4th RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics Conference: 15 – 16 September 2026, London

Welcome address: Robin Shattock, Professor at Imperial College London

Keynote: The past, present and future of the nucleoside-modified mRNA technology — Norbert Pardi, Associate Professor at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Session 1: RNA design and optimisation

• A fully synthetic process to enable GMP-compatible scale-out manufacture of personalised mRNA-based therapeutics — Aiswarya Thulasi, 4BaseBio.

• Advancing the field of neoantigen design — Thomas Guyon, Quantoom Biosciences.

• Enzymatic dsRNA removal improves mRNA and saRNA performance and reduces innate immune activation — Mark Livingstone, CELLSCRIPT.

Networking break

Session 2: Formulation design and development

• Engineering polymeric nanocarriers for oral and systemic mRNA delivery — Piotr Kowalski, University College Cork.

• Systematic LNP Screening Identifies Efficient Ex Vivo mRNA Delivery to Primary Murine CD8⁺ T Cells — Paraskevi Tsodoulou, University of Ghent, Imperial College London.

• Refinement of residual solvent in polymeric nanoformulation for mucosal vaccination in a murine influenza model — Asha Patel, Imperial College London.

• Accelerated ageing alters lipid nanoparticle properties and enhances mRNA delivery to immune cells — Joas Sterk, University of Sheffield.

Lunch and networking

Panel discussion

Poster flash session

Networking break

Session 3: RNA process modelling and manufacture (AI and digitisation)

• Monitoring Mg2+ in IVT reaction enhances yield and quality of mRNA — Rok Sekirnik, Sartorius BIA Separations.

• RiboFlux TM: a flow-based, fully automated and GMP compliant manufacturing system for ultra-scalable and on-demand E‑2-E manufacturing of formulated mRNA — Aliene Alting, RiboPro B.V.

• Holistic Model-based Assessment of RNA Platform Manufacturing Economics — Simon Daniel, Imperial College London.

• Mechanistically Informed Reduction of In Vitro Transcription Models for Practical Process Development — Pramuditha Mendis, University of Sheffield.

Keynote: Saranya Sridhar, VP, Head of Global Clinical Development, Vaccines, Sanofi

Drinks reception

Welcome

Keynote: Immunological mechanisms of mRNA vaccines — Karin Loré, Professor at Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

Session 4: RNA and formulation analytics

• Biochemical and biophysical analysis of mRNA multimers: New insights into mRNA structure and function, Mark Dickman, University of Sheffield.

• Solid-State Nanopore Sensing Characterises Topology Of Therapeutic Circular RNA — Raluca-Elena Alexii, University of Cambridge.

• Comprehensive Characterisation of circRNA Therapeutics — Adam Miah, University of Sheffield.

Networking break

Quick fire pitches

Session 5: Therapeutics: preclinical and clinical evaluation

• Design, manufacture and clinical translation of a multivalent haemorrhagic saRNA vaccine — Robin Shattock and Philip Probert, Imperial College London and CPI.

• Pre-clinical development of next generation RNA rotavirus vaccines — Krunal Polra, Imperial College London.

• Improving LNP formulations using 3D tissue cultre models of paediatric brain tumours — Oliver Meeds, University of Nottingham.

• Local pulmonary delivery of extended-stability IL-10 mRNA polyplexes attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung inflammation — Alexander Jenkins, Imperial College London.

Lunch and networking

Session 6: Vaccines: preclinical and clinical evaluation

• Enzymatically Synthesized Linear DNA Templates enabling IVT mRNA Yields, Product Quality, and PolyA Tail Homogeneity — Jaya Selvaraj, 4basebio.

• Boosting LNP performance with promising next generation lipids — Sophie Hammer, Evonik Operations.

• Cesar Lopez-Camacho, University of Oxford.

Networking break

Keynote: William Schief, Vice-President Protein Design, Moderna

Poster prizes

Conference wrap-up, followed by conference close