PRiME 7th Annual Symposium — Instruments of Change
B150 Lecture Hall & Atrium, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 144 College St, Toronto
The PRiME 7th Annual Symposium, themed "Instruments of Change: Powering the Next Leap Forward," brought together basic-science researchers, clinician-scientists, industry pioneers, investors, and policymakers to explore advances in precision medicine spanning AI, gene editing, drug screening, and diagnostics. The full-day event featured three keynotes, four thematic sessions, a five-person industry panel, lightning talks by 2025 PRiME Fellows, and a networking reception — welcoming nearly 200 attendees from around the world.
Morning Session I (Foundations of Precision Medicine — Drug Screening & Computational Discovery) opened with a keynote from Berend Snijder (ETH Zürich) on functional precision oncology via the Pharmacoscopy platform. Session speakers included Stephane Angers (U of T) on a trispecific antibody now in Phase 2b/3 trials for retinal vascular disease, and Joseph Brown (U of T / Acceleration Consortium) on machine-learning–driven peptide discovery. Morning Session II (Innovating the Toolkit — Emerging Modalities) featured a keynote from Shana Kelley (Northwestern / Biohub) on tissue-embedded microsensor arrays, with Craig Simmons (U of T) on organ-on-chip blood–brain-barrier models and Andrew Sage (UHN / U of T) on digital twins of human organs.
Afternoon Session I (Enabling Tomorrow's Therapies — Gene Editing Platforms) was led by industry keynote Alberto Nobili (Bayer Co.Lab Cambridge), followed by Cindi Morshead (U of T) on astrocyte-to-neuron reprogramming, Haissi Cui (U of T) on aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase mutations, and Keith Pardee (U of T) on cell-free biomanufacturing. Afternoon Session II featured the panel "Spotlight on innovation: steering next-generation platforms from concept to clinic," moderated by Leah Cowen (VP Research & Innovation, U of T), with panelists from Fable Therapeutics, Danaher, boutIQ Solutions, Bayer, and Amgen.
Five 2025 PRiME Fellows delivered three-minute lightning talks: Maryam Ali (designer protein drugs for breast and ovarian cancer), Ruilin Wu (precision therapies for brain arteriovenous malformations), Sathishkumar Narayanaswamy (nano-linked PROTACs), Yuxi Xiao (biomolecular condensates in cellular stress), and Lily Takeuchi (shear stress in blood–brain-barrier Alzheimer's models). The symposium was supported by Frontier Biotech Ventures, Bayer, Amgen, TIAP, OBIO, and Defy Gravity.