

Mariano Vazquez, PhD, Co-Founder and CTO, ELEM Biotech, Barcelona, Spain

In the dynamic landscape of life sciences and biomedical IT, the paradigm of drug development is undergoing a transformative shift, marked by the integration of advanced technologies such as Human Virtual Models (HVMs). This session, led by experts, delves into the pivotal role of HVMs and their synergy with advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative AI. By harnessing these computational approaches, including predictive analytics and high-performance computing, HVMs enable the simulation of intricate biological systems, offering a nuanced understanding of molecular-level drug interactions. This interdisciplinary strategy, embracing AI and HVMs, accelerates preclinical trials, refines target identification, and optimizes lead development, enhancing the overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness of drug development. Through this innovative biomedical IT approach, the life sciences community is poised to realize tangible outcomes in precision medicine and personalized treatments, marking a groundbreaking era of therapeutic breakthroughs.

Close of Conference4:05 pm