Second International Conference on Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Development: March 9-12, 2009, Coronado,CA USA

The second International Conference on Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Development was held in San Diego, California. The meeting was organized by the Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE); SBE is a technological community of the AIChE. Bob Adamson (Wyeth) and Chuck Goochee (Centocor) were co-chairs of the event, which had the theme “Delivering cost-effective, robust processes and methods quickly and efficiently.” The first day focused on emerging disruptive technologies and cutting-edge analytical techniques. Day two featured presentations on accelerated cell culture process development, critical quality attributes, specifications and comparability, and high throughput protein formulation development. The final day was dedicated to discussion of technology options and new analysis methods provided by emerging disruptive technologies; functional interaction, integration and synergy in platform development; and rapid and economic purification process development.     

The pandemic and resilience for the future: AccBio 2021

The year 2020 brought the onslaught of a global crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. While nearly every facet of everyday life and work was impacted by the pandemic, the biopharmaceutical industry found silver linings in innovation, partnership, and resiliency, all of which contributed to unprecedented speed in developing and delivering vaccines and therapies. The 7th International Conference on Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Development (AccBio 2021) brought together industry leaders to share experiences from the past year and discuss how lessons learned from the pandemic can be carried forward into the future of biopharmaceutical development. Presenters highlighted examples such as introducing biotherapeutics derived from non-clonal cell pools into the clinic, developing modular or platform technologies, and taking novel risks, among others. These strategies for enabling speed to clinic and launch, as well as for sustaining a robust supply chain, are likely to be integrated into future programs to ensure biomanufacturing resiliency and get medicines to patients faster than pre-pandemic times.     

Genomic parasites and genome evolution

A report of the Second International Conference/Workshop on the Genomic Impact of Eukaryotic Transposable Elements, Pacific Grove, USA, 6-10 February 2009.     

2015生物能源专刊序言

生物能源领域的研究和产业开发在近年得到了快速发展,呈现出系统性和多元性的趋势。2014年10月17–19日,第四届生物质能源技术国际会议-暨第八届国际生物能源会议(ICBT/WBS 2014)在长沙市举行。本次会议由中国可再生能源学会生物质能专业委员会、生物质能源产业技术创新战略联盟、欧洲生物质能产业协会、美国化学工程师学会和联合国开发计划署主办,由湖南省林业科学院和清华大学中国-巴西气候变化与能源技术创新研究中心承办。在会议优秀论文基础上,结合征稿出版了"生物能源"专刊。本专刊以综述和研究论文的形式介绍了国内在生物能源及相关领域的最新研究成果,包括生物质资源分析、预处理、燃料和化学品制备、副产品利用和策略研究等。     

Proteomics: technology development and applications

Technology development in, and the application of, proteomics are emerging areas among chemical engineers and others who presented at the 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting. Overall, the centennial meeting offered a broad current perspective on the discipline of chemical engineering as it enters its second century. Biomedical and biochemical engineering continue to grow as important facets of the discipline. Within these, the value and applicability of proteomics were demonstrated in a number of interesting presentations. This year, as in the recent past, the AIChE Annual Meeting was held in conjunction with the American Electrophoresis Society Annual Meeting. American Electrophoresis Society presenters offered further academic and industrial viewpoints on the still-developing role of proteomics and proteomic technologies in biological and clinical analyses.     

The Drosophilidae (Diptera) of the Scattered Islands,with the description of a novel association with Leptadenia madagascariensis Decne. (Apocynaceae)

The 10th CanFly (Canadian Drosophila Research Conference) meeting took place June 1-4, 2009 in Jasper National Park, west of Edmonton. This year's meeting has over 100 participants representing over 30 different research groups from every region of Canada, as well as several groups from the United States and Europe. Topics included ranged from Cell Biology, Signaling and Adhesion to Development, Gene Regulation and Neurobiology.     

Chasing coccidia--new tools enter the race

The 8th International Coccidiosis Conference, held on 9--13 July 2001 in Palm Cove, Australia, was a showcase of the latest studies on widely known coccidia, including Eimeria and Toxoplasma in addition to the emerging or re-emerging parasites such as Neospora, Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora. This meeting was staged in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society for Parasitology.     

单个B细胞抗体制备技术及应用

单克隆抗体是现代生命科学研究的重要工具,为许多领域的发展作出了不可估量的贡献。随着PCR技术和单克隆抗体技术的发展和成熟,单个B细胞抗体制备技术迅速兴起。该技术能够对单个的抗原特异性B细胞进行抗体基因的体外克隆和表达,保证了轻重链可变区的天然配对,相较于传统的抗体制备技术具有效率高、全人源、基因多样性更丰富等优势。单个B细胞抗体制备技术已成为制备全人抗体的热门方法,同时也促进了包括抗体发生成熟、疫苗保护机制、疫苗开发、肿瘤及自身免疫疾病等免疫学相关研究。文中就单个B细胞抗体制备技术的过程及应用作简要综述。     

Challenges and opportunities for the future of monoclonal antibody development: Improving safety assessment and reducing animal use

The market for biotherapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is large and is growing rapidly. However, attrition poses a significant challenge for the development of mAbs, and for biopharmaceuticals in general, with large associated costs in resource and animal use. Termination of candidate mAbs may occur due to poor translation from preclinical models to human safety. It is critical that the industry addresses this problem to maintain productivity. Though attrition poses a significant challenge for pharmaceuticals in general, there are specific challenges related to the development of antibody-based products. Due to species specificity, non-human primates (NHP) are frequently the only pharmacologically relevant species for nonclinical safety and toxicology testing for the majority of antibody-based products, and therefore, as more mAbs are developed, increased NHP use is anticipated. The integration of new and emerging in vitro and in silico technologies, e.g., cell- and tissue-based approaches, systems pharmacology and modeling, have the potential to improve the human safety prediction and the therapeutic mAb development process, while reducing and refining animal use simultaneously. In 2014, to engage in open discussion about the challenges and opportunities for the future of mAb development, a workshop was held with over 60 regulators and experts in drug development, mechanistic toxicology and emerging technologies to discuss this issue. The workshop used industry case-studies to discuss the value of the in vivo studies and identify opportunities for in vitro technologies in human safety assessment. From these and continuing discussions it is clear that there are opportunities to improve safety assessment in mAb development using non-animal technologies, potentially reducing future attrition, and there is a shared desire to reduce animal use through minimised study design and reduced numbers of studies.     

Conference Report: East meets West

Second International Conference on Transgenic Animals, Beijing, China, October 23–26, 1998. Organized by the Bilong Institute for Transgenic Animals and the China International Conference Center for Sciences and Technology     

Replicating viral vectors as HIV vaccines Summary Report from IAVI Sponsored Satellite Symposium, International AIDS Society Conference, July 22, 2007

At the International AIDS Society Conference on Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention held in Sydney, Australia, in July 2007, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) convened a satellite symposium entitled 'Accelerating the Development of Replicating Viral Vectors for AIDS Vaccines.' Its purpose was to highlight the rationale for accelerating the development of replicating viral vectors for use as vaccines against HIV-1, and to bring together vaccine scientists, regulatory officials, and public health specialists from industrialized and developing nations to discuss the major issues facing the development and testing of replicating viral vector-based vaccines.     

New tricks for an old-favorite model

A report of the 24th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Manchester, UK, 19-24 July 2009.The international yeast meetings are highly interactive conferences attracting scientists from diverse disciplines of fungal research. The 24th yeast meeting held in the University of Manchester presented recent advances ranging from basic cell biology to the use of yeast for industrial purposes and translational research. Here, I summarize a few highlights related to systems and synthetic biology, yeasts as model organisms in gene expression, aging and human disease studies and the use of yeast cells as factories.     

Replicating viral vectors as HIV vaccines: Summary report from the IAVI-sponsored satellite symposium at the AIDS vaccine 2009 conference

In October 2009, The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) convened a satellite symposium entitled ‘Replicating Viral Vectors for use in AIDS Vaccines’ at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 Conference in Paris. The purpose of the symposium was to gather together researchers, representatives from regulatory agencies, and vaccine developers to discuss issues related to advancement of replication-competent viral vector- based HIV vaccines into clinical trials. The meeting introduced the rationale for accelerating the development of replicating viral vectors for use as AIDS vaccines. It noted that the EMEA recently published draft guidelines that are an important first step in providing guidance for advancing live viral vectors into clinical development. Presentations included case studies and development challenges for viral vector-based vaccine candidates. These product development challenges included cell substrates used for vaccine manufacturing, the testing needed to assess vaccine safety, conducting clinical trials with live vectors, and assessment of vaccination risk versus benefit. More in depth discussion of risk and benefit highlighted the fact that AIDS vaccine efficacy trials must be conducted in the developing world where HIV incidence is greatest and how inequities in global health dramatically influence the political and social environment in developing countries.     

A synopsis of the 3rd annual Cancer Proteomics Conference

The 3rd annual 'Cancer Proteomics Conference', organized by Select Biosciences (Sudbury, UK), was held in Berlin, Germany, 8-9 June 2010. With the aim of strengthening the links between scientists from Europe, as well as international investigators worldwide, more than 200 delegates attended, representing various countries. The Conference covered many topics in proteomics, including the use of proteomics for cancer therapeutic development, diagnostic applications, biomarker discovery, post-translational modifications and clinical proteomics, as well as new proteomic technologies, which may facilitate future progress. One distinct feature of this meeting was that the Conference was co-located with the 'Advances in Antibody and Peptide Therapeutics' meeting. Delegates had access to both meetings, allowing for enhanced interaction among investigators from the closely linked fields of research.     

An illuminated view of molecular biology

A report on the 18th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and the 7th Special Interest Group meeting on Alternative Splicing, Boston, USA, 9-13 July 2010.     

Genome regulation in the (so-called) post-genomic era

A report on the Second International Conference on Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure, Novosibirsk, 7-11 August, 2000.     

The third Central and Eastern European Proteomic conference

The third Central and Eastern European Proteomic Conference was held at Hotel Benzcur, Budapest, Hungary, from the 6–9 October 2009. The meeting was the third in a series of proteomic conferences to be held in this region of Europe, with the key aim of strengthening the links with scientists from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as international groups worldwide. It was attended by more than 150 delegates from various countries and many proteomic topics, including biomarker discovery, post-translational modifications, clinical proteomics, as well as new proteomic technologies, which may facilitate future progress, were discussed over the 3 days.     

First Aegean International Conference on Molecular Recognition

This meeting report describes some of the highlights of the First Biennial Aegean International Conference on Molecular Recognition that took place in Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, between 6 and 11 June 2010. The conference comprised four sessions devoted to: dynamic and combinatorial molecular recognition; B-cell epitope prediction, synthesis and vaccines; nanotechnology approaches to molecular recognition; and host-pathogen interactions. A total of 35 oral communications and 15 posters were presented. The second Aegean International Conference on Molecular Recognition is scheduled to take place in the spring of 2012.