SINGAPORE and HANOVER, Germany, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hummingbird Bioscience and Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine today announced that the 3^rd Annual VISTA Symposium will take place virtually on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 (11:00 AM - 3:30 PM ET).

VISTA is a novel immune checkpoint implicated in various cancers. There is broad potential clinical impact for cancer patients, with strong scientific evidence that VISTA-mediated immune suppression plays a key role in many solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. High VISTA expression in tumor correlates with poor survival in cancer patients and has been associated with a lack of response to other immune checkpoint inhibitors. Pre-clinical data on VISTA biology and VISTA targeting have shown potent anti-tumor effects, and clinical readouts are expected this year.

The symposium will explore the important role of VISTA in cancer immunotherapy. Along with updates on the ongoing clinical development of anti-VISTA therapies, renowned scientific experts, clinicians, and industry leaders will share the latest insights on VISTA biology, and the growing potential of VISTA as a therapeutic target in multiple cancer indications. Register here.

Symposium Information

Title: 3^rd Annual VISTA Symposium: VISTA – Clinical updates and biological insights on a promising new target in cancer immunotherapy
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Time: 11:00 AM - 3:30 PM ET

Following a keynote presentation by John Connolly, PhD (Chief Scientific Officer, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy), the day will include short presentations, panel discussions and Q&A sessions by VISTA experts that will contextualize the exciting data and highlight why VISTA is the immunotherapy target to watch in 2024.

Agenda

Opening Remarks (11:00 AM - 11:10 AM ET)

• Piers Ingram, PhD – Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Hummingbird Bioscience

Keynote (11:10 AM - 11:30 AM ET)

• John Connolly, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

VISTA Biology (11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ET)

• Randolph Noelle, PhD – Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine
• J. Louise Lines, PhD – Research Scientist, Geisel School of Medicine
• Li Lily Wang, PhD – Associate Staff, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic
• Sietse J. Luk, MD – Research Scientist, Department of Hematology, Leiden University Medical Center

VISTA Targeting and Potential Biomarkers (12:30 PM - 1:15 PM ET)

• Bhushan Dharmadhikari, PhD – Principal Scientist, Hummingbird Bioscience
• Sven Mostböck, PhD – Principal Scientist, Boehringer Ingelheim
• Robert Martell, MD, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer, Curis

VISTA and Clinical Opportunities (1:30 PM - 2:30 PM ET)

• Joshua Gruber, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
• P. Jack Hoopes, DVM, PhD – Professor of Surgery, Professor of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine
• Jing Fu, PhD – Research Scientist, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
• Matthew Vesely, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine

Anti-VISTA Immunotherapies in Clinical Development (2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET)

• Edward van der Horst, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer, Sensei Bio
• Jerome Boyd-Kirkup, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Hummingbird Bioscience
• Thierry Guillaudeux, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer, Kineta

Follow this link for updates.

About Hummingbird Bioscience

Hummingbird Bioscience is a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for hard-to-treat diseases. The Hummingbird Bioscience model combines computational and systems biology with wet lab drug discovery in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative environment spanning initial discovery through clinical development. The company harnesses this integrated approach across target identification and patient selection, enabling the team to increase the efficiency of translating novel scientific insights while reducing the inherent risk in drug discovery and development. The company is currently developing two clinical-stage assets: HMBD-001, a humanized anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody targeting a novel epitope on HER3, and HMBD-002, a humanized anti-VISTA IgG4 monoclonal antibody. Both programs are currently in Phase I studies. At Hummingbird Bioscience, the commitment to rigorous science, teamwork, and intellectual integrity underpins our passion to accelerate the journey of new drugs from concept to clinic.

For more information, please visit www.hummingbirdbioscience.com, and follow Hummingbird Bioscience on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.

About Geisel School of Medicine

Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, healthcare policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America's leading medical schools, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.

Hummingbird Bioscience Contacts:

Crystal Ho
[email protected]
[email protected]
+65 6979 5580

[email protected] 

Geisel School of Medicine Contacts:

Derik Hertel
Director of Communications & Marketing
Phone: (603) 646-5100
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]