Biologics 2024: what can conference attendees look forward to?

We interviewed Elena Nichol, Senior Conference Producer and Team Leader (Oxford Global; Oxford, UK), who explained how the multiple track presentations at Biologics 2024 are curated and what additional features and experiences attendees can look forward to. Learn more about the conference here.

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your role at Oxford Global?

I am Elena and I am a Senior Conference Producer & Team Leader here at Oxford Global (Oxford, UK). As a company, we bring together key opinion leaders and scientific experts from across the globe at our conferences, aiming to inspire thought-provoking discussion and collaboration among the scientific community, offering a curated platform to promote insightful content addressing R&D priorities and challenges. As part of the production team, I conduct content-focused research for our Biologics and Immuno brand activities in the UK/EU region, creating exciting agendas based on research into the latest industry trends.

With multiple tracks including antibody discovery, ADC validation and oligonucleotides, how were the topics for the presentations at Biologics 2024 curated?

Pulling together topics for any conference is no short process, usually starting a year ahead of the event. At our 2023 congress, our onsite team conducted research with the help of our speakers, attendees and sponsors to gain their perspectives into the current landscape. Following this, we held a post-event advisory board meeting to gather further feedback around last year’s topics and get suggestions for any new and upcoming areas we should be featuring this year. This includes the addition of our ADC focused track this year, an area which has been consistently highlighted as an exciting and up-and-coming field. Throughout the production stage of an event, we continue to engage with speakers to better understand the industry so that we can build a tailored agenda together. During these discussions, we identify key trends and topics for panels and roundtable discussions at the event to continually improve the content of our events with sessions directly related to the interests of our speakers and target attendees.

In light of this, we have already started shaping the agenda for 2025 and are excited to be expanding the congress event further. We’ll be featuring a brand-new focus on biologics manufacturing to bring together talks covering the full lifecycle of biological drug development. 2025 will also include a heightened focus on sustainability considerations in synthesis and the supply chain as we move towards the hope of becoming a more sustainable industry, as well as fostering more discussions on policy and regulatory concerns.

Besides the main sessions, what are some additional features or experiences that attendees can look forward to during the conference?

Biologics 2024 offers a wide range of experiences and opportunities for attendees to get stuck into. Throughout the agenda, we feature engaging interactive sessions from panel discussions to roundtables led by industry experts to foster collaboration among event attendees, such as sessions on “Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacturing” and “Advanced High-Throughput Antibody Screening Against Difficult Targets”. On day one, we have put a real emphasis on interaction and c-level discussion so attendees can get a chance to shake hands with leading figures in their field and have a chance to sit and discuss the industry’s progress, including the challenges they expect to face in the future. This year will also include a brand-new initiative of introducing “Innovation & Collaboration” presentations, intending to highlight small and early-stage biotech companies and academic spin-offs who are working on some of the latest advancements in the field and will be the ‘ones to watch’ in years to come.

Besides our interactive programme, we put a strong emphasis on networking and collaboration at our events. Attendees can look forward to dedicated networking breaks with plenty of opportunity to strengthen relationships among peers and connect with other experts in their fields. We also facilitate personalised meetings with solution providers onsite so attendees can discuss their research needs and find new ways to address key challenges.

If you had to choose, what specific session are you looking forward to the most?

This is a tough decision for me as I’ve personally worked on all the content for Biologics 2024 and I am very excited to see all of it come together onsite. If I had to pick one that I am most looking forward to, this would be our workshop on “Biologics Developability – Assessment & Novel Strategies” featuring speakers from Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) and Merus (Utrecht, The Netherlands). Assessing developability early on can make or break a biologics pipeline so we’ve put together this workshop to explore ways in which the industry is trying to address this. The session will be looking into developability parameters and emerging workflows and will provide the opportunity for attendees to learn and discuss the challenges they are currently facing in this.

What is the main message you would like attendees to take away from the conference?

The primary message I would like our attendees to take away from this conference is the empowerment to drive transformative changes in their work within biologics drug discovery and development. By providing a platform for the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge, fostering valuable connections, and showcasing innovative technologies and strategies, Oxford Global wants participants to leave with a renewed sense of inspiration, equipped with actionable insights and practical solutions to their research challenges. Our goal is for attendees to feel not only informed about the latest advancements but also motivated and empowered to apply these insights in their work, ultimately contributing to the advancements of the field and the broader scientific community.