Meetings and Presentations
Upcoming Meetings
2024
Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at 4th TPD Europe Summit: TPD for Anti-Infective Drug Development March 19-21, 2024, London. Dr. Butt will speak on the topic of “ Molecular Glues, Better Options than PROTACs, Parkin Ligase, Parkinson’s Disease and Beyond”.
Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at CHI Drug Discovery Chemistry, April 1-4, 2024, San Diego, CA. Dr. Butt will speak about Progenra’s efforts in developing novel molecular glues to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at the Sixth Edition of Pharma R&D Conference in Boston, MA, during February 26-28, 2024. Dr. Butt will speak on the topic of “ Molecular Glues vs PROTACs, Parkin Ligase, Parkinson’s Disease and Beyond”.
2023
Dr. Kumar Suresh, PhD, Vice President, R&D , Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at The Oxford Global Discovery US Meeting 1-2 November, 2023, Boston, MA. Dr. Suresh will speak on the topic of targeted degradation of proteins using molecular glues and PROTACs.
Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to attend the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s 15th Annual PD Therapeutics Conference scheduled to be held on October 19, 2023, in New York.
Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at 3rd TPD Europe Summit: TPD for Anti-Infective Drug Development March 28, 2023, London. Dr. Butt will speak on the topic of “ Targeted degradation of SARS-CoV-2 proteases for antiviral therapy”.
Dr. Kumar Suresh, PhD, Vice President, R&D , Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at The 3rd Ligase Targeting Drug Development Summit 11-13 April, 2023, Boston, MA Dr. Suresh will speak on the topic of harnessing membrane E3 ligase for targeted degradation of membrane proteins.
Dr. Kumar Suresh, PhD, Vice President, R&D , Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at the 4th Annual Protein Degradation & Targeting Undruggables Congress, March 15 – 16, 2023 Ι Boston, MA. Dr. Suresh will speak on the topic of “Harnessing E3 ligase proximity for targeted protein degradation”.
Past Meetings
2022
Dr. Suresh Kumar, Vice President of R&D, Progenra Inc. is invited to speak at Induced Proximity Targeting Undruggables organized by Kisaco Research, on March 8-9, 2022, Boston USA Dr. Tauseef Butt, PhD, President & CEO, Progenra, Inc. is invited to speak at Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Inaugural Chemical Space bRo5 conference 21 April 2022, San Diego, CA to discuss the future of K-RAS inhibitors and opportunities for PROTAC therapy. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President and CEO, Progenra Inc. is invited to speak at Drug Discovery Nexus, East Coast, Philadelphia PA. 21-22 April, 2022 on the topic of PROTAC Drugs. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President and CEO, Progenra Inc. is invited to speak at 9th Drug Discovery Strategic Summit, 11-12 May 2022, Boston USA on the topic of PROTAC Drugs. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President and CEO, Progenra Inc. is invited to speak at Drug Discovery Innovation Program, Boston MA, 17-18 May 2022. Dr. Butt will be the keynote speaker and will share innovation in “PROTAC Drugs and Paradigm Shift on Undruggable Targets.” Dr. Tauseef R Butt, Progenra CEO is invited to speak at Drug Discovery Chemistry Conference, organized by Cambridge Healthtech Innovation Institute, in San Diego, USA, 18-21 May 2022. The topic of his lecture will be “Future of K-RAS Inhibitors and Opportunities for PROTAC Therapy.” Dr. Suresh Kumar, Vice President of R&D, Progenra Inc. was an invited panelist at the digital event TPD: Emerging Disease Applications Beyond Oncology , on February 9, 2022. This event is being organized by Hansonwade.
2021
Dr. Tauseef R Butt was invited to speak at 3rd Meridian Drug Discovery Conference November 18-19, 2021 (Virtual Event). He spoke on PROTAC Drugs, a Paradigm Shift in Novel Drug Discovery: Dr. Suresh Kumar of Progenra was invited to speak at Ligase Targeting Drug Development Summit, organized by Hansonwade 25-27 May 2021, Boston USA. He spoke on the topic of Rapid PROTAC Development for Undruggable Targets: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, invited to participate in the8th Drug Discovery Strategic Summit, Nov 4-5, 2021, in Amsterdam, sponsored by the Agile Falcon (AF) Strategic Group. The 2-day meeting covered advances in current and emerging technologies and challenges that include opportunities and challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, target validation strategies for discovery and development, novel drug designing approaches, AI, and ML. Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the Protein Degradation Barcelona Summit, hybrid, Oct, 28-29, 2021, in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Butt’s presentation, ” Targeting membrane proteins with novel PROTAC drugs,” described a novel E3 ligase that can be utilized by appropriately designed PROTACs to degrade membrane receptors: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the Hanson Wade facilitated digital event, “RAS Targeted Drug Development Summit 2021“, Sep 21-23, 2021. Dr. Butt’s talk, entitled “PROTAC-mediated degradation of RAS,” focused on RAS PROTACs that employ novel ubiquitin ligases and degrade various RAS proteins. Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the 4th Targeted Protein Degradation Summit, a virtual event sponsored by Hanson Wade, Oct 26-29, 2021: Dr. Suresh Kumar spoke at the 4th Targeted Protein Degradation Summit, a virtual event sponsored by Hanson Wade, Oct 26-29, 2021: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the Hanson Wade facilitated digital event, “RAS Targeted Drug Development Summit 2021“, Sep 21-23, 2021. Dr. Butt’s talk, entitled “PROTAC-mediated degradation of RAS,” focused on RAS PROTACs that employ novel ubiquitin ligases and degrade various RAS proteins: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the Oxford Global-facilitated Virtual Symposium: Targeted Protein Degradation & PROTAC, 16 – 17 February 2021. Dr. Butt’s talk, entitled “Would vaccines overcome the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? Need for small molecule therapeutics,” focused on PROTAC drug development in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, participated in the 2nd Meridian Discovery event, held May 6-7, 2021, from Boston, MA. Dr. Butt’s talk, entitled “ PROTAC Drugs, a Paradigm Shift in Novel Drug Discovery,” focused on new methodologies for PROTAC drug discovery: Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, was invited to speak at the CHI virtual event entitled “(Fourth Annual) Ubiquitin-Induced Targeted Protein Degradation – Optimizing PROTACs and Small Molecule Protein Degraders for Pursuing Undruggable Targets “, May 19-21, 2021. Dr. Butt’s talk was entitled “PROTAC drugs: Therapeutics, and not vaccines, will overcome the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.” Dr. Suresh Kumar, Progenra Drug Discovery Head, participated as a speaker at the Hanson Wade digital event entitled “Ligase Targeting Drug Development”, May 25-27, 2021. Dr. Kumar presented a talk entitled “Rapid PROTAC development for undruggable targets.” Dr. Suresh Kumar, Progenra Drug Discovery Head, participated in the Keystone virtual Symposium “Targeted Protein Degradation: From Small Molecules to Complex Organelles”, June 7-8, 2021.The title of Dr. Kumar’s poster presentation was “Targeted degradation of SARS-CoV-2 proteases for antiviral therapy.”
2020
Dr. Kumar Suresh, Progenra Senior Director R&D, gives invited presentation at the 3rd Annual Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) Summit, October 13-15, 2020 Boston USA. He spoke on “Rapid PROTAC Development for Undruggable Targets” Dr. Kumar Suresh, Progenra Senior Director R&D, spoke at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 2nd Annual PROTACs and Targeted Protein Degradation September 17-18, 2020 , Boston, USA. His talk was entitled “Expanding the Chemical Space of PROTACs with Novel E3 Ligase Ligands” Dr. Tauseef R Butt, Progenra CEO, gave a presentation at the 2nd RAS- Targeted Drug discovery Summit, September 14-16, 2020, Boston USA, He spoke on “PROTAC Mediated Degradation of K-RAS” Dr. Tauseef R Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 3rd Annual Ubiquitin-Induced Targeted Protein Degradation , Aug 24-28, 2020 San Diego. The title of his talk was “So Many Ubiquitin Ligases and So Few PROTACs: Carving a New Path with Novel Ligases” Dr. Tauseef R Butt, Progenra CEO, presented at Oxford Global, Immuno Series UK:Virtual meeting , Aug 24-25, 2020, London, UK. His topic was “Ubiquitin Proteasome System, A Double Edge Sword: How to Sharpen the Edge against Autoimmunity” Progenra presented at the 21st Annual Drug Discovery Summit and 8th Annual Drug Design and Medicinal Chemistry Congress, 26 – 27 May 2020, Berlin, Germany. Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra CEO, presented at the Autoimmunity & Immunology Congress, 21-22 May 2020, London UK. This conference featured sessions on immuno-oncology and autoimmunity/immunology, enabling attendees to share their insights and results and gain the latest information on these areas of immunology from the leading immunotherapy experts. Dr. Butt spoke on the Autoimmunity and Immunology session on “Ubiquitin Proteasome System, A Double Edge Sword: How to Sharpen the Edge against Autoimmunity” Dr. Tauseef Butt, Progenra President and CEO, spoke at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 3rd Annual Drug Discovery Chemistry Conference: Ubiquitin-Induced Targeted Protein Degradation Optimizing PROTAC®s and Small Molecule Degraders for Pursuing Undruggable Targets, April 14-15, 2020. San Diego, CA. Dr. Tauseef R Butt, Progenra CEO, spoke at the PROTACs and Beyond Conference in London, on March 8-9th. The field of PROTACs is rapidly increasing, and Progenra’s novel PROTACs program was highlighted by its CEO, Dr. Tauseef Butt, speaking on “How to Exploit the Ubiquitin Signal for PROTACs that Go Beyond Degradation”
2019
Progenra participates in Neurodegenerative Drug Discovery Europe Conference in Paris: May 21-22, 2019. Multiple clinical failures of experimental neurodegenerative disease therapies have pointed to a critical need for discussion and debate among neurodegenerative drug developers to drive clinical success. Progenra CEO Dr. Tauseef Butt spoke at the Neurodegenerative Drug Discovery Europe Conference about recent advancements in biomarker identification as a key step in the drug discovery process for neurodegenerative disease. Progenra participates in the 8th Drug Discovery Innovation Programme in Boston: May 21-22, 2019.The Conference serves as a platform for industry thought leaders and researchers to create an environment for collaboration and exchanging ideas to accelerate discovery projects. The CEO of Progenra, Dr. Tauseef Butt, presented an invited lecture on his company’s drug discovery efforts at this meeting. The International BIO Convention in Philadelphia: June 3-6, 2019. More than 18,000 attendees from companies in 67 countries met to “celebrate the global importance of innovation in biotech.” Progenra was represented by CEO Dr. Tauseef Butt, who met with collaborators and future partners and shared the latest information about the latest technological innovations and ideas in drug discovery. Progenra has speaking slot at the international meeting “Targeting the Ubiquitin Proteasome Pathway II Conference” in London: June 11-13, 2019. Malfunction of the UPP has been implicated in the development of diseases such as cancer, immune disorders and neurodegeneration. The ability to understand and manipulate the UPP is a major objective in being able to manage disease biology. While the validity of this approach was first exemplified by the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, approved by the FDA in 2003 and used in the treatment of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma, subsequent advances in understanding the role of different components in the UPP have allowed the development of other high quality chemical probes and inhibitors. Progenra President Tauseef Butt spoke at this international meeting on recent PROTAC discoveries with important clinical implications. Progenra presents at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Annual Discovery on Target in Boston: September 16-19, 2019. CHI’s conference on PROTACs and Targeted Protein Degradation brought together a diverse group of chemists and biologists to discuss the prospects as well as the challenges underlying strategies for targeted protein degradation. This was preceded by a conference that discussed emerging ubiquitin and autophagy targets for therapeutic intervention. Progenra’s President, Tauseef Butt, served as leader of a discussion entitled “New Ubiquitin Ligases and Novel PROTAC Approaches.” In addition, Progenra Senior Director Dr. Suresh Kumar presented new discoveries in the “Emerging Ubiquitin and Autophagy Targets” track. Targeted Protein Degradation Conference in Boston: October 22-24, 2019. The 2nd TPD Summit 2019 focused on protein degradation-based drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular, on ‘optimizing target validation, improving medicinal chemistry and rational design, and ultimately accelerating the translation of selective, bioavailable and effective protein degraders into clinical trials.” Progenra’s novel PROTACs were presented by President Tauseef Butt and Head of Drug Discovery Dr. Suresh Kumar at this conference. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 14th Annual Discovery Chemistry Meeting April 8-12, 2019. San Diego, CA. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 14th Annual Drug Discovery Chemistry featured Progenra CEO Dr. Tauseef Butt’s talk on “Dual role of USP7 inhibitors in treatment malignant diseases”. He shared data showing that Progenra’s active site targeted covalent USP7 inhibitors possess unique dual properties. Antitumor activity by directly targeting tumor growth and suppressing the Treg function to unleash Teffector anti-tumor responses. More recently several selective and potent reversible USP7 inhibitors have been reported by other pharma companies. However, these molecules have poor therapeutic efficacy in xenograft studies. The emerging picture expands the role of USP7 as a multifactorial therapeutic target and supports continued development of small molecule USP7 inhibitors for cancer treatment. However, the chemical nature of distinct USP7 inhibitors and their in vivo activities warrant consideration of redundancies associated with deubiquitylase system. Ultimately, USP7 inhibitors that are therapeutically efficacious can be combined with other cancer immunotherapy agents to achieve maximum efficacy.
2018
Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Annual Discovery on Target: September 25-28, 2018. Boston, MA. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Annual Discovery on Target conference brings together discovery chemists and biologists to talk about new intracellular oncology targets and immuno-modulatory small molecule inhibitors that are being developed to act alone or in combination with existing treatments. The ubiquitin proteasome system is an essential and highly regulated mechanism controlling cellular protein degradation and turnover. Advances in the understanding of this pathway have made it one of the most exciting arenas for discovering novel medicines. Modulators of DUBs and E3 Ligases as well as latter generation proteasome inhibitors are poised to enter clinical development for treatment of cancer. Progenra President Dr. Tauseef Butt and Senior Director Suresh Kumar spoke at this meeting in sessions entitled “Targeting the Ubiquitin Proteasome System” and “Small Molecules for Cancer Immunotherapy” respectively
2017
Bio International Convention 2017 June 18-22, 2017. San Diego, CA. Progenra hosted an Immune Oncology Session at the Bio International Convention, San Diego June 18-22, 2017. Progenra President, Dr. Tauseef Butt, organized and was a participant of a panel discussion entitled “Immune Oncology Drugs: Ready for First Line Therapy?” This panel, which was comprised of leaders of immune oncology from the pharmaceutical industry and academic medicine, addressed whether the new immune oncology drugs will, as currently predicted in many quarters of both the scientific/medical and investment communities, supplant tumoricidal drugs and radiation as first line therapies in many cancers. Other topics considered were: the affordability of immune oncology treatments; the existence and utility of biomarkers to identify treatable patients and monitor therapy; the utility of combination protocols involving other immune oncology drugs or traditional anticancer drugs to achieve maximum efficacy; and ways to manage immune side effects resulting from immune therapy of cancer. 10th Annual Meeting — Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Research Association (CMTRA) July 16-20, 2017. Burlington, VT. Progenra President, Dr. Tauseef Butt, was an invited speaker at this year’s CMTRA Conference (Tenth Meeting) in Burlington, Vermont. The purpose of this meeting was to provide a highly interactive forum for the presentation and discussion of novel drugs, drug targets and the preclinical and clinical development of novel cancer therapeutics. Its goal is to provide annual meetings with scientific presentations at the cutting edge of translational science complemented by extensive discussion. The meetings foster full and unhampered discussion of new scientific concepts and data under a policy that prohibits publication of the proceedings, photography or tape recordings of the sessions. The title of Dr. Butt’s talk was “Small Molecules as Frontline Therapy for Immune Oncology: Experience from Ubiquitin Pathway Targets.” 18th Annual Drug Discovery Leaders’ Summit June 12-13, 2017. Berlin, Germany. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President and CEO of Progenra, delivered the Keynote Address at the 18th Annual Drug Discovery Leaders’ Summit in conjunction with the Discovery Chemistry and Drug Design Congress. The title of Dr. Butt’s address was “Small Molecule Immune Oncology Drugs from Ubiquitin Pathway Targets.” The success of biologic immune oncology agents is impressive, but it has been limited by the small percentage of patients typically responding within a given tumor type and, in some cases, by severe autoimmune side effects. Progenra is developing small molecules that are tunable for side-effects and exert both direct tumoricidal and immunostimulatory mechanisms of action; such molecules have the potential to replace costly biologicals. Dr. Butt will discuss mechanistic evidence that supports the targeting of ubiquitin pathway enzymes known to be: 1) critical to the ability of tumors to evade detection and killing by the patient’s immune system; and 2) essential for growth and survival of tumor cells. Dual targeting of cancer by a small molecule is a novel strategy that offers advantages of cost savings, delivery, and management of side effects in a patient population. Second Annual Cancer Immunotherapy and Combinations meeting June 13-14, 2017. Boston, MA. This meeting, organized by the Cambridge Healthtech Institute, is part of the World Preclinical Congress and brought together immuno-oncology researchers, cancer immunotherapy developers, and technology providers to discuss next-generation approaches and combinations. The 16th annual World Preclinical Congress focused on the latest trends and technologies impacting preclinical drug discovery and development and featured interactions among chemists, biologists, pharmacologists and translational scientists in industry and academia. Included in the program were short courses, symposia, training seminars, and conferences. Dr. Suresh Kumar, Senior Director and head of drug discovery at Progenra, presented an invited lecture on “Covalent Irreversible USP7 Inhibitors for Cancer Immunotherapy.” Dr. Kumar gave an update on Progenra’s small molecule anticancer immune modulators that inhibit the cancer regulating ubiquitin pathway target USP7. Small Molecules for Cancer Immunotherapy April 27, 2017. San Diego, CA. Progenra was invited to speak at Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Small Molecules for Cancer Immunotherapy symposium as part of the Twelfth Annual Drug Discovery Chemistry event. Recent data from biologicals suggest that immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g., Keytruda, Opdivo and others) that block immune evasion by the tumor have had remarkable success in the clinic. A key question is whether the new IO drugs will, as predicted, supplant tumoricidal drugs and radiation as first line therapies for most cancers. Progenra believes that developing a small molecule that both unleashes anti-tumor immune responses and exerts direct tumorcidal effects is a novel, efficient and cost-effective strategy. The company’s presentation described a de-ubiquitylase (USP7) and ubiquitin ligases that promote tumor evasion by producing tolerance in the host immune system. Small molecule inhibitors that target these enzymes will exert dual effects, both tumoricidal and immunostimulatory, as described above. We believe that small molecules with these dual properties can replace biologicals as frontline therapies for cancer. American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition April 2-6, 2017. San Francisco, CA. Dr. Jian Wu, Associate Director at Progenra, presented a talk entitled “Targeting ubiquitin pathway enzymes for cancer immunotherapy” at the medicinal chemistry section of this meeting. The ACS National Meeting brings together more than 10,000 professionals to present and discuss recent publications as well as technological advancements. The spring conference will highlight Advanced Materials, Technologies, Systems and Processes. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). April 1 – 5, 2017, Washington, D.C. Drs. Tauseef Butt (President), Suresh Kumar (Senior Director), and Jack Wang (Assistant Director) represented Progenra’s Oncology franchise at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the AACR, the largest cancer research organization in the world, with international participation. Dr. Kumar presented a poster entitled “USP7 inhibitors impair Foxp3+ T-regulatory cell function and promote anti-tumor immunity against solid tumors,” and Dr. Wang presented a poster entitled “Characterization of selective covalent inhibitors of USP7.” Both presentations provided an update of Progenra’s development of inhibitors of the oncogenic deubiquitylating enzyme USP7 as novel experimental therapeutics that can eradicate cancers by employing both direct tumoricidal and immunostimulatory mechanisms. BIO CEO Conference Feb 12-14, 2017, New York.Progenra shared its new class of drugs targeting the ubiquitin pathway protease USP7 at the BIO CEO Conference, held in New York. The meeting provided information about the small molecule therapy that competes with biologicals such as IO drugs from Merck (Ketruda) and BMS (Opdivo). Progenra believes that the future oncology portfolio will include small molecules that have the ability to suppress tumors as well as unleash anti-tumor immune responses. Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS). Feb 4 – 8, 2017, Washington, D.C. SLAS 2017 is the annual International Conference and Exhibition from SLAS. This annual meeting featured educational presentations on high throughput screening, robotics, and assay development, as well as access to innovative technologies. Progenra was represented at the meeting by screening scientist Ivan Sokirniy, who presented a poster entitled “Discovery and development of inhibitors targeting protein-protein interactions in the ubiquitin signaling system.” GTCBio ImmunoTX Summit February 6-7, 2017. San Diego, CA. Dr. Suresh Kumar, Senior Director and Head of Drug Discovery, spoke on Progenra’s small molecule immunotherapy program targeting the ubiquitin pathway protease USP7 at GTCBio’s ImmunoTX Summit. The Summit invited scientists from both industry and academia to discuss novel findings in three general topic areas: Cytokines & Inflammation, Immunotherapeutics & Immunomonitoring, and Immunogenicity & Immunotoxicity. JP Morgan Healthcare Conference January 9-13, 2017, San Francisco, CA. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President of Progenra Inc., attended the 2017 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco in January. Dr. Butt presented to various investors and potential partners the company’s therapeutic portfolio focusing on 1) novel small molecules from the ubiquitin proteasome pathway that have activity in immune-oncology and other cancer models and 2) the company’s programs in inflammation and neurodegenerative disease. This conference is the industry’s oldest and largest gathering of healthcare and biotech companies and investors, attracting approximately one thousand small and large biotech and pharma companies.
2016
American Society for Cell Biology 2016 December 3-7, 2016 San Francisco, CA This conference brought together innovators in the field of Cell Biology to discuss the latest technologies, and, for the first time, featured a full-day symposium on “Cell Biology of Cancer”. Dr. Jack Wang, Senior Biologist at Progenra, participated in the Cell Death and Genome Instability Minisymposium, speaking on “Covalent irreversible inhibitors of USP7 as small molecule cancer immunotherapy agents.” CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Intl Cancer Immunotherapy. September 25-28, 2016 New York, NY. With the heightened interest in cancer immunotherapy and the proliferation of scientific meetings in the field, the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), the Association for Cancer lmmunotherapy (CIMT), the European Academy of Tumor Immunology (EATI), and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) sponsored this Second International Cancer lmmunotherapy Conference. The program focused on “Translating Science into Survival,” and featured talks from more than 60 leaders in the field covering all areas of inquiry in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, including: antigens and vaccines, emerging technologies, mechanistic merging of treatment modalities, microbiota, new agents and their mode of action, new checkpoints, non-checkpoint immunotherapies, and the tumor microenvironment. Speaking at this meeting for Progenra was Dr. Suresh Kumar, Senior Director and Head of Drug Discovery; the title of his talk was “Small molecule Cbl-b inhibitors as novel intracellular checkpoint inhibitors for cancer immunotherapy.” CHI Conference: Targeting the Ubiquitin Proteasome System. September 20-21, 2016 Boston, MA. This conference covered areas such as Novel Roles of Ubiquitin Chains and Modifications, Elucidation and Characterization of Cellular Functions/Regulatory Mechanisms, Deregulation of Ubiquitin Ligases and DUBs in Human Cancers, Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Inflammation, Technological Advances for Interrogating the Ubiquitin Proteasome System, Identification of Novel Probes (di‐Ub) and Inhibitors, and Chemoproteomics for Mechanism of Action in Cells. Dr. Tauseef Butt, President of Progenra, spoke at this conference on the topic “The Ubiquitin Pathway: a New Frontier in Cancer Immunotherapy.” GTC Modern Drug Discovery and Development Summit. September 12-15, 2016 Boston, MA. This conference brought together a balance of industry and academia, affording delegates the unique opportunity to interact with colleagues from different sectors and thereby expand their perspective on the various research and current developments in the field. The Summit featured four conferences that covered current topics in drug discovery. Progenra’s President, Dr Tauseef Butt, spoke at this summit on the topic “New Chemical Approaches for Cancer Immunotherapy, Targeting Ubiquitin Pathway Enzymes.” 252nd American Chemical Society National Meeting August 21-25, 2016 Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Jian Wu, Associate Director, and Dr. Hui Wang, Senior Scientist, attended for Progenra. This meeting featured speakers engaged in innovative research in chemistry and was aimed at promoting groundbreaking discovery and public understanding of the world’s mounting challenges and how chemistry can provide solutions. Second International Conference on Clinical Science and Drug Design. July 27-29, 2016 Dundee, Scotland UK. The focus of this conference was the translation of academic research findings into industry-driven drug development. Sessions featured invited speakers from industry and academia and oral and poster presentations from submitted abstracts. Progenra’s President, Dr. Tauseef Butt, presented a talk summarizing the company’s immune-oncology program, which is designed to develop novel cancer treatments by modulating the native immune response to neoplastic disease. CHI Meeting on Cancer Immunotherapy and Combinations — Exploring a New Generation of Immunomodulatory Agents and Combinations. June 15-16, 2016 Boston, MA. At this meeting, Dr. Suresh Kumar, Senior Director and Head of Drug Discovery at Progenra Inc., presented a talk entitled Potent and Selective Small Molecule USP7 Inhibitors for Cancer Immunotherapy in the session “Small Molecule Inhibitors as Single and Checkpoint Combination Agents.” Dr. Kumar gave an update on Progenra’s preclinical ubiquitin protease inhibitors currently being developed as single or combinatorial immunotherapy agents for cancer. BIO International Convention.June 6th-9th, 2016 San Francisco, CA. Progenra was represented by Business Development at the BIO International Convention to discuss the company’s progress and to explore collaborative opportunities in drug discovery. CSHL Meeting on Protein Homeostasis in Health and Disease. April 18-22, 2016 Cold Spring Harbor, NY. This meeting, which marked the 25th anniversary of the first Cold Spring Harbor meeting in 1991 related to heat shock and the role of molecular chaperones, featured the latest research in this area with several keynote talks by leading investigators in the field. Ivan Sokirniy attended this meeting from Progenra and presented results of work on E3 ligases and mutant CFTR in the context of cystic fibrosis, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Alabama/Birmingham, and Emory University. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting April 16th-20th, 2016 New Orleans, LA. Updates to Progenra’s characterization of its preclinical inhibitors of deubiquitylase USP7 and E3 ligase Cbl-b were presented in posters by discovery scientists Drs. Suresh Kumar and Christopher Riling, who attended this meeting. These small molecules show promise as immuno-oncology antitumor agents either singly or in combination with approved biological immune checkpoint inhibitors such as Yervoy, Keytruda, Opdivo, and others. Progenra is currently working to identify clinical candidate inhibitors of these novel immune-oncology targets 251st American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition. March 13-17, 2016, San Diego, CA. The 2016 ACS Meeting in San Diego offered scientific professionals a platform to present, publish, discuss and exhibit the most exciting research discoveries and technologies in chemistry and its related disciplines and provided companies with an opportunity to exhibit products and services to a targeted audience. Jian Wu and Charles Grove attended this meeting from Progenra; Dr. Wu gave a talk entitled “Selective deubiquitylase inhibitors for cancer immunotherapy”, in which he discussed preclinical activities of some of Progenra’s ubiquitin protease inhibitors in cellular and in vivo immuno-oncology models. JP Morgan 34th Annual Healthcare Conference January 12th-15th, 2016 San Francisco, CA. Progenra President Tauseef Butt attended this conference and met with companies and investors interested in Progenra’s business model and platform.
2015
BIO International Convention June 15th-18th, 2015 Philadelphia, PA. Progenra was represented by Business Development and scientific staff at this annual meeting to present and discuss its progress and collaborative opportunities in drug discovery. American Association for Cancer Research April 18th-22nd, 2015 Philadelphia, PA. Progenra scientists attended this conference to contribute to the discussions and met with current and prospective partners. American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology March 28th – April 1st, 2015 Boston, MA. Progenra scientists presented on-going drug discovery efforts related with the ubiquitin pathway in cancer immunotherapy. Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening February 7th-11th, 2015 Washington DC. Progenra scientists attended this conference to contribute to the discussions. PROTAC® is a registered trademark of Arvinas Operations, Inc., and is used under license.