Event

Seminar: The Wellcome Leap R3 Program: RNA Readiness and Response

Tuesday, November 26, 2024 09:00to10:30
Penfield 740 (Genome) Room 6001, 740 avenue du Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 0G1, CA

Join D2R and the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Institute of Genomic Medicine for this hybrid seminar on Tuesday November 26 at 9am (EST) titled "The Wellcome Leap R3 Program: RNA Readiness and Response".

Guest speaker Duccio Medini, a scientist and pharmaceutical executive, currently serving as R3 Program Director at Wellcome Leap, will talk about the R3 program which aims to increase access to biologics development in non-emergency times and to create economically sustainable, equitably distributed surge capacity in pandemic emergency (20B vaccine doses/month).

Abstract

The Wellcome Leap R3 program, jointly funded with CEPI, aims to increase access to biologics development in non-emergency times and to create economically sustainable, equitably distributed surge capacity in pandemic emergency (20B vaccine doses/month). The R3: RNA Readiness and Response program, took a page from the semiconductor industry transformation in the 1980s, which developed multi-product foundries with standardized processes and design tools that exploded global innovation.

This session will cover R3 advances in (i) manufacturing processes, with potential for 10mg to 1kg of RNA-based product, or up to 100 products, per day, in a 35 m2 footprint; (ii) vaccines and therapeutic products that target >30X dose-reduction and >100X cost-reduction compared to state-of-the-art; (iii) in-silico design tools that enable >5X dose-reduction and manufacturability verification with >90% accuracy, for a democratized access to the RNA Ecosystem.

Agenda

9:00

Welcome
by Vincent Mooser, Professor, Department of Human Genetics, McGill University

9:05

The Wellcome Leap R3 Program: RNA Readiness and Response
by Duccio Medini, R3 Program Director at Wellcome Leap

10:05 Q&A

About the speaker

Duccio Medini is a scientist and pharmaceutical executive, currently serving as R3 Program Director at Wellcome Leap, a global ARPA for Health, and as Strategic Data Science Director at Toscana Life Sciences Foundation, Siena (Italy).

He leads the $60M “R3: RNA Readiness and Response” program, co-funded by CEPI, to develop standardized, multi-product RNA manufacturing capabilities providing increased access to diverse biologics and sustainable pandemic response.

In executive roles of growing responsibility at Chiron, Novartis and GSK corporations, he led hundreds of data scientists in Vaccines R&D and AI across Europe, US and Asia, holding Research Board, Innovation Board, Clinical Quality Board and Data Governance Board responsibilities.

Working across biological discovery, clinical development and public health, he discovered the pangenome concept co-founding the pangenomics discipline, contributed to the successful registration of four novel vaccines, including the first universal vaccine against serogroup B meningitis, led the Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (MATS) platform worldwide, developed transformative corporate data strategies, authored 60+ publications, books and patents in data science for health, population genomics and mathematical vaccinology.

Prof. Medini received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Perugia, Italy, with a residency at the Northeastern University in Boston, MA; is habilitated Full Professor of Molecular Biology; has served in international PhD school committees at the Perugia and Turin Universities in Italy; is honorary member of the Cuban Immunology Society, Fellow of the ISI Foundation, Board member of the WHO mRNA Hub program and CINI’s Italian National Digital Health Lab; an IMD, ADVAC and UC Berkley alumnus.

Reserve Your Spot Now!

RSVP by Monday November 25:

Want to attend in-person? Reserve your spot by emailing D2R.comms [at] mcgill.ca

Confirmation emails will be provided to registered participants. 

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