Agenda and Registration Info for This Week's COVID-19 Symposium

We hope you enjoy this week's ASGCT COVID-19 Symposium! If you haven't already, you can still register for the meeting for free.

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Once you're registered, you'll be able to view the Sessions page of the meeting site, where you can enter each session once it goes live and see the full agenda. Please note that your device will remember your login information. If you're using a different device to view the meeting than you used to register, you will be prompted to register again. If this occurs, please use the same registration credentials.

Below is the program information. We hope you're looking forward to learning more from these speakers and abstract presenters during this week's Symposium!

Day 1: September 15

The COVID-19 Symposium will begin with a keynote address from Anthony Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In that role, Fauci oversees an extensive research portfolio devoted to preventing, diagnosing, and treating infectious and immune-mediated diseases. Fauci has led federal efforts to combat diseases caused by emerging viruses, including HIV/AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and now COVID-19. Read his full biography here.

Understanding SARS-CoV-2: Virology, Epidemiology, and Pathogenesis

Moderator: Stephen J. Russell, M.D., Ph.D.

8:30-9 a.m.—Susan Weiss, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Microbiology
Co-Director, Penn Center for Research on Coronaviruses and Other Emerging Pathogens
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Overview of Coronaviruses

9-9:30 a.m.—Linfa Wang, Ph.D., Director of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
Zoonotic Origins: Why bats?

9:30-10 a.m.—Jordan Tappero, M.D., M.P.H, Deputy Director, Global Health, Neglected Tropical Diseases
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Epidemiology of COVID-19: A Global Perspective

10-10:30 a.m.—Tom Gallagher, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University Chicago
Virus Entry and Targets

10:30-11 a.m.—Jason McLellan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Structure and Design of SARS-CoV-2 Spikes

11-11:30 a.m.—Dan Barouch, M.D., Ph.D., William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine and Professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Pathogenesis

Sponsored Lunch Sessions

These companies will be hosting separate sessions from 12-1 p.m. 

• Vyriad
• Miltenyi Biotec
• Precision NanoSystems
• Lovelace Biomedical
• Integrated DNA Technologies
• GenScript

Diagnosing and Measuring Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Moderator: Paul McCray, M.D.

1-1:30 p.m.—Janice Chen, Ph.D., Co-founder and CTO, Mammoth Biosciences
Diagnostic Approaches

1:30-2 p.m.—Stanley Perlman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Professor of Pediatrics, Mark Stinski Chair in Virology, University of Iowa
Host Immune Response to CoVs: Friend or Foe?

2-2:30 p.m.—Galit Alter, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Group Leader at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
Humoral Immune Response

Treatment of COVID-19

Moderator: Florian Krammer, Ph.D.

3-3:30 p.m.—Myron Cohen, M.D., Yeargan-Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Epidemiology; Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health and Medical Affairs; Director, Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases; UNC School of Medicine
Landscape of Monoclonal Antibody Therapies

3:30-4 p.m.—Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., Professor Adjunct, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Scripps Research
Antibody Therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2: A Global Collaboration

4-4:30 p.m.—Mark Denison, M.D., Edward Claiborne Stahlman Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
SARS-CoV-2 Proteins as Targets for Therapies

4:30-5 p.m.—Michael Joyner, M.D., Anesthesiologist, Mayo Clinic
Convalescent Plasma Therapy

5-5:30 p.m.—Larry Corey, M.D., Past President and Director, Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Principal Investigator in the  HIV Vaccine Trials Network, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Professor of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington
Strategies for Vaccine Development​

Day 2: September 16

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines

Moderator: Rayne Rouce, M.D.

8-8:30 a.m.—Paul McCray, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology, and Internal Medicine, University of Iowa
Rodent Models for SARS-CoV-2

8:30-9 a.m.—Vincent Munster, Ph.D., Chief, Virus Ecology Unit, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Primate Models for SARS-CoV-2

9-9:30 a.m.—Sarah Gilbert, Ph.D., Professor of Vaccinology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford; Co-founder of Vaccitech
Adenovirus Vaccine Candidates

9:30-10 a.m.—Florian Krammer, Ph.D., Professor of Vaccinology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Vaccine Readouts: Analysis, Antibodies, and Immune Response

10-10:30 a.m.—Kizzmekia Corbett, Ph.D., Research Fellow in the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
NIH VRC Efforts and RNA Vaccine Candidates

Abstract Presentations

Moderator: Terence R. Flotte, M.D.

The second day of programming will primarily be comprised of oral presentations of abstracts submitted to ASGCT during the Call for Abstracts. These abstracts will consist of brand new research relating to COVID-19 on topics such as diagnostics, vaccine strategies, and gene and cell therapies. 

11-11:12 a.m.—Gaurav Sahay, Ph.D., Oregon State University
Rapid generation of circulating and mucosal decoy ACE2 using mRNA nanotherapeutics for the potential treatment of SARS-CoV-2

11:12-11:24 a.m.—Paul Ayoub, University of California, Los Angeles
Improved Spike Glycoproteins to Pseuodtype Lentiviral Vectors

11:24-11:36 a.m.—Saad Khan, Ph.D., Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Cellular Immuno-Therapy for COVID-19 induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Design of the CIRCA-19 Trial

11:36-11:48 a.m.—Robin Hu, University of Pennsylvania
Design of conditional small interfering RNA riboswitches to identify and selectively kill cells infected with SARS-CoV-2

11:48 a.m.-12 p.m.—Chanakha Navaratnarajah, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein Activation in Cardiomyocytes: Mechanism and Pathological Consequences

Sponsored Lunch Sessions

These companies will be hosting separate sessions from 12-1 p.m.

• Corning Life Sciences 

1-1:12 p.m.—Ami Patel, Ph.D., The Wistar Institute
A COVID-19 intradermal (ID) delivered DNA vaccine is immunogenic in multiple animal models and provides anamnestic protection in rhesus macaques against SARS-CoV-2 infection

1:12-1:24 p.m.—Mauro Giacca, M.D., Ph.D., King's College London
Approved drugs inhibiting TMEM16 proteins block SARS-CoV-2 Spike-induced cellular syncytia

1:24-1:36 p.m.—Erlinda Gordon, M.D., Cancer Center of Southern California
CORONA STUDY: DELTAREX-G, DISEASE-TARGETED GENE THERAPY, FOR COVID-19

1:36-1:48 p.m.—Kamran Miah, Ph.D., University of Oxford
Establishing A Platform For High Titre SARS-CoV-2 S Pseudotyped Lentiviral Vectors - A Tool For Anyone To Play With

1:48-2 p.m.—Arun Raturi, Ph.D., Entos Pharmaceuticals
Rapid prototyping and immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine candidates formulated with the Fusogenix proteo-lipid vehicle delivery system

2-2:12 p.m.—Ye Liu, Ph.D., Regenxbio
Intravenously administered, AAV8-vectorized SARS-CoV2 monoclonal antibodies generate high level of serum neutralization titer in mice

2:12-2:24 p.m.—Vignesh Narayan Hariharan, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School
Developing Oligonucleotide Therapeutics for Targeted Delivery and Silencing of Conserved SARS COV-2 Gene Regions

2:24-2:36 p.m.—Nerea Zabaleta, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Mass Eye and Ear
AAVCOVID: Immunogenicity In Mouse And NHP Of An AAV Gene-Based SARS-CoV-2 Spike Antigen Preventative Vaccine

2:36-2:48 p.m.—BREAK

2:48-3 p.m.—Elizabeth Parzych, Ph.D., The Wistar Institute
Synthetic DNA-delivery of a SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibody with Durable In Vivo Expression and Neutralizing Activity

3-3:12 p.m.—Sabine Hauck, Ph.D., Leukocare AG
A Single-shot anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Based on a Novel Gorilla-Adenoviral Vector Stabilized in a Tailored Liquid Formulation

3:12-3:24 p.m.—Gabriel Lamothe, Laval University
ISOTHERMAL AMPLIFICATION AND DETECTION OF SARS-COV-2 USING CRISPR TECHNOLOGY

3:24-3:36 p.m.—Timothy Carey, Ph.D., Imanis Life Sciences
Safety and immunogenicity of VSV-SARS2 as a potential COVID19 vaccine: Preliminary findings in cynomolgus macaques

3:36-3:48 p.m.—Sean Sullivan, Ph.D., Arcturus Therapeutics, Inc.
Preclinical Immunogenicity Characterization of ARCT-021 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

​3:48-4 p.m.—Rianna Vandergaast, Ph.D., Imanis Life Sciences
Development and Validation of a High-Throughput Clinical Assay for Detecting SARS-CoV-2-Neutralizing Antibodies

4-4:12 p.m.—Ebony Gary, Ph.D., The Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, the Wistar Institute
Preclinical Efficacy Evaluation of a DNA Vaccine Ttargeting SARS-COV-2 in a hACE2 Transduced Mouse Challenge Model

4:12-4:24 p.m.—Bartolomeo Della Ventura, University of Naples Frederico II
Fast Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Nasal and Throat Swabs by a Simple Colorimetric Test

4:24-4:36 p.m.—Scott Sherill-Mix, University of Pennsylvania
LAMP-BEAC: Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Using RT-LAMP and Molecular Beacons

4:36-4:48 p.m.—Miguel Muñoz-Alía, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic/Department of Molecular Medicine
A Serotypically Evolved Recombinant Measles Virus as a COVID-19 VaccineCandidate for High Risk/Older Individuals

4:48-5 p.m.—Wenlong Dai, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Mass Eye and Ear
Immunogenicity In Mice Of Nine AAV Spike-based COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates

5-5:12 p.m.—Gavin MacBeath, Ph.D., TScan Therapeutics
UNBIASED GENOME-WIDE DISCOVERY USING TSCAN REVEALS SHARED IMMUNODOMINANT CD8+ T CELL EPITOPES IN SARS-COV-2​

5:12-5:24 p.m.—Albert Chen, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
COVID-19 CG: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 by Mutation, Location, and Date of Interest​

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