The first Drug Delivery conference organized by Fusion was chaired by Niren Murthy and Cameron Lee.  The conference was memorable for the superb quality of science and the beautiful setting, but likely it will be most frequently remembered for the snakes.

The conference goal was to “bridge the gap between basic science and unmet medical needs”, meaning that the organizers wanted the conference-goers on both sides of the aisle – academia and industry – to leave the event with an appreciation and awareness of the recent progress and challenges  experienced by each.  The organizers sought to invite speakers whose research was not “trendy”, but truly addressed unmet medical and technical needs.  The thematic sessions ranged from the mature to the emerging, including: new strategies for nucleic acid delivery; polymeric delivery vehicles, new protein therapeutics, targeting tumors, controlled/sustained release, immunoengineering, and new drug delivery strategies.  The quality of research presented was very good, with many presenters sharing unpublished results.  The audience seemed particularly engaged by the presentations on nucleic acids delivery (a field that is seeing major technological advances in delivery and human clinical validation) and immunoengineering (an established field that is being reinvigorated by recent clinical successes in immunooncology and new methodologies for targeting and modulating the human immune system).

The conference received sponsorship from Polypure, and recruited a eight media partners.  The organizers were fortunate to obtain commitments from many leaders in the drug delivery field as oral contributors, and there was an excellent breadth in research area, geography and age amongst the speakers.  Our presenters included: Mano Manoharan (Alnylam), Omar Khan (MIT), David Rozema (Arrowhead), David Schaffer (UC Berkeley), Ashtush Chilkoti (Duke), Craig Duval (Vanderbilt), Jianjun Cheng (U of Illinois), Adah Almutairi (UC San Diego), Patrick Stayton (U Washington), Thomas Barker (Georgia Tech), Christopher Jewell (Maryland), Kunwoo Lee (UC Berkeley), Gerrit Storm (Utrecht University), Glen Kwon (University of Wisconsin), Suzie Pun (University of Washington), Adam Renslo (UC San Francisco), Frank Szoka (UC San Francisco), Jason Burdick (U Pennyslvania), Eric Appel (MIT), Ravin Narain (U Alberta), Scott Grayson (Tulane), Richard Darcy (U Manchester), Kaushal Rege (Arizona State University), Kathryn Whitehead (Carnegie Mellon University), Darrel Irvine (MIT), Benjamin Keselowsky (U of Florida), Scott Wilson (EPFL), John Wilson (Vanderbilt), Kristy Ainslie (U North Carolina), Andrew Geall (Avidity Nanomedicines), Krishnendu Roy (Georgia Tech), Christoph Brauchle (University of Munich), and Millicent Sullivan (U of Deleware).  Four confirmed speakers had to cancel shortly before the conference.  Even with these cancellations, the agenda was very full and probably could have been shortened to accommodate more discussion time or longer presentation times.

The small size of the conference, and the high presenter:non-presenter ratio made for an excellent opportunity to network.  Students or early career attendees who made the effort to engage with the established faculty and industry representatives between sessions, over meals, or on the excursion will have benefitted immensely.  The feedback received anectodatally by the organizers was very positive, where the most common comment received related to the quantity of high calibar faculty present: the conference might have been a success, from a scientific perspective, even if only half the speakers had shown up!  If the organizers are able to attract a similar quality speaker lineup at a second Drug Delivery conference it should be very easy to attract a larger audience and repeat the success of the first installment.

This conference focuses on the design, synthesis and clinical validation of new drug delivery vehicles.  This conference is designed to bridge the gap between basic science and unmet clinical needs. 

Key Themes

1. Immunoengineering: New materials for vaccine delivery, strategies for eliciting T cell responses, and nanoparticle based vaccines
2. Nucleic Acid Based Therapeutics: New strategies for siRNA delivery, recent clinical advances in siRNA delivery, and viral gene therapy
3. Protein Based Therapeutics: Intracellular protein delivery, endosomal disruptive strategies, and new protein based therapeutics
4. New Delivery Strategies: New materials for drug delivery and other biomedical polymers
5. Anatomical Challenges to Drug Delivery

2015 Drug Delivery Poster Prize

The conference chairs will be awarding 3 student poster prizes for the best poster display and presentation. To be in with a chance of winning, submit your poster by 20 July 2015. The winners will be selected shortly after the Poster Session and the following prizes will be awarded. 1st Place $350, 2nd Place $250, 3rd Place $150. 

Confirmed Plenary Speakers

Professor Patrick Stayton (University of Washington)
'OPENING THE INTRACELLULAR DISEASE TARGET SPACE TO BIOLOGIC DRUGS'
Prof. Dr. David Schaffer (UC Berkeley)
'DIRECTED EVOLUTION OF NEW VIRUSES FOR THERAPEUTIC GENE DELIVERY'
Professor Daniel Anderson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
'NUCLEIC ACID DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR RNA THERAPY AND GENE EDITING'
Dr. Andrew Geall (Avidity NanoMedicines LLC)
'SELF-AMPLIFYING mRNA VACCINES'
Professor Jason Burdick (University of Pennsylvania)
'ENGINEERED HYDROGEL DESIGN FOR CONTROLLED MOLECULE DELIVERY'
Professor Darrell Irvine (MIT/Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research)
'TARGETING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM FOR ENHANCED VACCINES AND CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY'
Professor Francis Szoka (UCSF)
'WHAT DO ELIE METCHNIKOFF AND PAUL EHRLICH HAVE IN COMMON? AND, WHY SHOULD SCIENTISTS DEVISING NANODRUG CARRIERS CARE?'
Dr. Ashutosh Chilkoti (Duke University)
'STIMULUS RESPONSIVE ELASTIN LIKE POLYPEPTIDES FOR DRUG DELIVERY'
Professor Gerrit Storm (Utrecht University)
'CLINICAL TRANSLATION OF TARGETED NANOMEDICINES: THE UTRECHT EXPERIENCE'
Professor Suzie Pun (University of Washington)
'TARGETED DELIVERY USING PEPTIDE LIGANDS IDENTIFIED BY PHAGE DISPLAY' 

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Target Audience