Prestige Conference, Moderna Series – Utilizing mRNA technology for a new era in disease prevention and treatment

We are very pleased to welcome Obadiah Plante for our September CRCHUM Prestige Conference – Moderna series, Director of Bacteriology in the Infectious Disease Research group at Moderna, where he leads and directs the bacteriology team in the discovery and early development of bacterial vaccines along with foundational research efforts aimed at advancing mRNA-encoded antibodies.

mRNA-based vaccines have emerged over the past decade; this new technology has the potential to play a key role in immunization to prevent a wide range of infectious diseases. The speed, efficacy, and global distribution of mRNA vaccines in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically changed the landscape of infectious disease vaccine development.

This presentation will outline Moderna’s pioneering mRNA platform. The potential versatility of mRNA technology in the development of vaccines against not only a vast number of viral diseases but also many other bacterial diseases will be discussed.

Firstly, the emergence of mRNA vaccines for prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 and the potential use of mRNA vaccines against other viral pathogens will be reviewed. In addition, novel approaches to the development of mRNA-based bacterial vaccines for infectious diseases will be presented, including clinical-stage Lyme disease vaccine candidates. The potential for mRNA-based therapeutics will also be highlighted.

The presentation will explore the benefits of building alliances with collaborators, such as the Government of Canada, to enable rapid scaling of manufacturing. Finally, the presentation will highlight how partnerships with leading scientific research programs in Canadian institutes, such as the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of British Columbia, are facilitating the advancement of the development of mRNA-based vaccines and therapies.

Acknowledgments: Professional medical writing and editorial assistance provided by Joanna Wright, DPhil, at Caudex, a division of IPG Health Medical Communications, was funded by Moderna, Inc.

About Dr. Plante

In addition, Dr. Plante leads several vaccine programs in the Global Health space and has served as program leader for Covid antibody efforts. His team at Moderna has created a pipeline of novel, first-in-class mRNA vaccines for bacterial pathogens in both late research and early clinical development.

Obadiah Plante served as Director of Research at Visterra through their acquisition by Otsuka in 2018. At Visterra, he led early-stage research programs including a CARB-X funded program developing an antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Dr. Plante began his career as a founder and scientific leader at Ancora where he investigated carbohydrate-based vaccines and applications of synthetic glycan technology. He is an expert in the design and discovery of complex, biomolecule-based therapeutics and vaccines.

Obadiah Plante holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Organic Chemistry and a Masters from Columbia University. He is an active member of the advisory boards of Glyconet (a Canadian glycomics research network investing in translational research), the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center, and the BIO AMR working group while serving as an Observer on the Technical Advisory Group on Vaccines and AMR to the WHO.

About CRCHUM's Prestige conferences

The CRCHUM Prestige Conferences are presented by world-renowned speakers in their field of expertise. This conference is part of the Moderna Series.

This Prestige conferences offer a broad perspective on a scientific topic in a language that is clear and accessible to all participants. They are mainly aimed at the scientific community, including participants who have no prior knowledge of the topic.