On September 8th and 9th, VIB hosted the second Nanobody® conference, following the previous edition in Bonn, Germany, in 2019. During the two-day hybrid conference, leaders in the field discussed the latest research on Nanobody® engineering and their use as research tools, diagnostic aids, therapeutic molecules, and anti-infectious agents. +- 350 participants from 24 countries participated in the conference.
Prof. Jan Steyaert, scientific director at the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology: "20 years ago, when they were discovered by serendipity, heavy-chain only antibodies were considered as a good-for-nothing accident of nature. Today, the first Nanobodies are entering the market for treating life-threatening diseases. In this VIB symposium leading scientists examined how Nanobody® technology and engineering can boost their use as research tools and their applications in biotechnology and medicine."
Among the invited speakers were top researchers such as Dirk Gorlich (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, DE), Enrica Bordignon (Ruhr University Bochum, DE), Simon Hufton (The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, UK), Hidde Ploegh (Boston Children’s Hospital, US), and Miriam Stöber (University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine, CH).
The presentations, Q&As, and poster sessions were available both live & through an interactive virtual platform. The poster prize went to Julia Hambach (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, DE) & Michèle Sorgenfrei (University of Zurich, CH).
Prof. Serge Muyldermans (VUB), one of the founding scientists responsible for the development of camelid antibodies, provided the opening talk commemorating Raymond Hamers.