Tag Archives: book-review

The Needle Issue #26

12 May
Juan-Carlos-Lopez
Juan Carlos Lopez		 Andy-Marshall
Andy Marshall

An old adage in drug development states that any successful program for an advanced medicine must overcome three central challenges: first, delivery; second, delivery, and third … delivery! Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology and N-acetyl galactosamine-(GalNAc) conjugates have opened the liver to a wide range of genetic medicines, and transferrin 1 receptor (TfR1) conjugates are beginning to access the CNS via intravenous delivery with brain-shuttle technology. But tissues like the lung, kidney, muscle and heart remain very much a work in progress.

In the pulmonary space, a small cadre of companies are pursuing inhaled LNP delivery technologies. Recode Therapeutics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Arcturus are the main players, while other firms such as 4DMT and Krystal Biotech are focusing on viral gene therapies for lung delivery.

Just a few days ago, one of these LNP programs got the chop. The Vertex/Moderna phase 1/2 study of VX-522, an aerosolized LNP to deliver mRNA encoding full-length cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) to the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, which had been paused due to tolerability issues, is now permanently discontinued. According to reports, the Moderna LNP was the culprit, leading to lung inflammation. That leaves Recode and Arcturus as the frontrunners, a rather small field, given the entire market opportunity for a pulmonary delivery solution. All told, in 2023, there were 569.2 million cases of chronic respiratory diseases and 4.2 million deaths from respiratory disease.

Recode now is enrolling patients into the phase 2 trial of its Selective Organ Targeting (SORT), LNP platform (RCT2100) that delivers an mRNA encoding CFTR in combination with the small-molecule CFTR potentiator ivacaftor (the SORT technology was originally licensed out of Daniel Siegwart’s group at UT Southwestern). The other LNP platform, Arcturus’ LUNAR LNP technology, also has encouraging interim data from its phase 2 trial in cystic fibrosis patients and from its program delivering ornithine transcarbamylase mRNA.

These LNPs (and most other LNP delivery platforms) are built around the same four common components: an amino ionizable lipid, a helper lipid, a polyethylene glycol lipid and cholesterol. The formulations follow this scheme but with different combinations of proprietary lipid forms; thus, in Arcturus’ LUNAR LNP, distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC) performs the helper lipid function, whereas in Recode’s SORT LNP, it is 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE). Overall, however, just a handful of novel lipid components have gone into humans so far.

According to Siegwart, the field is in dire need of developing a broader palette of cationic lipids that are both efficient and non-toxic for the pulmonary epithelium; ultimately, the goal would be a delivery technology capable of targeting specific cell types in the lung (with many new cell subtypes continuing to be identified).

In a recent article in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Siegwart and his group at UT Southwestern introduce the design and evaluation of a new class of lung-targeting (LuT) lipids that enable the highly efficient and selective delivery of mRNA and CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing systems to the lungs.

They synthesized and screened a library of 444 lipids using a combinatorial approach, systematically varying amine head groups and hydrophobic tails. Through in vivo testing and structure–activity relationship analysis, they identified key features in the lipids that most effectively targeted the lung: a distinctive ‘tripod-like’ structure, consisting of a quaternary amine head, three long alkyl chains and a short fourth chain.

Compared to benchmark formulations, the best-performing LuT-containing LNPs achieved up to a 25.5-fold increase in mRNA delivery and a 9.2-fold improvement in gene-editing efficiency, with >90% of delivery localized to the lungs. These LuT-LNPs successfully transfected multiple lung cell types, including endothelial, epithelial and immune cells, with some formulations showing preferences for specific cell populations.

Mechanistically, the improved performance was attributable to two main factors. First, the tripod-like structure of lipids promoted endosomal escape by facilitating membrane fusion and LNP disassembly, allowing efficient release of genetic cargo into cells. Second, LuT LNPs formed distinct protein coronas in the bloodstream, particularly enriching for vitronectin, a protein that enhances targeting to lung cells via receptor-mediated uptake.

Siegwart and his team went on to show the therapeutic potential of LuT LNPs. The lead formulation, 1A7B13, enabled effective delivery of IL-10 mRNA in a mouse model of acute lung injury and achieved robust CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing in lung tissue. The LNPs showed minimal toxicity and no significant adverse effects in vivo.

This research establishes clear design principles for lung-targeting LNPs and markedly expands the available toolkit for pulmonary gene delivery. It is just the beginning of the translational path, however.

The Siegwart LuT-LNPs must home through the vasculature to the lungs after being delivered intravenously. This is very different from the aerosolized LNP delivery approaches of Recode and Arcturus currently in clinical testing. There may be a case to be made that some pulmonary vascular disease, lung endothelial targets, lung fibrosis, immune-cell or vascular-compartment targets might warrant the intravenous route, but aerosolized LNP delivery provides lower systemic exposure (and thus higher therapeutic index), is more patient-friendly, and rapidly/directly reaches the airway lumen.

Regardless of the route of administration, the translational challenges associated with targeting the lung remain very difficult. In terms of testing formulations in different models, anatomical differences between mouse, ferret and human airways, including physiological size and branching complexity, impact LNP design and aerosol physics.The formulations used for mice may simply not work for people because of differences in cell composition, and lung epithelial and endothelial membranes and “surfaceomes”. As humans age and develop disease, cell protein and lipid composition may also change, requiring further optimization of LNP formulations. Mice have more narrow airways and faster breathing rates than humans, requiring smaller diameter aerosol droplets (often <2 µm) to ensure particles bypass the upper respiratory tract and reach the alveolar regions.

Moreover, humans have ~23 branches in their airways, whereas mice have only 13, meaning an aerosol optimized for a ‘deep’ reach in a mouse might only reach mid-level bronchi in a human. Furthermore, ferrets are not a widely available model system to study the biodistribution and efficacy of LNPs. Indeed, there are just a few labs in the United States that upkeep ferret colonies.

Last, a human lung’s surface area (~70 m²) is nearly 8.500 times larger than a mouse’s (~82 cm²), and human tidal volume is roughly 6,000 times greater. This requires significant dose scaling and affects how ‘diluted’ the LNPs become once they deposit.

Designing in vitro and in vivo systems representative of human biology and capable of predicting LNP biodistribution is also a tall order (especially with such a small cadre of companies working on the problem). For small molecules, the measurement of efficacy in human basal epithelium-derived patient cells carrying a mutation of interest by and large will translate into what you see in the clinic. The pharmaceutical industry has amassed a lot of data to bolster pharmacology.

Unfortunately, that correlation doesn’t necessarily hold for genetic modalities like mRNA or CRISPR/Cas9 constructs. For these medicines, it is very hard to figure out PK/PD. And so, the translation from preclinical work to the clinic can be tricky for an inhaled LNP technology delivering mRNA. It is difficult to really know the degree of protein expression from an inhaled LNP genetic medicine intracellularly without doing a bronchial biopsy (which is of course highly intrusive). And if you need to test your LNP in patients via biopsy, clinicians historically have been very resistant to carrying out such procedures, particularly in very sick patients like some of people with cystic fibrosis who carry nonsense mutations in CFTR. Thus, there is a need for alternative approaches. Certainly, there is an opportunity for more work on organoids or simpler patient cell-derived assays: 2D or 3D alternatives to large animal models like the ferret.

What is clear is that there are enough patients worldwide living with lung disease that further research in this area needs to be encouraged. In this respect, the findings from Siegwart’s group are a step in the right direction, with broad implications for treating lung diseases by enabling safer and more precise delivery of RNA-based therapeutics and genome-editing technologies.

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The Needle Issue #25

14 Apr
Juan-Carlos-Lopez
Juan Carlos Lopez		 Andy-Marshall
Andy Marshall

The approval of multiple anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) — aducanumab (Aduhelm; now withdrawn), lecanemab (Leqembi) and donanemab (Kisunla) — over the past five years has opened the era of disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs, albeit with only modest benefits in addressing cognitive decline (30% slowing) and associated serious safety risks, such as CNS inflammation and cerebral hemorrhages, which has limited clinical uptake. While many drug development programs target biological processes other than amyloid formation (e.g., tau and tangles, neurotransmitter receptors, neuroinflammation, autophagy, and mitochondrial or metabolic dysfunction), companies continue to optimize anti-amyloid monoclonals, but also look for alternative ways to therapeutically target Aβ.

One alternative therapeutic modality to antibodies is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immune cell therapy. In recent weeks, we have been thinking a lot about in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapies, which were one of the dealmaking trends in 2025, and we recommend readers check out an excellent summary of trends in the area from the consultancy firm Scitaris (you don’t even have to give them your details to download the report).

CAR-T treatments have established their clinical niche as last-ditch treatments for B-cell malignancies, with some remarkable outcomes for late-stage patients. In some cases, they have been shown to be at least twice as effective as T-cell engager bispecific antibodies in clinical studies. But they remain rather blunt instruments.

Despite advances in the clinical management of cytokine-release syndrome and immune effector cell neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), CAR-T treatments continue to be associated with serious risks. And while there have been advances in managing these adverse events, atypical non-ICANS neurotoxicities (NINTs) can also create serious clinical management issues, with risk factors predisposing patients to development still only poorly understood.

That said, over the past year, we have seen an increasing trend for the use of CAR-T treatments outside oncology. They have started to be applied with promising efficacy in various areas of autoimmunity (systemic lupus erythrematosus, lupus nephritis, systemic sclerosis, Sjögren’s syndrome, antisynthetase syndrome, myasthenia gravis and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies) and neuroinflammatory conditions (multiple sclerosis). In this respect, a recent paper in Science caught our attention. In it, Marco Colonna and his colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis harness astrocytes to clear amyloid plaques by promoting their ability to phagocytize Aβ.

To that end, they used in vivo gene therapy to generate astrocytes carrying chimeric antigen receptors (“CAR-As”), a strategy not unlike the one used in cancer immunotherapy. Although both macrophages (CAR-Ms) and conventional CAR-Ts have been tested in preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease with limited success, this study reports the first attempt to directly engineer astrocytes in the body to generate CAR-As.

In broad terms, the construct used to generate CAR-As consisted of an Aβ-binding domain and the phagocytic signaling protein MEGF10 (multiple epidermal growth factor-like domains protein 10). The team examined a variety of constructs and chose two for in vivo testing. One of them combined a fragment from the Aβ-binding antibody crenezumab and MEGF10, which is primarily expressed in astrocytes. The second construct combined a fragment of aducanumab with the phagocytosis receptor Dectin-1, which is primarily expressed in microglia.

The authors packaged the constructs in an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector under the control of an astrocyte-specific promoter and injected them intravenously into 5xFAD mice (which carry five familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) mutations, driving rapid Aβ plaque formation, synaptic loss, and cognitive decline starting around 2–4 months). Both CAR-As reduced amyloid burden and neuritic dystrophy, and the treatment worked both in the prophylactic and therapeutic settings.

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing and immunostaining showed that the CAR-As adopted the transcriptomic profile of activated astrocytes and readily clustered around amyloid plaques. Microglial cells, in turn, also responded to the treatment by showing a reduction of the disease-associated transcriptomic profile that is often seen after administration of monoclonal anti-Aβ antibodies. This is of interest because this disease profile of microglial cells has been suggested to contribute to the inflammatory reaction sometimes seen after Alzheimer’s immunotherapy.

A caveat of the study is that the authos saw no improvements in cognition following therapy, albeit behavioral results in mouse models have been notoriously poor at predicting outcomes in humans. However, the translational questions don’t stop there.

If in clinical practice the CAR-A approach would require an AAV vector, then immunogenicity of the treatment is going to be an issue. Pre-exposure to AAV is often a problem for gene-therapy programs, where patients are much younger. Given that Alzheimer’s is a disease associated with an elderly population, immunogenicity is likely to be exacerbated. Similarly, the delivery of 1013–1014 viral genomes to elderly patients living with Alzheimer’s—many of whom will already have a brain prone to neuroinflammation—makes the specter of unwanted side effects a major concern. In this respect, finding Alzheimer’s patients whose disease stage and age would be appropriate for a therapy with potentially highly toxic consequences for fragile recipients is also difficult to gauge.

That is not to say that CAR-immune cell therapy may not have a place in CNS disease. It just seems like neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis where patients are younger and potentially less fragile, are the place where much of the translational groundwork and clinical management for CAR-A or CAR-T therapies must be worked out before moving into neurodegenerative disease for elderly and cognitively compromised patients.

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The Needle Issue #24

24 Feb
Juan-Carlos-Lopez
Juan Carlos Lopez		 Andy-Marshall
Andy Marshall

X-ray crystallography has long been the go-to workhorse for providing atomic structures of drugs interacting with their protein targets. Increasingly, those static snapshots are being complemented by readouts from experimental analytical tools based on nucleic magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), offering drug developers a broader window into proteins as dynamic, breathing molecules. This is spurring a raft of new service provider startups, including AIffinity (Brno-Medlánky, Czech Republic), NexMR (Zürich, Switzlerand), CryoCloud (Utrecht), and Intellicule (West Lafayette, IN), all of which aim to supply drug-discovery teams with state-of-the-art platforms providing structural data with rapid turnaround times and low cost.

As many of the most compelling ‘undruggable’ targets are renowned shape shifters — aggregation-prone proteins like Tau, amyloid precursor protein (APP) or huntingtin in neurodegenerative diseases, or transcription factors like P53, KRAS and c-MYC in oncology — a lot of therapeutic startup activity has recently focused around so-called ‘intrinsically disordered proteins’ (IDPs). The ability to attain markedly different conformations under different conditions allows IDPs not only to play moonlighting roles or serve as hubs in signaling networks, but also to localize into liquid- phase condensates (or membrane-less organelles — attributes that make them acutely sensitive to mutations that can compromise specificity and lead to nonspecific binding, resulting in toxicity and disease.

As IDPs frequently resist attack by conventional drug discovery approaches, a slew of startups has sprung up to try to go after this target class, many using new structural techniques. These include Peptone (London, UK), Dewpoint Therapeutics (Boston, MA), brainQR Therapeutics (Göttingen, Germany), and Kodiform Therapeutics (Oxford, UK). Just last month, Topos Bio secured a $10.5 million seed round to “tackle ‘undruggable’ proteins driving Alzheimer’s and cancer”. Dewpoint also just announced it has dosed its first patient in a phase 1/2a trial of its lead beta-catenin program in gastric cancer and elected its MYC development candidate to take forward.

An important postscript to the startup activity targeting undruggable IDPs is that more conventional ‘druggable’ target classes, like tyrosine kinases, may also represent a fruitful hunting ground for dynamic conformational states that may have been missed by traditional crystallographic approaches. Given that conventional drug targets have relatively well-trodden clinical and commercial development paths, they may also represent simpler starting points and testing grounds for commercial programs aiming to apply the new analytical approaches to support medicinal chemistry programs around validated targets.

In a paper recently published in Science, the team of Charalampos (Babis) Kalodimos at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital use high-resolution NMR spectroscopy to gain structural insight into how SRC family tyrosine kinases (Src, Hck, and Lck) achieve processive phosphorylation of multisite substrates.

The SRC enzyme family is essential for rapid and coordinated signaling in processes such as cell migration and T-cell activation. In addition, SRC family kinases are frequently overexpressed in tumors, contributing to the activation not only of multiple scaffold or signaling proteins, such as receptor tyrosine kinases (e.g., EGFR, FGFR, PDGFR or IGF1R), but also of downstream effectors (e.g., MAPKs, FAK, paxillin, p130Cas, ELMO1 and RAC1). Although there are approved drugs like the multikinase inhibitor Sprycel (dasatinib) that bind the SRC active site, these drugs have such extensive off-target and adverse side effects that there is a pressing need for new paths to more-selective SRC inhibitors.

SRC enzymes share a conserved domain organization, with a disordered N-tail, a tandem SH3–SH2 module, a kinase domain, and a disordered C-tail. All can carry out processive phosphorylation — a phenomenon where the enzyme phosphorylates multiple residues in a substrate during a single encounter. Each of these catalytic cycles typically requires ATP binding, phosphate transfer and ADP release, and ADP release is often the rate-limiting step. So, a question that has long puzzled structural biologists is how ADP-release–constrained kinases achieve sufficiently rapid turnover to successfully perform their function.

Using NMR spectroscopy with cryogenic probes — which reduce electronic/thermal noise and increase sensitivity up to five-fold compared with room-temperature probes — the St. Jude team characterized the conformational ensemble of the Src kinase domain and identified three interconverting states: a predominant active state, a previously described inactive Src/CDK-like state, and a hitherto unknown low-populated intermediate state positioned linearly between the other two. Structural determination revealed that this intermediate state displays features that are distinct from the active and inactive states. Its activation loop is partially folded, the P-loop is displaced inward, and the αC helix is shifted upward. This conformation binds ADP poorly relative to the active and inactive states, suggesting that it facilitates nucleotide release.

Using mutational analyses, the researchers then confirmed the functional importance of this intermediate state. Variants that eliminated this intermediate state while stabilizing the active state showed slower ADP dissociation, reduced catalytic turnover and impaired processive phosphorylation of the multisite Src substrate p130Cas. Instead of generating a fully phosphorylated substrate in a single binding event, these mutants accumulated partially phosphorylated intermediates. Equivalent mutations in other kinases of the SRC family, Lck and Hck, similarly reduced catalytic efficiency and impaired multisite phosphorylation of their respective physiological substrates CD3ζ and ELMO1 in Jurkat cells. Furthermore, these mutations compromised cellular functions measured via in vitro assays, including T-cell activation using Lck-deficient Jurkat cells and migration of mouse embryo fibroblasts lacking Src, Yes and Fyn in the presence of fibronectin. These molecular and functional findings indicate that the intermediate state is evolutionarily conserved and essential for processive activity across the SRC family.

Mechanistically, the work establishes that rapid ADP release, enabled by transient sampling of a structurally constrained intermediate, is critical for sustaining catalytic turnover rates that exceed the speed of substrate dissociation. More broadly, it shows that kinase conformational landscapes are tuned not only for switching between active and inactive states, but also for optimizing specific kinetic steps within the catalytic cycle.

From a drug developer’s standpoint, because Sprycel and other inhibitors target the active or inactive conformations of the SRC active site, the identification of a low-populated, functionally indispensable intermediate suggests a completely new strategy to target tyrosine kinases: selectively stabilize or destabilize the intermediate state to fine-tune catalytic turnover and processivity rather than simply blocking activity. Targeting such transient conformations could enable more precise modulation of signaling output, potentially improving selectivity and reducing off-target effects in kinase-directed therapies.

We look forward to seeing how many more of these intermediate states are uncovered in other kinase targets and whether pharmacological inhibitors targeting this state have advantages over orthosteric or allosteric chemotypes that conventionally have been used to inhibit the kinase active site or lock it in an inactive conformation. What is clear is that ultrafast NMR measurements of binding and state behavior are a powerful differentiating tool for understanding kinase activity where static structures aren’t enough.

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RESI 2026: Sponsorship That Delivers Visibility, Connection, and Real Engagement 

21 Jan

By Max Braht, Director of Business Development, LSN

Max-Braht-Headshot

The RESI (Redefining Every Stage of Investment) Conference Series, produced by Life Science Nation (LSN), has become a cornerstone event series for the early-stage life science ecosystem. Designed to bring together innovators, investors, and strategic partners, RESI offers a highly curated environment where capital formation, partnership development, and brand visibility intersect.

In 2026, the RESI Series continues its global reach through a combination of in-person conferences and structured virtual partnering, offering sponsors year-round exposure and repeated touchpoints with a highly targeted audience.

A Global Series Built for Impact

The 2026 RESI Series includes multiple events across major life science hubs:

  • RESI Europe 2026 – Lisbon, March 23 (with virtual partnering March 24–25)
  • RESI June at San Diego 2026 – June 22 (with virtual partnering June 23–24, 29)
  • RESI Boston 2026 – September 22–23 (with follow-up virtual partnering September 25, 28)

Across these events, RESI convenes companies spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, digital health, and enabling technologies, alongside venture capital firms, family offices, strategic investors, and corporate partners. Sponsors benefit from consistent brand presence across the series while engaging with a community focused on early-stage innovation and investment readiness.

Why Organizations Sponsor RESI

RESI sponsorship is structured to go beyond logo placement. Sponsors are integrated into the fabric of the conference experience, with benefits that can include:

  • High-visibility branding across pre-event marketing, onsite signage, and digital platforms
  • Exhibit opportunities in high-traffic networking areas during in-person events
  • Thought-leadership placement, including workshops, moderated sessions, and published articles distributed to LSN’s global audience
  • Targeted networking and partnering, supported by RESI’s proprietary matchmaking platform
  • Post-event attendee access, enabling meaningful follow-up with investors, founders, and decision-makers

Tiered sponsorship options allow organizations to align their level of involvement with specific business development, visibility, or ecosystem-building goals, while optional add-ons provide further customization.

Who Benefits from Sponsoring RESI

RESI sponsorship is designed to support a wide range of organizations across the life science ecosystem. Sponsors consistently report value not only in exposure, but in the relevance and quality of connections made.

Service Providers
CROs, CDMOs, legal, IP, regulatory, manufacturing, data, and commercialization services (e.g., McDermot Will & Emery, Biometas)

  • Direct access to early-stage companies actively building pipelines and seeking partners
  • Visibility among founders, executives, and investors at key decision-making stages
  • Opportunities to demonstrate expertise through workshops, articles, and curated sessions

Organizations such as Medmarc exemplify the value of sustained participation. Their consistent presence across multiple RESI conferences has helped establish familiarity and trust with early-stage companies, positioning them as a known and credible partner as those companies progress from formation through later stages of growth.

Regional Organizations and Innovation Hubs
Economic development groups, accelerators, incubators, trade organizations, and government-backed initiatives (past sponsors include Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA), Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, (KBIC) and Israel Export Institute (IEI))

  • A global platform to showcase regional ecosystems and portfolio companies
  • The ability to host demo days, pitch sessions, or dedicated tracks aligned with regional priorities
  • Increased international exposure to investors and strategic partners

Investors and Strategic and Corporate Partners
Venture capital, corporate venture, family offices, and strategic partners (past sponsors include, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS, and Eli Lilly)

  • Targeted visibility among investment- or partnering-ready startups across multiple modalities
  • Access to curated partnering and company intelligence through the RESI platform
  • Opportunities to participate in panels, pitch sessions, and thought-leadership programming
  • Structured environments for scouting, relationship-building, and ecosystem engagement
  • Brand alignment with a trusted, innovation-focused conference series

Sponsor Spotlight: How Organizations Activated Their Presence at RESI JPM 2026

While RESI JPM 2026 has already taken place, it provides a strong example of how sponsors can actively engage with the RESI platform — not just through visibility, but through programming and participation that creates tangible value.

One notable example is Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC), a Gold Sponsor of RESI JPM 2026. KBIC leveraged its sponsorship to host the Kansai Life Sciences Accelerator Program (KLSAP) Demo Day, a dedicated session that highlighted emerging life science companies from its accelerator cohort.

Through this activation, KBIC provided startups with direct access to international investors and strategic partners, while reinforcing its role as a global connector within the life science innovation ecosystem. Rather than serving as a passive sponsor, KBIC used the RESI platform to advance its mission, support portfolio companies, and foster cross-border collaboration.

Similarly, Trillium BIO capitalized on both the high foot traffic generated by its exhibit booth and RESI’s partnering platform to schedule a large number of targeted meetings for its team. By combining in-person visibility with structured partnering, Trillium BIO maximized engagement efficiency and ensured meaningful conversations with potential clients and partners throughout the event.

What Successful Sponsors Do Differently

Examples from RESI JPM illustrate several effective sponsorship strategies that carry forward across the 2026 Series:

They integrate into the program.
Sponsors that host workshops, demo days, or curated sessions create natural engagement opportunities and attract aligned audiences.

They align sponsorship with strategy.
Whether the goal is pipeline development, geographic expansion, or investor visibility, effective sponsors use RESI to support broader organizational objectives.

They prioritize connection over exposure alone.
By leveraging partnering tools, curated meetings, and live engagement opportunities, sponsors maximize the quality of interactions — not just the quantity.

Looking Ahead

As the RESI 2026 Series continues across Europe and the United States, sponsors can build sustained visibility while actively shaping conversations at the forefront of life science innovation. The success of sponsor activations at past events demonstrates that RESI is not simply a conference series but a platform for meaningful engagement, partnership building, and long-term impact within the global life science community.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities across the RESI 2026 Series, contact us at sales@lifesciencenation.com. We look forward to discussing your needs and exploring how RESI can support your goals.

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RESI JPM 2026 IPC Finalists 

2 Dec

By Max Braht, Director of Business Development, LSN

Max-Braht-Headshot

Life Science Nation is pleased to announce the finalists for the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) at RESI JPM 2026. Taking place over two full days in San Francisco, RESI JPM will once again bring together early-stage life science and healthcare innovators with a global community of investors seeking opportunities across drugs, devices, diagnostics, and digital health (4Ds). 

This year’s IPC will run as a continuous track, with finalists presenting in dedicated sessions held every hour across both days of RESI JPM 2026. These startups will showcase technologies poised to address key challenges across the 4Ds and advance the next generation of healthcare innovation. 

The IPC gives founders a rare opportunity to pitch directly to active investors, including VCs, family offices, corporate venture groups, and angel networks. Presenting companies receive actionable feedback, participate in meaningful conversations with investors, and gain visibility among the hundreds of attendees in the RESI partnering community. 

Finalists will also present their technologies in the RESI Exhibition Hall, creating additional touchpoints for networking and ongoing discussion throughout the conference. 

About the RESI Innovator’s Pitch Challenge 

The IPC remains a defining element of all RESI conferences. Each pitch session brings together a coordinated panel of investors who deliver interactive, constructive feedback designed to help founders refine their fundraising narrative. IPC participants receive conference registration with full access to partnering, exhibit space in the RESI Exhibition Hall, and the opportunity to compete for a complimentary registration to a future RESI event. 

Join Us at RESI JPM 2026 

RESI JPM 2026 will feature a two-day, in-person experience in San Francisco, offering expanded opportunities for partnering, investor panels, workshops, networking, and an IPC track running every hour across both days. Full event details, including registration and program updates, can be found at the RESI Conference website. 

Meet the RESI JPM 2026 Innovator’s Pitch Challenge Finalists: 

Register for RESI JPM >>

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Navigating JPM Week: A Guide to RESI’s 2026 Event Lineup 

18 Nov

By Max Braht, Director of Business Development, LSN

Max-Braht-Headshot

As the life science world converges on San Francisco for J.P. Morgan Healthcare Week in January 2026, the RESI Conference plays a central role, and its website’s dedicated “JPM Week Events” page is an essential resource for attendees and stakeholders alike. Here’s a breakdown of what the site offers and why it’s such a valuable hub.

What Is the JPM Week Events Page?

The RESI “JPM Week Events” page is essentially a curated calendar and guide, maintained by Life Science Nation. It compiles an exhaustive list of life science–oriented events happening in parallel with JPM Healthcare Week, from early morning breakfasts to high-level receptions and symposiums.

It’s not just a list; it’s a strategic tool for entrepreneurs, investors, and corporates to plan how to maximize their time during one of the most frenetic weeks in biotech and healthcare investments.

What’s on the Agenda: Highlights from the 2026 Schedule

Here is some standout events listed for January 2026 on RESI’s page:

January 10–11:

  • San Francisco CEO | Longwood Healthcare Leaders Forum — A full-day leadership forum at the Four Seasons.
  • 9th Annual Neuroscience Innovation Forum — Focused on business development, licensing, and investment, held at the Marines’ Memorial Club.
  • PwC Executive Women’s Event — A networking event aimed at women leaders in healthcare.
  • Yafo Capital ACCESS ASIA BD Forum — A cross-border business development forum in San Francisco.

January 12:

  • RESI JPM 2026 Conference at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
  • AcuityMD Sunrise Partnering Breakfast — An early morning session for high-value partnering.
  • AdvaMed Member Meeting Space & Receptions — Dedicated space for AdvaMed members.
  • Incubate & DLA Piper: Innovation at a Crossroads — A policy-focused discussion on biopharma strategy in a changing global landscape.
  • Lifeblood & Goodwin MedTech CEO-only Forum — A specialized gathering for medtech CEOs.
  • MassBio Meeting Space & Receptions — Hosted by MassBio at the Parc 55 Hotel.
  • QNova LifeSciences 12th Annual Partnering Forum — A major partnering event in the Hilton Union Square.
  • PMI Biotech Reception — A dinner reception at InterContinental Mark Hopkins.
  • Aquillius Pitch Showcase — A pitching event for life sciences companies.
  • Biovia Event: Clusters of Excellence — A forum on European life science clusters and global success.
  • T2Bmeet @ JPM — A streamlined meeting event to facilitate business development and partnering.
  • Scale Biosciences JPM Happy Hour — Evening social for dealmakers.
  • STAT @ JPM26 Live — A live event by STAT News.
  • Reed Smith Reception — At the Museum of the African Diaspora.
  • Deloitte Reception — A networking evening hosted by Deloitte.

January 13:

  • Continuation of RESI JPM 2026.
  • Fierce JPM Week — A track that runs throughout JPM Week, focused on dealmaking and thought leadership.
  • Biocom California Events — Receptions, meeting space, and more at Omni San Francisco.
  • KoreaBIO / BioCentury / Sidley Austin IR Forum — Global investor relations forum.
  • LaunchBio & Inspira Innovators Social Hour — A more informal social event for early-stage founders.
  • Katten’s Diptyque Client Reception — A luxury experience for select invitees.
  • Dartmouth Offsite — Hosted at the Beacon Grand Hotel.
  • Bits in Bio Reception — For emerging biotech companies and leaders.

January 14–15:

  • Multiple networking breakfasts, partnering forums, and receptions.
  • HCPEA Women’s Mentor/Mentee Networking Breakfast on January 14.
  • 2026 Stanford Alumni in Healthcare Networking Mixer — A Stanford alumni focused event.
  • CTIP Innovator Showcase (Jan 15) — For pediatric technology innovators.
  • MBC BioLabs: Meet the Founders — Founders’ networking at a biotech incubator.
  • Toplink Conference @ JPM — A full-day conference on tech + life science.
  • And more receptions, including PCI Pharma Services, California Israel Chamber of Commerce Israel Lounge, and Destination Medical Center Discovery Exchange.

Why This Page Matters

  1. Comprehensive Planning Tool: For anyone attending JPM Week — whether founders, investors, BD execs, or scientists — having a central, curated list of relevant life science events is invaluable. Rather than navigating a sea of scattered invitations, the RESI page brings together a clean, structured schedule.
  1. Partnership Optimization: Many of the events listed are tailored for dealmaking — breakfasts, partnering forums, and pitch showcases. This makes it easier for startups to schedule and maximize high-impact interactions.
  1. Community Spotlight: The page isn’t only about formal conferences; it also highlights social events, networking mixers, and sector-specific receptions (e.g., women in healthcare, neuroscience, medtech). This helps attendees connect on both professional and personal levels.

The RESI “JPM Week Events” page is more than just a listing: it’s a strategic roadmap for navigating one of the busiest and most important weeks in healthcare investing. By consolidating diverse events, boardroom policy talks to rooftop cocktail receptions; it empowers life science professionals to plan smarter, connect deeper, and maximize their time.

For anyone participating in RESI JPM 2026, bookmarking this page is one of the first steps to making the most of the week.

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Make Your Mark at RESI JPM with the New Company Presentation Track 

12 Nov

By Max Braht, Director of Business Development, LSN

Max-Braht-Headshot

Showcase your brand, services, and expertise to a global life science audience 

Life Science Nation (LSN) is introducing a new opportunity at RESI JPM 2026, the Company Presentation Track, designed for service providers, established companies, and later-stage ventures seeking to elevate their brand visibility and connect with decision-makers across the global life science ecosystem. 

Taking place January 12-13, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, RESI JPM will also feature three days of virtual partnering on January 14, 19–20. RESI JPM will bring together hundreds of early-stage life science and healthcare companies and over 500 global investors for two full days of partnering, investor panels, and networking. 

The new Company Presentation Track offers organizations a unique platform to deliver a 15-minute presentation highlighting their business, market positioning, and value proposition. Unlike the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge, which focuses on fundraising and investor feedback for early-stage startups, these company presentations are designed for firms looking to expand their visibility, attract new clients, and strengthen their strategic partnerships. 

Participants in this track will have the opportunity to: 

  • Present their company, products, and services to an engaged global audience. 
  • Build brand recognition among investors, partners, and industry peers. 
  • Demonstrate thought leadership and industry expertise in a highly visible format. 

This new feature adds to RESI’s robust mix of investor panels, workshops, partnering meetings, and exhibition opportunities, making it a comprehensive platform for business development and partnership-building across the life science sector. 

Make your mark at RESI JPM. Share your story, elevate your brand, and connect with investors, innovators, and service providers driving the future of healthcare innovation. 

To apply, select Company Presentation during your RESI JPM registration or contact the RESI team at RESI@lifesciencenation.com for more information. 

Register for RESI JPM >>

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