Roundtable - The science of the immune system – building a healthy future

The topic for this round table focuses on the science of the immune system in order to build a healthy future in the region and the country. Immunology is core in many different disease areas (vaccinology, oncology, personalized medicines,… ). The expertise and understanding of the complexity of the immune system is key, as it can help accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent disease, or medicines against diseases that are immune-mediated (eg oncology, cell & gene therapy,…) to stay ahead of disease for patients. 

 The panel will deep dive into several important strategic objectives, from the perspective of experts representing the government, academia, and the pharmaceutical industry. Some elements that will be discussed are how the funding for research in immunology could be increased, how to strengthen collaboration and build bridges between academia and pharma industry, how talents can be developed, recruited, retained and how to help them keep up with the evolving digital requirements. 

 With the participation of the top experts representing different stakeholders of the strong biopharma ecosystem, this round table will bring concrete and complementary insights on how Wallonia and Belgium can continue to strengthen their expertise in the field of immunology.

 Speakers: 

Nicolas Pire, Chief of cabinet Minister Willy Borsus, VP of Wallonia, Minister of Economy, External Trade, Research & Innovation, Digital, Agriculture, center of excellences, …

Prof Fabrice Bureau, Vice-Rector - ULiège

Jan Van der Goten, Head of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Campus & Strategic Partnerships Benelux – Janssen Pharmaceutica

Yannick Van Loubbeeck, Head Discovery and Preclinical Vaccines R&D - GSK

Moderator : 

Elisabeth Van Damme, Director External Communication - GSK