CNS THERAPEUTICS XCHANGE
EUROPE 2022
Zurich, November 24
Welcome to hubXchange’s Europe CNS Therapeutics Xchange 2022, bringing together executives from pharma and biotech to address and find solutions to the key issues faced in developing CNS therapies.
Discussion topics will cover Novel Targets, Preclinical, Clinical Studies and Drug Delivery.
Take advantage of this unique highly interactive meeting format designed for maximum engagement, collaboration and networking with your peers.
Please note this is an In-Person meeting.
VENUE DETAILS: Hilton Zurich Airport Hotel, Hohenbuehlstrasse 10 – 8152 Opfikon, Switzerland
Novel Targets
8:30 – 9:00
Opening Address & Keynote: EEG biomarkers: a predictive tool to bridge the gap between the preclinical and the clinical drug development
- EEG as a source of translational biomarkers for drug discovery & development
- Case study in Parkinson’s disease
- Case study in Rare diseases
Applications Specialist & Business Development, SynapCell
Maïtena holds a MSc in Management of Biotechnology and a Master’s degree in International business in Science. She joined SynapCell as Junior Business Developer in 2021 and was recently appointed as Applications Specialist. Her background provides her with dual skills to better understand the current needs of the biopharma industry towards drug discovery for CNS disorders. Her willingness to learn and to move EEG applications forward makes Maïtena a great asset from the valorization of SynapCell’s cutting-edge research from R&D projects to the development of new solutions’ scientific launch packages.
Head of Scientific Sales, SynapCell
Venceslas holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology from the University of Bordeaux, France. He then undertook his post-doc at the Institute of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Zurich. Venceslas has been working at SynapCell since 2012, first as Neuroscientist then as Head of Science. In May 2021, he was appointed Head of Product and Portfolio Management and moved to sales as Head of Scientific Sales in 2022. Venceslas therefore brings more than 10 years’ experience in drug discovery and brain disorders. As SynapCell’s Head of product and portfolio management, he is at the cutting edge of Neuroscience research through the implementation of drug discovery programs for customers or for internal R&D projects.
9:05 – 10:05
Opportunities from emerging therapeutic modalities: Target selection in an evolving druggability landscape
- Choosing the “Right candidate” target gene, with understanding of the disease with implications of modulation in CNS.
- Drug testing using disease relevant model system that shows not just a part but as close to human disease phenotype.
- Drug delivery approaches
- Efforts on choosing the appropriate biomarker for preclinical and clinical evaluation.
Senior Research Scientist, AstraZeneca
Vijay Chandresekar, is currently a Senior Scientist with the MS&B function at AstraZeneca, Sweden. He did his Ph.D in Neuroscience from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Postdoc studies in Columbia University, New York, USA and University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland and as a senior Postdoc/scientist at DZNE, Bonn, Germany in Neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, Prion and Alzheimers diseases as well as ageing & inflammation. He has over 17 years of working experience in Neurological and Neurodegenerative diseases. He is passionate about and has been continuously working towards better and efficient CNS therapeutics as well as understanding the disease mechanism.
The relevance of EEG biomarkers to address CNS drug discovery challenges
- Can EEG biomarkers participate to the phenotyping of a model
- Beyond the trace : explore different kinds of applications for EEG Phenotyping
- What type of therapeutic areas are still out of reach for the EEG technology ?
Applications Specialist & Business Development, SynapCell
Maïtena holds a MSc in Management of Biotechnology and a Master’s degree in International business in Science. She joined SynapCell as Junior Business Developer in 2021 and was recently appointed as Applications Specialist. Her background provides her with dual skills to better understand the current needs of the biopharma industry towards drug discovery for CNS disorders. Her willingness to learn and to move EEG applications forward makes Maïtena a great asset from the valorization of SynapCell’s cutting-edge research from R&D projects to the development of new solutions’ scientific launch packages.
Head of Scientific Sales, SynapCell
Venceslas holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology from the University of Bordeaux, France. He then undertook his post-doc at the Institute of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Zurich. Venceslas has been working at SynapCell since 2012, first as Neuroscientist then as Head of Science. In May 2021, he was appointed Head of Product and Portfolio Management and moved to sales as Head of Scientific Sales in 2022. Venceslas therefore brings more than 10 years’ experience in drug discovery and brain disorders. As SynapCell’s Head of product and portfolio management, he is at the cutting edge of Neuroscience research through the implementation of drug discovery programs for customers or for internal R&D projects.
Networking Lunch
Spotlight Presentation:
The effect of CNS-acting drugs on rodent mismatch negativity is modulated by vigilance states
- Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a component of event-related potentials that is diminished in many neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.
- Central nervous system (CNS)-acting drugs often alter vigilance states, and it is not well understood how the drug-induced changes in sleep-wake behaviour affect MMN
generation. - The presentation will provide an overview of the recent rodent MMN research with a
special focus on vigilance state specific changes and discuss the methodological
aspects and future implications of the latest findings.
Scientific Lead, Transpharmation
Sandor has over 20 years’ experience in neuroscience research, published more than 20 research articles and was awarded with theprestigious Pickwick Fellowship of National Sleep Foundation to study the neurobiology of narcolepsy at Harvard Medical School. Prior to taking up his post at Transpharmation, Sandor held a research role at Cambridge University where he identified the abnormal changes in sleep and brain oscillations in Huntington’s disease as well as the drugs that can reverse them. As Scientific Lead at Transpharmation he is responsible for directing sleep-wake profiling and EEG assessment of novel, CNS acting compounds.
1-2-1 Meetings / Networking Break
1-2-1 Meetings / Networking Break
15:00 – 16:00
Novel therapies for complex neurological disorders: discovery of effective treatments
- What relevant novel CNS disorders and therapies are currently under development
- What are novel trends in CNS disorder diagnostics and drug development?
- How do you see the future for developing successful CNS therapies?
Senior Clinical Program Director Paediatrics-Neurology Patient Value Unit, UCB Biosciences GmbH
Frank Tennigkeit is a Drug Development Expert with more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences including more than 15 years of pharmaceutical industry/biotech experience.
His medical background comes from Pharmacology and Neuroscience. He has strong experience in clinical development and real world evidence generation, especially in Neurology (Alzheimer’s Disease, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease and PSP) and orphan autoimmune disorders.
Currently he works for UCB Biosciences as Pediatric Development expert (pediatric development plans, PIPs, PSPs and indication expansions). He has also been Medical/Clinical Team Lead and manager of cross-functional teams.
He has extensive experience in planning, executing, publishing and submitting clinical development programs for leading to NDAs, submissions and successful drug approvals (US, EU, J, CN).
16:10– 17:10
One major challenge in CNS drug development is the identification of novel drug targets with higher potential for disease modification and improved clinical translatability
- What will (should) be the next generation of target identification strategies?
- What should target validation look like in the next decade?
- Should the “single target model” be questioned? Is there a future for multi-target
strategies?
Principal Scientist, reMYND
I started my independent research career at Duke-NUS Medical School (Singapore) in 2007, where my laboratory worked for 9 years on synaptic plasticity and memory in mouse models.
After a short stint at the Institute of Cancer Research (London, UK) where I developed image
processing software, I moved my lab to the University of Greenwich (UK) to work on stem cell models of neurodevelopmental disorders and pain. In 2019, I took a position at reMYND (Belgium), a biotech company that develops disease-modifying drugs for neurodegenerative
disorders. I head there the mitochondrial therapeutics and iPSC units and oversee
early drug discovery in the ALS program.
