Jason Luke, Chief Medical Officer at Strand Therapeutics, shared by Fierce Biotech, on LinkedIn:
“Back from a memorable trip to Shanghai and Suzhou, filled with thoughtful scientific discussions surrounding Strand Therapeutics STX-003 and cancer immunology generally, generous hospitality from friends and colleagues as well as time to explore two remarkable cities.
Thank you to Darren Ji and Hongtao Lu at Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals for hosting, and to fellow advisory board participants Thomas Gajewski, Phil Greenberg, Vijay Kuchroo, and Arlene Sharpe for stimulating conversations about the next generation of cancer IO and autoimmune manipulation.
Karaoke was fun too!
In Shanghai, I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about clinical research capabilities and perspectives on oncology drug development from Steve Yang, Leon ‘Jun’ Tang and Amber Zhang at MERIT CRO with visits to KOLs Dr’s Hongxia Wang at Shanghai Oncology Center, Yi Xiang at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital and Ziming Li at Shanghai Chest Hospital.
A highlight was the Cold Spring Harbor Asia Cancer Immunotherapy meeting in Suzhou.
The program connected fundamental questions about tumor immune escape and treatment resistance with advances in cancer vaccines, cytokines, and cell engineering.
I enjoyed sharing Strand’s work on tumor-selective, self-replicating mRNA IL-12 therapeutics, including clinical experience with STX-001 and first-in-human development of STX-003.
Special thanks to Xuetao Cao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yang-Xin Fu of Tsinghua University (formerly a colleague at UChicago), and Gabrielle Belz of The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute for the scientific exchange and their roles in organizing the meeting.
Between meetings, I took in the views from Shanghai Tower, walked the Bund, and explored Yu Garden and Yuyuan Bazaar.
Suzhou offered another perspective through the Humble Administrator’s Garden, the rock formations of Lion Grove Garden, and the canals and lanterns of Shantang Street.
Thank you as well to the Everest Medicines team with James Lee, Wei Yang, and Remmi Zhao for engaging discussions at their oncology advisory board with Dmitriy Zamarin and Michael Curran.
Lots of activity in the RNA vaccine space right now!
Finally, a personal thank-you to my Pittsburgh friends Joe Shangguan and Shuguang Huang, whose advice helped make the trip so rewarding.
I returned with new ideas, stronger connections, and renewed appreciation for the international scientific community working at Strand Therapeutics to improve outcomes for patients with cancer.”
You can also read: ChemRNA: A New Generation of Simplified RNA Vaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy
