ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Emerging Cell Therapies: Realizing the
Vision of NextGen Smart Cell Therapeutics for Disease organized by Drs. Kole T. Roybal, Alex Marson and
Yvonne Y. Chen. The conference will be held in Keystone, Colorado from January 24-28, 2021.
Cellular therapeutics are poised to be a next pillar of medicine along with small molecules and biologics. These
living drugs have a unique capacity for more complex decision-making and therapeutic responses, potentially
alleviating the need for chronic treatment. Next-generation cell therapies will need to adapt and respond to
disease progression, essentially functioning as microscopic “physicians” capable of sensing, diagnosing, and
eradicating disease via multifaceted mechanisms that are difficult to resist yet similar to our natural immune
system. Advances in engineered T cell therapeutics are being FDA approved and are now transforming
treatment plans for cancers that previously had few therapeutic options. While there have been unprecedented
complete responses in a subset of hematological malignancies, the current therapies can show significant
toxicity and on the other hand show a lack of efficacy in solid tumors. Beyond cancer, engineered cell therapies
could have significant impact in the treatment of autoimmunity, metabolic disorders and in regenerative
medicine. This conference will therefore cover next-generation cellular engineering approaches designed to
tackle refractory diseases such as solid tumors, while also addressing the higher safety requirements for
diseases beyond late-stage metastatic cancers. This conference brings together clinically minded cell
therapists, synthetic biologists, genome and protein engineers, systems biologists, and immunologists; this
combined expertise is essential to establish cells as a safe and effective therapeutic strategy across a range of
diseases. Smart cellular therapeutics of the future must be easily customizable, have intrinsic control systems
to prevent toxicity, and be able to overcome rapidly evolving mechanisms preventing disease resolution; this
conference aims to address these topics by convening global experts across a range of relevant disciplines.