SynBioBeta Live: Can Humanity Build a Global Antibody Defense Barrier Against Future Pandemics?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c6RSkTUxnQAs researchers around the world race to understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the ability to isolate neutralizing antibodies from recovering patient’s B-cells remains slow and laborious. Join us live with the world’s leading experts on antibody discovery to discuss how we can build a global defensive barrier to find new therapeutic antibodies against the coronavirus and future pathogens. Researchers at five leading institutions recently formed the Global Emerging Pathogen Antibody Discovery Consortium (GEPAD) to take down COVID-19 and prevent future pandemics. We’ll be joined by Berkeley Lights CEO Eric Hobbs who leads the consortium to enable the rapid discovery of potential treatments using small volume blood samples from recovering COVID patients. This roundtable discussion will explore GEPAD’s viral neutralization workflow, and invite others around the globe to join the global defensive barrier against emerging pathogens.

Special guests:

• Dr. Eric Hobbs, CEO at Berkeley Lights

• Dr. James Crowe at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

• Dr. Erica Ollman Saphire at La Jolla Institute for Immunology

• Dr. Frances Eun-Hyung Lee at Emory University

• Dr. Narendra Maheshri, Head of Mammalian Foundry, Ginkgo Bioworks

Recorded 05/04/2020, 8am PDT