The 2023 Australia-China Science and Innovation Forum focused on leading-edge Australian and Chinese biomedical research collaborations and commercialisation. The forum was held at Monash University’s Suzhou campus in China last week and was also available for online attendance.

The forum’s program was designed to promote connections and enhance collaborations between the Australian and Chinese research and industry communities, focusing on the business aspects of regenerative medicine therapy development and commercialisation. It provided an opportunity for delegates to create a unique and enduring platform for advancing the translation of cutting-edge research and development of healthcare products and technologies to benefit Australia, China, and the rest of the world.

Australian and Chinese life science researchers from industry and academia were able to showcase innovative biomedical discoveries in treating infections, cancer, neurological disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and regenerative medicine.

Cartherics’, Non-Executive Director, Prof. Bryan Williams is a member of the Conference Organising Committee and coordinated the Cancer and Inflammation session. “This session highlighted how advances in our understanding of the underlying causes of cancer and inflammation has identified approaches for the development of therapeutic intervention,” said Prof. Williams.

Dr Roland Shu, Deputy Chief Scientific Officer at Cartherics delivered a well-received presentation titled, ‘Engineering immune cells for cancer therapy’. Dr Shu’s presentation detailed Cartherics’ progress in CAR strategy and gene editing technology used in immune cell engineering. His presentation introduced Cartherics’ “Grab and Punch” dual CAR strategy for more efficient targeting on antigen-low-expressing cancer cells. He also described Cartherics’ use of gene editing technology to achieve high-efficiency gene knock-out in CAR-T cells to enhance anti-tumour activity. His talk introduced Cartherics’ process for generating non-viral CD3 Fusion Protein T cells for cancer therapy, and this manuscript was just accepted by Bioengineering and Translational Medicine Journal this month.

Delegates included participants from industry, including small and large biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies, academia, bio entrepreneurs and investors, and equipment and service providers who were able to engage with leading-edge researchers from Australia and China to advance the translation and commercialisation of tomorrow’s therapies.

This event was supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) acting through the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations (NFACR), the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI), Monash-Suzhou and organised by CCRM Australia.