Speaker Bio's and abstracts

Tumor-Targeting Salmonella typhimurium A1-R: An Overview The tumor-targeting Salmonella typhimurium A1-R (S. typhimurium A1-R) strain is attenuated by autxotrophic mutations for Arg and Leu, thereby precluding continuous infection of normal organs, but allowing high virulence in tumors of all types. Efficacy of S. typhimurium A1-R in nude-mouse models of prostate, breast, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, stomach and cervical cancer, as well as sarcoma and glioma in orthotopic mouse models has been demonstrated. S. typhimurium A1-R also has targeted, with high efficacy, primary bone tumors and lung metastasis of highgrade osteosarcoma, breast-cancer brain metastasis, and experimental breast-cancer bone metastasis in orthotopic mouse models. The efficacy of S. typhimurium A1-R on pancreatic cancer stem cells, on pancreatic cancer in combination with anti-angiogenic agents, as well as on cervical cancer, soft-tissue sarcoma, and pancreatic cancer patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse models has also been demonstrated. Perhaps most exciting is the ability of S. typhimurium A1-R to decoy quiescent drug-resistant cancer cells in tumors, which are often the vast majority, to begin to cycle and thereby convert to drug-sensitivity. Steve H Thorne, Ph.D. Department of Cell Biology and Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Chief Scientific Officer, Western Oncolytics Ltd I have many years experience working with different oncolytic vaccinia and related viruses. This includes design, engineering, pre-clinical testing, translational development and IND-enabling and early phase clinical testing. I have pioneered the use of these vectors alone, notably as immunotherapies and in combination with immune cell-based and antibody-based therapies. My Undergraduate degree was obtained from Oxford University and my Ph.D. from Imperial College in London, with post-doctoral experience at Cancer Research UK and Stanford University. I have been faculty at The University of Pittsburgh for 8 years and have over 80 publications in refereed journals (including Science, Nat Med, JCI, PLoS Medicine, PNAS USA, Can Cell, Can Res, Cell Host Microbe and Nat Rev Can). In addition I have been involved with several Biotech start-ups, including Jennerex Biotherapuetics (now a part of Sillajen), and more recently Western Onclytics Ltd. I am currently taking an entrepreneurial leave of absence from the University of Pittsburgh to act as CSO at Western Oncolytics.