Wednesday, October 22, 2025

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM

Pioneer Room

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Overview

Sponsored by: West Pharmaceutical Services

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Details

Watch as early-stage projects and technologies—sourced from leading research institutes, universities, hospitals, and pre-series A companies—pitch their breakthrough ideas. You'll have the opportunity to discover cutting-edge developments in human therapeutics and enabling technologies, hear expert feedback from panels of industry leaders, corporate VCs, and early-stage investors, engage with promising startups and research teams at the forefront of scientific and commercial advancement, and network with fellow decision-makers and innovators shaping the future of the life sciences sector. This is your chance to witness the next wave of transformative healthcare solutions. Expert panel: • Sarah Meibusch, Partner, OneVentures • Dr Steve Burnell, Executive Chair, Tenmile • Dr Perdita Cheshire, Director, Head Research Innovation APAC, CSL • Kok Li, Director, Scientific Affairs & TCS, Asia Pacific, West Pharmaceuticals • Michelle Booden, Exec. Dir. Business Development & Licensing, MSD Presentations: Presentation 1: Precision Guided Munition (PGM) technology: next generation cellular immunotherapy Presented by: Dr. Anna Cifuentes-Rius, Business Development Manager, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Presentation 2: Developing an innovative antibiotic potentiator to rescue frontline treatment of drug-resistant community acquired bacterial pneumonia Presented by: Dr. Bliss Cunningham, Research Fellow, Elemental Therapeutics, The University of Melbourne Presentation 3: Australian Corneal Bioengineering: Novel Therapies to Fight Blindness Presented by: Ms. Danielle Fisher, CEO (interim), BIENCO Vision Pty. Ltd. Break and room move 1 Presentation 4: Novel therapeutics for prevention and elimination of Escherichia coli biofilms Presented by: Prof. Begoña Heras, Professor, La Trobe University Presentation 5: Discovery of Novel ANO6 Inhibitors as Next-Generation NOACs Presented by: Dr. Chulho Lee, Research Director, S2Cbio, Inc. Presentation 6: New therapies for muscle diseases based on exercise biology Presented by: A/Prof. Sean McGee, CSO, Imitex Pty Ltd Presentation 7: Redefining Drug Development with AI-Powered Human Tissue Models Presented by: Dr. Christoph Meinert, CEO and Co-Founder, Gelomics Pty Ltd Afternoon tea and networking break Presentation 8: Advancing a novel antibody drug conjugate to treat cancer Presented by: Dr. Kay Myo Min, Research Associate / Project Manager, University Of South Australia, DesmoX Pty Ltd Presentation 9: A Novel Checkpoint Biologic for Interferon Driven Autoimmune Diseases (Interferonopathies) Presented by: Prof. Claudia Nold, Group Head: Interventional Immunology, Monash University and Hudson Institute of Medical Research Presentation 10: New treatments for refractory epilepsies Presented by: Mr. Pradeep Sadasivan Pillai, Senior Manager, Commercialisation University Of South Australia Presentation 11: Fine-Tuning Cardiac Contractility: A First-in-Class Troponin Modulator for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Presented by: Dr. Adam Stephenson, Associate, Uniquest Pty Limited Break and room move 2 Presentation 12: Selective Small Molecule Inhibitors of Tau–LRP1 Binding as novel disease modifying therapeutics for Alzheimer’s and related tauopathies Presented by: Dr. Travis Stiles, CEO & CSO, Novoroo Bioscience Presentation 13: Beyond Dopamine: Targeting Neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s Disease - A First-in-Class oral C5aR1 Inhibitor Presented by: Dr. Adam Stephenson (2nd), Associate, Uniquest Pty Limited Presentation 14: Novel non-GLP-based therapeutic for improved treatment of metabolic disease Presented by: Dr. Christina Sparbier, Business Development Manager, The Florey Sponsored by: West Pharmaceutical Services