2025 Plenary Keynote Program
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2
8:00 am Registration and Morning Coffee
8:00 am Recommended Pre-Conference Workshops and Symposia*
On Tuesday, April 2, 2025, Bio-IT World is pleased to offer four pre-conference Workshops scheduled across two time slots (9:00 am–12:00 pm, 1:15–4:30 pm) as well as three Symposia from 9:00 am–4:30 pm. All are designed to be instructional, and interactive and provide in-depth information on a specific topic. They allow for one-on-one interaction and provide a great way to explain more technical aspects that would otherwise not be covered during the main conference tracks that take place Tuesday–Wednesday.
*Separate registration required. See agenda details on the Symposia page and Workshops page.
4:40 pm Organizer's Remarks
Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
4:45 pm Plenary Keynote Introduction
Speaker to be Announced, CLOVERTEX
4:55 pm PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: From Bytes to Breakthroughs: Generative AI Driving the Future of Life Sciences and Healthcare
Sofia Guerra, Vice President, Bessemer Venture Partners
Subha Madhaven, Vice President and Head, AI/ML, Quantitative and Digital Sciences, Global Metrics and Data Management, Pfizer Inc.
Generative AI has the potential to transform life sciences and deliver unprecedented insights, automation, and efficiency. But is it? This keynote panel brings together leaders from biopharma, healthcare, and emerging tech who are leveraging AI to advance drug discovery, diagnostics, and patient care. Panelists will share their own case studies and real-world applications and discuss how they’ve tackled challenges—both technical and cultural. Look beyond the hype curve to see how this technology is really being used now and where the next opportunities lie.
6:10 pm Welcome Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
7:25 pm Close of Day
THURSDAY, APRIL 3
7:00 am Organizer's Remarks
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News
8:05 am Plenary Keynote Introduction
Speaker to be Announced, Snowflake Computing, Inc.
8:15 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Deep Learning for Antibiotic Discovery
James J. Collins, PhD, Termeer Professor, Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In this presentation, we highlight the Antibiotics-AI Project, which is a multi-disciplinary, innovative research program that is leveraging MIT's strengths in artificial intelligence, bioengineering, and the life sciences to discover and design novel classes of antibiotics. The Antibiotics-AI Project is focused on developing, integrating, and implementing deep learning models and chemogenomic screening approaches: (1) to predict novel antibiotics from expansive chemical libraries with diverse properties, (2) to design de novo novel antibiotics based on learned structural and functional properties of existing and newly discovered antibiotics, and (3) to identify, using explainable deep learning models, the chemical structures and molecular mechanisms underlying the newly discovered and/or designed antibiotics. With these deep learning approaches, we are utilizing multi-scale computation to embrace and harness the complexity of biology and chemistry, so as to discover, design, and develop new classes of antibiotics, up through preclinical studies. Our platform has been designed so that it can be utilized and applied in a rapid fashion to emerging and re-emerging bacterial pathogens, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria.
8:45 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Generative AI, Aging Research and Robotics as a Platform for Drug Discovery: From Hype to Clinical Efficacy
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder & CEO, Insilico Medicine
9:15 am Session Q&A
9:30 am Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
Start your morning with coffee, connections, and cutting-edge research! Enjoy poster presentations, network in the Exhibit Hall, vote for awards, and a chance at a fabulous raffle prize!
FRIDAY, APRIL 4
7:00 am Registration Open
7:00 am Quick Bytes & Networking Breakfast—Lifted Rooftop Restaurant & Bar (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
Start your morning with ‘Quick Bytes & Networking’! Enjoy a cozy restaurant-style setting, quick bites, and speed networking. Connect, converse, and energize your Bio-IT experience before the plenary keynote!
8:00 am Organizer's Remarks
Cindy Crowninshield, Executive Event Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute
8:05 am Innovative Practices Awards: Excellence in Technological Innovation
Allison Proffitt, Editorial Director, Bio-IT World and Clinical Research News
The Innovative Practices Awards recognizes and celebrates technology innovation in the life sciences. Bio-IT World is currently accepting entries for the 2025 Innovative Practices Awards, a competition designed to recognize partnerships and projects pushing our industry forward. Winners will be announced in early-March 2025, recognized during the Friday, April 4 Plenary Keynote Program, and scheduled to give a podium presentation about their project during the conference. For more details about the Awards and to submit an application, visit www.bio-itworldexpo.com/innovativepractices.
8:20 am Plenary Keynote Introduction
Speaker to be Announced, Illumina
8:30 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Scaling Genomic Medicine: Transforming Newborn Screening through Informatics and Innovation
Robert C. Green, MD, MPH, Professor and Director of Genomes2People Research, Mass General Brigham, Broad Institute, Ariadne Labs and Harvard Medical School
The BabySeq Project has pioneered the integration of genomic sequencing into newborn and childhood screening, uncovering unexpected risk variants and transforming healthcare delivery. This keynote explores the groundbreaking progress in genomic medicine, featuring real-world stories of families impacted by these discoveries. Learn about the informatics challenges and innovative solutions required to scale genomic screening for national and global implementation, reshaping the future of precision medicine.
9:00 am PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Unlocking the Power of Machine Learning and Data-at-Scale to Deliver with Speed the Best Therapeutic Candidates
Justin M. Scheer, PhD, Vice President In Silico Discovery & Head, Molecular Computational Team, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine
The challenges of high costs, lengthy timelines, and significant attrition have prompted our industry to integrate AI/ML into all aspects of the business. This presentation highlights J&J's strategic investments in AI/ML technologies to enhance the drug discovery processes, including molecule design and optimization. By investing in these technologies with a modality agnostic approach, J&J aims to tackle the hardest targets in drug discovery, ultimately increasing the success rate of delivering better molecules faster.
9:30 am Session Q&A
9:45 am Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing Competition Winners Announced (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
Bio-IT is all about connections! Explore booths, award-winning posters, and network with clients, colleagues, and exhibitors. Grab coffee, build relationships, and stay for a chance to win a raffle prize!