Preliminary Program

DAY 1, October 29

4:00 pm EDT
Check-In (conference registration)
Visit Exhibits and View Posters
Welcome
5:00 pm EDT
Welcome remarks
Phillip Scott
Vice Dean for Research & Academic Resources
Professor of Immunology
Department of Pathobiology
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, US
5:10 pm EDT
Special Address
Bruce Levine
Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy
Founding Director of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Center for Cellular Immunotherapies
Deputy Director - Technology Innovation and Assessment
University of Pennsylvania, US
Keynote Lecture
5:40 pm EDT
Special Guest Speaker
Robert Negrin
Stanford University, US
6:10 pm EDT
Discussion
Moderator: Federico Simonetta
Cocktail Reception
6:30 pm EDT
Networking reception
8:00 pm EDT
Adjourn

Day 2, October 30

7:00 am EDT
Check-In (conference registration)
Breakfast, Visit Exhibits and View Posters
8:00 am EDT
Welcome remarks
Antonia Rotolo
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, US
Monika Holubová
Charles University, CZ
Lucie Houdová
University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, CZ

CiRT co-founders
Andrew M. Hoffman
Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Pennsylvania, US
Session I
Moderator: TBA
8:15 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Patricia Barral
The Francis Crick Institute
King's College London, UK
NKT cells and the regulation of intestinal immunity: a two-way street
8:45 am EDT
Short Talk
Eoin Whelan
University of Pennsylvania, US
Continuous Cell States Define Inkt Heterogeneity And Remodeling During Therapeutic Manufacturing
9:00 am EDT
Fellow Award Finalist
Yanruide Charlie Li
University of California, Los Angeles, US
9:15 am EDT
CiRT Highlight
Amruta Pathare
CiRT; University of Tartu, EE
Single Cell Working group
9:30 am EDT
Coffee Break
Session II
Moderator: TBA
10:00 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Mitchell Kronenberg
La Jolla Institute for Immunology, US
30 years of research on iNKT cells: my perspective on the past and future
10:30 am EDT
Short Talk
Xi Lin
Birgham and Women's Hospital, US
Early-life Wnt4 expressing colon stromal cells orchestrate lifelong mucosal homeostasis via BMP-driven iNKT cell imprinting
10:45 am EDT
Short Talk
Emily Landy
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, US
Loss of T-Bet Leads To Increased Th2 Cytokine Production By iNKT Cells
11:00 am EDT
Stretch Break
Session III
Moderator: TBA
11:15 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Paolo Dellabona
IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, IT
Issues in Adoptive Immunotherapy Using iNKT Cells
11:50 am EDT
Spotlight
Clinton Heinze
Arovella Therapeutics Limited, Melbourne, AU
Cytokine-armoured allogeneic CAR-iNKT cell therapy targeting CLDN18.2-positive pancreatic and gastric cancers
12:00 pm EDT
Fellow Award Finalist
Elisa Landoni
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, US
12:15 pm EDT
Investigator Award Finalist
Melissa Mavers
Washington University School of Medicine, US
12:30 pm EDT
Lunch
Session IV
Moderator: TBA
1:30 pm EDT
Invited Lecture
Lydia Lynch
Princeton University, US
TBA
2:00 pm EDT
Short Talk
Mads Hartvig Clausen
Technical University of Denmark, DK
Vaccines stimulating iNKT cells
2:15 pm EDT
Fellow Award Finalist
Gabriel André Barragán Bravo
City of Hope, Duarte, US
2:30 pm EDT
Investigator Award Finalist
Gloria Delfanti
IRCSS San Raffaele Hospital, IT
2:45 pm EDT
Stretch Break
Session V
Moderator: TBA
2:50 pm EDT
Spotlight
Jenny Gumperz
University of Wisconsin, Madison, US
iPSC-Derived Invariant NKT Cells as a Cellular Platform for Enhancing Bone Marrow Function
3:00 pm EDT
Spotlight
Kelsey Busken
Washington University in St. Louis, US
Translation of ex vivo iNKT cell expansion to Prevent GVHD in a Phase I study
3:10 pm EDT
Spotlight
Ageliki Tsagartou
UNC Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, US
TET mediated epigenetic regulation of murine iNKT cell effector function
3:20 pm EDT
Spotlight
Elise Liu
Yale University, US
Lipid-induced gut invariant natural killer T cell activation in mice leads to development of food allergy
3:30 pm EDT
CiRT Highlight
Monika Holubová
Charles University, CZ
CiRT QiNKT Study
3:45 pm EDT
Coffee Break
Session VI
Moderators: TBA
4:15 pm EDT
Invited Lecture
Gavin Painter
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
mRNA Vaccination Against Malaria: Leveraging NKT Cells for Liver-Stage Protection
4:45 pm EDT
Short Talk
Francesco Strati
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LT
Microbiota-derived indole-3-carbinol licenses iNKT cells to foster colitis-associated colorectal cancer
5:00 pm EDT
Investigator Award Finalist
Praveena Thirunavukkarasu
Monash University, AU
5:15 pm EDT
Sponsor Presentation
Miltenyi Biotec
End of Day 2 Lecture Sessions
5:30 pm EDT
Poster Walk
7:00 pm EDT
Networking Reception

Day 3, October 31

7:00 am EDT
Breakfast, Visit Exhibits and View Posters
Session VII
Moderator: TBA
8:00 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Sinichiro Motohashi
Chiba University, JP
TBA
8:30 am EDT
Short Talk
Lili Yang
University of California, Los Angeles, US
Spatiotemporal profiling reveals distinct dynamics and checkpoint regulations of CAR-T and CAR-NKT cells against solid tumors
8:45 am EDT
Short Talk
Hongwei Ren
Imperial College London, UK
Off-the-shelf’ dual CAR-iNKT cell immunotherapy eradicates medullary and leptomeningeal high risk KMT2A-rearranged leukemia
9:00 am EDT
CiRT Highlight
Antonia Rotolo
University of Pennsylvania, US
Partnerships with Biotech
9:15 am EDT
Coffee break
Session VIII
Moderator: TBA
9:45 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Giampietro Dotti
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US
TBA
10:15 am EDT
Short Talk
Marco Purbhoo
MiNK Therapeutics, US
Invariant Natural Killer T Cells as a Scalable Allogeneic Platform for Immune Reprogramming Across Cancer, Inflammation, and Next-Generation Cell Therapies
10:30 am EDT
Short Talk
Kanagaraju Ponnusamy
Imperial College London, UK
Superior anti-myeloma efficacy of CAR iNKT cells with CD28z endodomain mediated by a novel PLXND1–SEMA4A interaction
10:45 am EDT
Coffee break
Session IX
Moderator: TBA
11:15 am EDT
Invited Lecture
Tonya Webb
University of Maryland, US
TBA
11:45 am EDT
Short Talk
Tai-Na Wu
Academia Sinica, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, TW
Suppression of non-small cell lung cancer growth by a novel plant-based immunogenic cell death inducer through activation of DC and iNKT cells
12:00 am EDT
Short Talk
Bobby Zuniga
Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University, US
H3.3 Chaperone HIRA Regulates iNKT Cell Development and Effector Differentiation
Awards ceremony
Moderators: CiRT Board
12:45 pm EDT
Best Posters
Top Three
12:55 pm EDT
Best Short Talk
Top One
13:05 pm EDT
CiRT Awards
Winners
13:15 pm EDT
Closing Remarks
CiRT co-founders
13:30 pm EDT
Lunch To Go