ASGCT Annual Meeting
  • Registration
  • Abstracts
    • Submission and Presentation Information
    • Award Recipients
    • Abstract Topic Categories
    • Awards and Incentives
  • Program
    • Pre-Meeting Workshops: May 10, 2021
    • May 11, 2021
    • May 12, 2021
    • May 13, 2021
    • May 14, 2021
    • Plenary Speakers
  • Sponsor and Exhibit
    • Current Sponsors
    • Pre-Show Exhibitor Listing
  • Contact Us
  • www.asgct.org
Quick Links
  • ASGCT.org

Connect with us

ASGCT Annual Meeting

  • Registration
  • Abstracts
    • Submission and Presentation Information
    • Award Recipients
    • Abstract Topic Categories
    • Awards and Incentives
  • Program
    • Pre-Meeting Workshops: May 10, 2021
    • May 11, 2021
    • May 12, 2021
    • May 13, 2021
    • May 14, 2021
    • Plenary Speakers
  • Sponsor and Exhibit
    • Current Sponsors
    • Pre-Show Exhibitor Listing
  • Contact Us
  • www.asgct.org
×

Plenary Speakers

George Stamatoyannopoulos Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D.—Director of the Center for Cell Engineering; Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

ASGCT is honored to welcome Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D. – director of the Center for Cell Engineering and the incumbent of the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – as the George Stamatoyannopoulos Memorial lecturer Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

Sadelain’s research focuses on the mechanisms governing transgene expression, stem cell engineering, and genetic strategies to enhance immunity against cancer. His laboratory has made several seminal contributions to the field of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), from their conceptualization and optimization to their clinical translation for cancer immunotherapy. His group was the first to publish dramatic molecular remissions in patients with chemorefractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia following treatment with autologous CD19-targeted T cells.

Sadelain is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Inserm International Prize, the Jacob and Louise Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine, the Cancer Research Institute’s Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Tumor Immunology, the Sultan Bin Khalifa International Award for Innovative Medical Research on Thalassemia, the NYPLA Inventor of the Year award, the Passano award and the Pasteur-Weizmann award. He previously served on the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee and as President of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy.

Presidential Symposium
Thursday, May 13, 2021

Robert L. Martuza, M.D.—William and Elizabeth Sweet Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School; Chief Emeritus, Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital

ASGCT proudly announces Robert Martuza, M.D. as presenter of the Presidential Symposium on Thursday, May 13, 2021. Martuza is the William and Elizabeth Sweet Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, and Chief Emeritus of Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Dr. Martuza spent 12 productive years on the neurosurgical staff at MGH, where he was instrumental in starting the Neurofibromatosis Clinic and the Brain Tumor Center. Along with Jim Gusella and colleagues Bernd Seizinger and Guy Rouleau, he helped to define the different forms of the neurofibromatoses. Dr. Martuza noted the association between the multiple meningiomas and acoustic neuromas in NF2 relative to the unilateral isolated acoustic neuroma in the general population. In a paper in Nature in 1986, they demonstrated that the gene for acoustic neuroma was on chromosome 22. This was the first demonstration of the DNA localization of any gene as the cause of a brain tumor. The next year in a paper in Science, they went on to demonstrate a common pathogenetic mechanism for three tumor types in what is now know as type 2 neurofibomatosis (or NF2). In that same year in a PNAS paper, they demonstrated that this same genetic abnormality also was responsible for meningioma development and in another Nature paper that this gene was the cause of the syndrome of NF2 itself.

At this point, Dr. Martuza began to explore the possibility that these molecular techniques might be used not only for understanding the biology of these tumors but also for therapy. He took an in-house sabbatical and worked in the lab full time, and then with Don Coen and Jim Markert published a paper in 1991 in Science describing for the first time a new concept of a genetically-engineered selectively replicating virus for cancer therapy. These are now known as oncolytic viruses. They are designed to selectively replicate within and kill cancer cells while not harming normal tissue. This class of novel therapeutic agents has entered multiple advanced clinical cancer trials, spawned several companies, and has led to a large and developing field with multiple laboratories worldwide studying oncolytic viruses of various types for cancer therapy.   

In 1991, Dr. Martuza became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine. In 2000, he returned to Boston as Chief of the Neurosurgical Service at MGH, Director of the MGH Brain Tumor Center, and the William and Elizabeth Sweet Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. In 2013, he was one of the founders of the Department of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and was appointed as the first Chairman of the HMS Department of Neurosurgery Executive Committee. He has had over 30 years of continual NIH research funding. Dr. Martuza has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and reviews, and he and his colleagues hold 17 patents on much of this technology. He has been a Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and has been the recipient of the Von Recklinghausen's Award from the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation, the NF Inc. Scholar Award, the Grass Award from the Society of Neurological Surgeons, the Bittner Award in brain tumor biology from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Golden Virus Award from the International Oncolytic Virus Conference.  

In 2017, after more than 25 years as a department chair, Dr. Martuza stepped away from administrative and clinical functions. He remains active in the laboratory with continued R01 grant funding and also as a sculptor.

 

Important Dates

Call for Abstracts Opens
November 16, 2020

Registration Opens
December 8, 2020

Call for Abstracts Closes
January 27, 2021

Abstract Notifications Sent
April 5, 2021

Abstract Withdrawal Date
April 12, 2021

Abstracts Released to the Public
April 27, 2021

Early Registration Closes
May 1, 2021

24th ASGCT Annual Meeting
May 11 – 14, 2021

 

ASGCT_Web_Horz_Red-White.png

Office

American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy
20800 Swenson Dr.
Suite 300
Waukesha, WI 53186 USA
Tel: 414.278.1341
Fax: 414.276.3349
Email: info@asgct.org

Quick Links

  • ASGCT 2020 Homepage
  • Registration
  • Abstracts
  • Hotel & Travel
  • Program
  • Exhibitors & Sponsors
  • Media
  • Contact ASGCT

Follow Us

© 2021 American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. All rights reserved.