Biomolecular Engineering & Biophysical Processes

Biomolecule Structure and Function

Sunday 3/17/2024, 2:00 – 5:00 PM

Elucidating sequence-structure-function relationships in proteins is crucial to understand protein interactions with other biomolecules and their molecular mechanisms within biological systems. Recent advances in biomolecular engineering including protein engineering and design also provide insights to their structures and functions. A foundational understanding of structure and function is the main driver behind the expansive biotechnological applications of proteins and other biomolecules, including the development of new biotechnologies and safe and efficacious biologics. This session seeks presentations focusing on scientific approaches (wet lab and computational) to understand and decipher the fundamental principles connecting the primary and higher-order structures of biomolecules and proteins and their post-translational modifications to their functions and behaviors in vitro and in vivo.

Biotherapeutic Developability and Stability

Monday 3/18/2024, 2:00 – 5:00 PM

The need for efficacious biotherapeutics under rapidly accelerated timelines has never been more evident. Confident, rapid selection of candidates to progress into development is vital in expediting progress in the laboratory, clinic, and manufacturing. This session will focus on recent advances across academia and industry in computational and experimental approaches for 1) assessing and predicting developability of various biologics and novel modalities and 2) Understanding the mechanisms underlying the physical and chemical degradation, conformational and colloidal stability, and non-specific interactions.

Emerging Biophysical and Analytical Characterization Technologies (BPAC)

Tuesday 3/19/2024, 2:00 – 5:00 PM

Biologics are a rapidly expanding class of therapeutics in the modern pharmaceutical market. Protein drugs (e.g. mAbs) exhibit inherent structural complexity, and emerging modalities (gene therapy, mRNA vaccines, AAVs, etc.) consist of manifold combinations of various biomolecules. A critical task of biological drug development is to characterize the structural stability and integrity, including myriad post-translational modifications, of the drug substance(s). This characterization is important at all stages of the process from upstream production through downstream purification, manufacture and product lifecycle and to assess the potential of these characteristics as critical quality attributes (CQAs). In-depth characterization of structural behaviors of biologics is therefore critical in all stages of drug development and manufacturing. Innovative measurements must evolve to allow comprehensive product quality assessment and continually improve product stability amenable to global distribution. This session includes emerging, state-of-the-art high-resolution biophysical and analytical methods to characterize biopharmaceuticals including peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, monoclonal and multispecific antibodies, viral and non-viral gene and cell therapies, and vaccines.

Enzyme Engineering for Biocatalysis

Wednesday 3/20/2024, 8:00-11:00 AM

Enzymes enable the synthesis of structurally complex molecules under ambient or otherwise mild-conditions; they offer a sustainable means of building a striking variety of chemicals. Recent years have witnessed the expansion of biocatalytic processes across the pharmaceutical industry and fine chemical sector. Advances in enzyme engineering have enabled the assembly of sophisticated biocatalytic cascades and accelerated the design and optimization of enzymes with novel functions and stabilities (e.g., activity at high temperatures or in mixed solvents). This session invites abstracts focused on enzyme engineering, broadly defined. Topics include advances in process development; the design, discovery, and evolution of enzymes and biocatalytic systems; and high throughput screens, structure-function analyses, modeling, and applications of machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. Papers relevant to biocatalytic cascades, green chemistry, environmental and waste management, biocatalysis under non-natural conditions (e.g., organic solvents), or that highlight applications in the pharmaceutical, biofuel, food, textile, detergent, and paper industries are particularly encouraged. Unlisted topics relevant to enzyme engineering and biocatalysis are also welcome.

Novel Modality and Protein Engineering for Therapeutic, Diagnostic, and Sensor Applications

Thursday 3/21/2024, 8:00-11:00 AM

New Technologies in Biomolecule Design and Engineering

Wednesday 3/20/2024, 2:00 – 5:00 PM

As biomolecular engineering and protein engineering strategies become more widely adopted to develop biomolecules with improved properties, new technologies are needed to increase the speed and efficiency with which biomolecules are engineered to enable new discoveries and applications. This session will focus on advances in biomolecule engineering and protein engineering technologies that are currently being developed in academia and industry. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, new platforms for accelerating protein engineering, new technologies in DNA/RNA engineering, innovations in library generation, new screening approaches, high throughput technologies, and advances in computational strategies (including machine learning and artificial intelligence) to protein or biomolecule design and engineering. Abstracts that discuss new tools for introducing non-standard nucleotides, amino acids, or post-translational modifications to biomolecules, or new approaches for engineering biomolecule stability, functionality, and manufacturability are also encouraged.