Aldevron Announces Virtual Breakthrough Speaker Series: Dr. Laurence Cooper is Inaugural Guest

April 28, 2021 / by Aldevron

Aldevron hosted its first Breakthrough Symposium (BTS) in Fall 2018 with an exciting lineup of industry leaders presenting their research and how it affects the present, and the future, of finding solutions to the world’s biggest health challenges.

Our hope to host a second, live, BTS were paused by COVID-19. In its place, we are launching the Breakthrough Speaker Series. The floor will be open to scientists and advocates, researchers and administrators – we are inviting visionaries, voices, innovators, and problem solvers – to share a presentation that’s followed up with a robust roundtable discussion with select people from the Aldevron team. This conversational approach is meant to connect people to the subject matter in an authentic way, building upon our decades of experience and insight.

Our inaugural presentation for the Breakthrough Speaker Series is Dr. Laurence Cooper, on behalf of Ziopharm Oncology, presenting "DNA Plasmids for the Genetic Engineering of Clinical-Grade T cells". The presentation was followed by a discussion with Aldevron’s President of its Nucleic Acids Business Unit, Michelle Berg, and Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, John Ballantyne. As Dr. Ballantyne commented, “It is very fitting that Dr. Cooper kicked off our Breakthrough Speaker Series. We have worked closely with the team at Ziopharm for years and look forward to a continued strong partnership. Ziopharm is a clear leader in the next generation of cellular therapy companies, and it’s exciting to learn more about their work and the breakthroughs they are making.”

Dr. Cooper's presentation and the roundtable discussion are available to stream today.

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The group’s comments during the roundtable discussion focuses on the distinctive advantages of Ziopharm’s suite of T-cell therapies, including its proprietary non-viral gene transfer system, Sleeping Beauty, and its partnership with Aldevron to help make it happen. The discussion also highlights the significant patient need and commercial opportunity in both hematological and epithelial solid tumor cancers.

We are very excited about our Breakthrough Speaker Series and look forward to announcing our next leader in our lineup.