Mid-West Bio Research & Industry Conference Kansas – Midwest BRICK

8:00 – 8:45 AM

Arrival, Registration & Breakfast

8:45 – 9:00 AM

Opening Remarks

• Kevin Mills, PhD. President & CEO. AdAstra BIO
• Brittany Hufft-Martinez, PhD. Postdoctoral Fellow. KU Medical Center and Kansas City Researchers in Biomedical Sciences (KC RiBS)
• Kaela Varberg, PhD, Investigator– Children’s Mercy, Kansas City

9:00 – 10:30 AM

Session I: Organoids

Chair: Darby Stanford, PhD

• Scott Younger, PhD. Director, Disease Gene Engineering– Children’s Mercy Research Insititute. “Translational applications of patient-derived organoid models”
• Heather Decker. Chief Technology Officer– Ronawk
• Kassandra Ramos. PhD Student– KU Medical Center. “The role of PRICKLE-1 in Plana Cell Polarity of Endometrial Organoids”

10:30 – 10:45 AM

Coffee Break

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Session II: Rare Disease

Chair: Lorena Maili, PhD

• Pamela Tran, PhD. Associate Professor – KU Medical Center. “Rewiring Metabolsim: Targeting O-GlcNAc to reduce cyst growth in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease”
• Dana Thalman. MSTP Candidate – KU Medical Center. “Blood-CSF Barrier Dysfunction as a Mechanism of Ventriculomegaly in SPECC1L Deficiency”
• Sonali Choudhury. PhD Candidate – KU Medical Center. “Microbiome driven brain axis dysfunction and ENS remodeling in chronic abdominal pain after spinal cord injury”
• Claire Houchen. PhD Candidate – University of Missouri-Kansas City. “Integrating Human Genetic Associations with Avian Transcriptomics Reveals Potential Jaw Length-Controlling Genes”
• Molika Sinha, PhD Student – KU Medical Center. “Maternal Spaceflight Exposure Impairs Ovarian Function and Reproductive Outcomes: Transgenerational Effects of Environmental Stressors”

12:15 – 1:15 PM

Lunch & Networking

Trainee Luncheon with industry professional. Open lunch hour for conference attendees.

1:15 – 2:30 PM

Session III: Biomaterials and Bioengineering

Chair: Hanieh Sadat Ghazali

• Tim Dawsey, PhD. Natural Solutions, LLC “The Spoke-and-Hub Future of Kansas Biotech”
• Asmita Mahara. PhD Student– Kansas State University. “Nature’s Clean-Up Crew to Upcycles Industrial Wastewater Derived from Food/Agricultural Wastes Processing”
• Julianne Clina, PhD – KU Medical Center. “Wearable-Derived Movement Patterns are Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers in Adults with Down Syndrome”
• Daniel Chen. PhD Student– KU Medical Center. “Fixing Mitochondria to Fight Alzheimer’s: From drug screening to cellular mechanisms”

2:30 – 2:45 PM

Coffee Break

2:45 – 4:15 PM

Session IV: Cancer Meets Materials Science

Chair: Cameron Berry, PhD

• Stefan Bossmann, PhD. Distinguished Professor – KU Medical Center. “Nanomaterials for Early Cancer Detection”
• Monika Yadav, PhD – Children’s Mercy Research Institute. “Potent anti-tumor efficacy of B7-H3 CAR-T cells in H3G34 mutant Diffuse Hemispheric Gliomas”
• Ghazaleh Pouya Manesh. PhD Candidate – University of Missouri-Kansas City. “Structural basis of ion selectivity and drug modulation in voltage-gated calcium channels”
• Sangita Bhattacharyya. PhD Candidate –KU Medical Center. “First Identification of Bitter Taste Receptor TAS2R38 as an Oncogenic GPCR Governing ALDH1A1-Driven Stemness in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma”
• Debolina Dasgupta. PhD Candidate – KU Medical Center. “Loss of T cell-intrinsic Keap1 alleviated colitis by suppressing Th17Differentiation and enhancing regulatory T cell functions”

4:15 – 4:30 PM

Coffee Break

8:00 – 9:00 AM

Arrival, Registration, Exhibitor Set Up (Exhibition Hall opens at 9:00am)

9:00 – 9:15 AM

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Kevin Mills, President & CEO, AdAstra BIO

Opening Message from Senator Roger Marshall, MD (Kansas)

9:15 – 9:45 AM

Keynote Address – Dr. Kelvin Lee, Director, National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL)

Title: “Collaborative Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing for U.S. Competitiveness”

9:45 – 10:30 AM

Morning Policy Session

Federal Policy and Regulatory Dynamics That Will Shape Biomanufacturing in the Next Decade.

Bioscience industries are rapidly evolving against a backdrop of seismic shifts in federal policy – regulation, trade policy, research funding, manufacturing investment, and more. This fireside chat will explore the most important policy developments shaping the industry today. Speakers include:

• Melissa Roberts Chapman – Director, KC BioHub
• Alina Meltaus – Chief of Staff, National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCED)

10:30 – 11:30 AM

Regional Resource Sessions

• Kansas City BioHub – What It’s All About
• KC Digital Drive – Charting the Path to a Midwest Digital Ecosystem
• Kansas Manufacturing Solutions – Your Manufacturing Business Partner
• Apprenti – Registered Apprenticeships as a Pillar in Workforce Development

11:30 AM –

2:00 PM

Extended Exhibit Hall Viewing & Open Lunch

2:00 – 2:45 PM

Afternoon Workforce Panel Session

The Evolving Bioscience Workforce: Challenges and Solutions

The nature of bioscience industry is rapidly evolving, with new technologies, new products, and new investments in domestic manufacturing capacity. Speakers include:

• John Balchunas – Director, Workforce Development, NIIMBL
• Angela Consani – CEO, Bioscience Core Skills Institute (Moderator)
• Rob Morrison – Senior Director, Pfizer
• Spencer Chestnut – Manager, Biologics Strategy Deployment, Catalent Pharma Solutions

2:45 – 3:00 PM

Coffee Break

3:00 – 3:20 PM

What Does Great Look Like?

Come learn about the latest developments with AdAstra BIO. As the next step in the evolution of BioKansas, AdAstra BIO is bringing new services, resources, programs, and impact to our regional biosciences economy. This session will detail what’s happening now and what is coming soon!

3:20 – 3:30 PM

Awards Ceremony

3:30 – 4:00 PM

Closing Address – Curt Skoog, Mayor Overland Park, Kansas

4:00 – 6:00 PM

Cocktail Hour & Exhibit Hall Open