Description
This year’s symposium centres on RNA technology, highlighting its growing role in advancing human, animal, and environmental health. The programme will showcase how the Platform is building end-to-end capability, from early discovery through to manufacturing and application, and how these efforts are translating into real-world impact.
Talks will include:
- Updates from three flagship projects
- Technology updates across the Platform’s six Pillars
- Highlights from three tactical projects
- A showcase of milestones from the central production facility
Registration is FREE.
Seats for the in-person event are limited, so early registration is essential.Â
Programme
Schedule is still work in progress. We expect the speaker time & talk title will be updated closer to the event.Â
Reception Open
Reception is open to collect name tags
Session 1: Platform update & RNA Payload Design
RNA Platform update and advances in RNA design, optimisation and emerging RNA modalities.
- RNA platform to date (Gary and Kjesten, RNA Platform)
- Payload Pillar (William Kelton, University of Waikato)
- International Guest (Tobias von der Haar, University of Kent/Online)
- Modular design of circRNA (Lydia White, Malaghan Institute)
- RNA optimisation (Paul Gardner, University of Otago)
Gary Evans
co-Director
Kjesten Wiig
co-Director
Tobias von der Haar
Professor
William Kelton
Pillar Lead - Payload Design
Lydia White
PhD student
Paul Gardner
Associate Professor
Session 2: RNA Production & Quality Control
Technologies and analytical approaches for producing and characterising high-quality RNA and RNA-LNP products.
- International guest (Nikolay Shirokikh, University of Western Australia)
- Reflection and Updates from this year - Central Facility (Rebecca McKenzie, Malaghan Institute)
- RNA development team topics (Jochem Vink, Victoria University)
- Analytical Ultra centrifugation for LNP QC (Zac Tillett, University of Canterbury)
- Lysis-free RNA quantification and Encapsulation Efficiency of RNA-LNPs using CloudSpec (Eric Le Ru, Maramar Labs)
Nikolay Shirokikh
Senior Lecturer, School of Human Sciences
Rebecca McKenzie
PIllar leads - QC
Jochem Vink
RNA Development lead
Eric Le Ru
Co-founder and Director
Zac Tillett
Research Associate
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
Session 3: Delivery Technologies
New approaches to RNA delivery, including lipid nanoparticles, extracellular vesicles, formulation technologies and AI-enabled development.
- International guest (Andrew Geall, Replicate /Online)
- Micro-LNPs (Greg Walker, University of Otago)
- Hybrid LNP-EVs and MiRNAs (Kirsty Danielson, University of Otago)
- Load and Go (Sarah Draper, Ferrier Institute)
- AI & LNP update (Alex Gavryushkin, Fold AI)
- Formulation Pillar (Gavin Painter, Ferrier Institute)
Andrew Geall
CDO and Co-Founder
Greg Walker
Associate Professor
Kirsty Danielson
Associate Professor
Sarah Draper
RNA Production lead
Alex Gavryushkin
CEO
Gavin Painer
Pillar Lead - Formulation
Session 4: RNA Vaccines (Flagship projects)
Major RNA vaccine programmes spanning human and animal health.
- Staph Vaccine (Fiona Radcliff/University of Auckland)
- Influenza Pre-pandemic vaccine (Lisa Connor/Malaghan Institute, Wayne Patrick/Victoria University)
- BoViDx: in vitro benchmarking and the shape of the first immunogenicity study (Axel Heiser/BSI)
Fiona Radcliff
Staph Flagship lead
Axel Heiser
BVD Flagship leader
Lisa Connor
Pillar Lead - Preclinical Test, Influenza flagship lead
Wayne Patrick
Professor
Networking Receiption
finger food, drinks and networking.
Reception open
Session 5: Preclinical Development
Preclinical evaluation of RNA technologies, including LNP screening, vaccine immunogenicity and next-generation RNA quality analysis.
- Preclinical Screen of Novel LNPs (Olga Palmer, Malaghan Institute)
- Immunogenicity of circRNA vaccines (Abby Martin, Malaghan Institute)
- Correlates of protection against Staph (Rob Crawford, Malaghan Institute)
- mRNA vaccine immunogenicity in the setting of type I IFN deficiency (Kaitlin Buick, Malaghan Institute/MRC Measles programme)
- Developing a Measles mRNA vaccine (Ellie Torbati, Malaghan Institute/MRC Measles programme)
- Nanopore sequencing approaches to interrogate mRNA vaccine quality (Kyrin Hanning, University of Waikato)
Session 6: RNA Manufacturing & Translation
Moving RNA technologies from research-scale production towards scalable, commercial and GMP manufacturing.
- Accelerating Research Translation of mRNA-based Innovation (Sarah Herridge, BioNtech SE)
- Overview of the Manufacturing Pillar (Rick Witte, South Pacific SERA)
- Global trends in RNA/LNP Manufacturing (William Rolleston, South Pacific SERA)
- Challenges in scale up/GMP (Jeremy Stephen, South Pacific SERA and Steve Toms, GlyoSyn)
Lunch
Session 7: Clinical Translation & Infectious Disease
The pathway from RNA technology development into clinical applications and infectious disease research. Speakers include: Obadiah Plante and Adrian Cookson.
Session 8: The Future of RNA – Emerging Technologies & Global Perspectives
Emerging therapeutic, vaccine and research applications shaping the next generation of RNA technologies.
- Nucleotide and RNA Chemistry at Otago (Nick Green, University of Otago)
- mRNA sensitisation of the immune system in Immune Checkpoint inhibitor therapy (John Fraser/University of Auckland)
- International Speaker (Phill Santangelo, Emori University)
- Fast start project - Self amplifying RNA (Jordan Minnell, Malaghan Institute)
- CAR-T and RNA research (Rachel Perret, Malaghan Institute)
Symposium close
Closing speech
Gary Evans
co-Director
Kjesten Wiig
co-Director
A Special Thanks to Our Sponsors
