G-Rex Grant Tour San Diego - Supporting Emily Whitehead Foundation

G-Rex® Grant Tour

Supporting the Emily Whitehead Foundation

SAN DIEGO

Location

Scripps Seaside Forum
8610 Kennel Way
La Jolla, CA 92037

Date

Thursday, April 16, 2026
10:00AM-7:00PM

Event Agenda

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G-Rex Grant Tour San Diego

Hear from leaders bringing hope to patients through advanced cell & gene therapies

G-Rex Grant Tour 2026 - San Diego - Dr. Dan MacLeod

Meet Dr. MacLeod

Dr. MacLeod is an experienced biotechnology leader and innovator in the cell therapy space with 20 years of experience in immunology, oncology, cancer immunotherapy, gene-editing and virology. Throughout his career, Dan has successfully led numerous teams in translating platform technologies into clinical candidate cell therapies, including four CAR-T therapies that advanced from early-stage research through IND-enabling studies and into Phase 1/2 clinical trials.As Chief Scientific Officer at Optieum Biotechnologies, Dan leads R&D for OPTF01, an autologous CAR T targeting Fibroblast Activation Protein Alpha (FAPα) for Glioblastoma and additional solid tumor indications. He also oversees a growing pipeline of CAR T candidates for autologous and in vivo modalities spanning oncology, fibrosis, and autoimmunity.Prior to Optieum, Dan was Senior Vice President of Discovery at ImmunoScape, where he led R&D for autologous TCR-T cell therapies. He also held roles of increasing responsibility during his time at Precision BioSciences, leading the discovery and development of gene-edited, allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies. Earlier in his career, Dan held roles at GlaxoSmithKline and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). He completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, and B.A. at Northwestern University.
G-Rex Grant Tour 2026 - San Diego - Colin Exline

Meet Dr. Colin Exline

Colin Exline leads the Research and Development efforts at Papillon Therapeutics and has been working in regenerative medicine for over 15 years. He has developed methods to efficiently edit genomes by both virally and non-virally. These methods have been employed while leading projects in HSPC to create anti-viral immune systems and within organ transplantation settings to decrease the risk of rejection for both xeno- and traditional transplantation. He earned his PhD from the University of Iowa studying viral gene expression.
Dr. Haiyan Jiang - President and Chief Scientific Officer at Point Loma BioSciences

Meet Dr. Haiyan Jiang

Haiyan Jiang, PhD, is President and Chief Scientific Officer at PointLoma BioSciences and a biopharma R&D leader with more than two decades of experience advancing biologics and cell and gene therapies. She has built and led high-performing translational teams across emerging startups and global biopharma organizations, holding senior leadership roles at Ansun BioPharma, Editas, Biogen, Bayer and Avigen. Dr. Jiang has driven strategy and execution from discovery through IND, FDA/CBER collaboration, and BLA support. Her expertise spans biologics, AAV gene therapy, genome editing in vivo and in hematopoietic stem cells, and innate immunity-driven platforms including CAR γδ T cells and γδ TCRs, across rare genetic diseases, oncology, and autoimmune indications.
G-Rex Grant Tour 2026 - San Diego - Dr. Dan Kaufman

Meet Dr. Dan Kaufman

Dr. Dan Kaufman is a native of Minnesota (USA). He did his undergraduate work at Stanford University and then completed an MD and a PhD (in Immunology) at the Mayo Medical School and Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, MN. He then completed both residency training in Internal Medicine and a fellowship training in Hematology at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Dr. Kaufman was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota from 2002- 2016. In 2016, Dr. Kaufman moved to San Diego to be a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Divisions of Regenerative Medicine and BMT at UC San Diego School of Medicine. At UCSD, he does clinical work in hematology/BMT and serves as the Director of the Cell Therapy program. He also oversees the UCSD Advanced Cell Therapy Laboratory (ACTL) that provides GMP cell manufacturing to translate new cell-based therapies to clinical trials. Research in the Kaufman lab uses human pluripotent stem cells to understand the development of blood and immune cells. Recent studies have focused on the ability to use human iPSC-derived natural killer (NK) cells to kill diverse types of human cancer cells. These studies have used cellular engineering to enhance the anti-tumor activity of the iPSC-derived NK cells by expression of novel chimeric antigen receptors, stabilized expression of CD16, and other strategies. This work has now been translated into clinical trials for treatment of relapsed/refractory cancers- both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Additional studies aim to develop novel approaches for in vivo cell engineering to provide a potentially more efficient strategy to produce targeted, cell-based cancer therapies.
Dr. Christine Y Chen profile image

Meet Dr. Christine Chen

Dr. Christine Y. Chen is a cell therapy process development and CMC leader with more than 15 years of experience advancing complex biologics, synthetic biology, and allogeneic cell therapy products from early development through IND filing and post-IND manufacturing. She currently serves as Associate Director of Manufacturing Sciences and Technology at Fate Therapeutics, where she leads cross-functional teams in process optimization, technology transfer, and manufacturing strategy for iPSC-derived T cell and NK cell platforms. Throughout her career, Dr. Chen has built and scaled robust, regulatory-compliant processes, developed CMC strategies to support clinical advancement, and guided teams in establishing critical process parameters, improving product quality, and increasing manufacturing efficiency. Prior to Fate, she held leadership roles at Telesis Bio and MilliporeSigma, where she drove process innovation, cost reduction, and product commercialization across cell-based and molecular biology platforms. Dr. Chen earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and completed her postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute.
Ms. Nancy Hong

Meet Dr. Nancy Hong

Nancy joined RiverVest in 2016 and focuses on both biopharmaceutical and medical device opportunities. Currently, Nancy serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Scout Bio, Inc., Bluejay Therapeutics, Sequre Dx, and Biolinq, Inc. She formerly was a member of the Board of Directors at Xilio Therapeutics (NASDAQ: XLO).reviously, Nancy was a principal with BioMed Ventures. Nancy started her career as a scientist at Phenomix, a venture-backed discovery biotech company in San Diego.Trained in the areas of immunology and oncology, Nancy earned a B.S. with honors in Biology from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She conducted postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco, as a fellow of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Meet Dr. Ha Nguyen

Dr. Ha Nguyen is Senior Director of the Office of Technology Development at the Salk Institute forBiological Studies, where she leads a multidisciplinary team dedicated to advancing the translation of groundbreaking scientific discoveries into real-world applications. With over 20 years of experience in technology transfer, intellectual property, and business development, she has worked across academia and industry to commercialize life science innovations.Dr. Nguyen is a registered U.S. Patent Agent and has held roles at UCSF, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Salk. She also serves on the Board of the San Diego Innovation Council, supporting the region’s innovation ecosystem. She earned her PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from UCSF and her BS in Chemistry from UC Irvine.
Dr. Travis Young

Meet Dr. Travis Young

Dr. Travis Young is the Executive Vice President of Calibr-Skaggs, a division of Scripps Research Institute focused on the bench to bedside translation of novel medicines. He received a BS in biochemistry from Boston College and a PhD in chemical biology from Scripps Research Institute as an ARCS scholar.After receiving his PhD, he completed a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Young was a member of the founding group of principal investigators at Calibr and serves as lead investigator on multiple clinical programs and bench-to-bedside antibody & cellular therapy-based programs. He also leads cell therapy efforts at Scripps and has built an experienced team capable of translating unique cell therapies from concept to first in human clinical. His work has been highly awarded and received support from the Wellcome Trust, NIH, DoD, Mesothelioma Research foundation, American Cancer Society, among others. His work has resulted in numerous publications and patents with >3000 citations in the past 5 years.
Betsy & Beau Larrabee

Meet Ms. Betsy & Beau Larrabee

Betsy and Beaudin Larrabee are a mother–son speaking and advocacy duo focused on childhood cancer survivorship, clinical innovation, and life after treatment.Beaudin was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at age six following recurrent fevers and hospitalizations. His initial course of treatment proceeded as expected, with a strong early response. Despite this, Beaudin later experienced a CNS-only relapse, shifting his care from established protocols into the uncertain terrain of trial medicine. While preparing to begin relapse therapy, his family connected with the Emily Whitehead Foundation, which supported access to emerging treatment options and clinical trials.Through that pathway, Beaudin enrolled in a CAR T-cell clinical trial at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, receiving his first infusion in March 2021. When CAR T persistence declined, he went on to participate in a humanized CAR T-cell (huCART) trial, receiving a second infusion in August 2021. Although the cells eventually faded, Beaudin’s leukemia did not recur. His family entered a period of watchful waiting, and today Beaudin is a teenager celebrating more than four years cancer-free.Now on the far side of treatment, Betsy and Beaudin speak together about survivorship, clinical decision-making, and the lived experience behind emerging cancer therapies—offering clarity, perspective, and humanity to conversations about medicine, uncertainty, and what comes after survival.

Global Resources, San Diego Innovation.

Join the coalition accelerating patient cures right here in San Diego.
Allogeneic Innovations

Learn about the latest innovations in CAR-NK, CAR-T and γδ T cell therapy.

Helping Start-ups Scale

Hear about the evolving promise of cell and gene therapy through the voices of those who walk the journey alongside patients every day

Network and Engage

Participate in the "Believe Bundle Creation" and support the Emily Whitehead Foundation’s mission to save lives.

Event Sponsors
Akadeum Life Sciences
Biolife Solutions
Wilson Wolf
MaxCyte
Biotechne
R&D Systems
Charles River
Event Essentials

Prepare for a full day of innovation, networking, and impact.

G-Rex Grant Tour

If you're building the future of cell therapy - this is your place

Interested in Sponsoring?

Are you a provider of tools, technology, or services used in research, development, or manufacturing of cell and gene therapies?
Does your innovation pair nicely with G-Rex?
If yes, please consider sponsoring one, some, or all of the G-Rex Grant Tour events.  Your sponsorship is a tax deductible donation to the Emily Whitehead Foundation.

SPONSORSHIP PROSPECTUS