Nina Weisser
Director - Multispecific Antibody Therapeutics Zymeworks
Nina Weisser, Ph.D, is Senior Director of the Multispecific Antibody Therapeutics group at Zymeworks where she leads a team focused on mechanism of action studies. Since joining Zymeworks, Dr. Weisser has led several multispecific therapeutics research programs, including zanidatamab, from discovery to early development. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Guelph and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Seminars
As T cell engagers push into solid tumours and earlier-line settings, co-stimulation has emerged as one of the most promising levers for boosting efficacy and durability. This high-impact strategy workshop brings together pioneering T-cell engager experts to tackle which co-stimulatory receptor to target, how to time activation signals, and whether to build into a single trispecific or deliver sequentially. You’ll gain practical, actionable insights on overcoming tumour microenvironment barriers, managing exhaustion, and minimising safety risks. If you’re serious about engineering next-generation TCEs that deliver longlasting responses, this is the must-attend session to get ahead of the curve.
This workshop will cover:
- Clarifying the biological rationale – How co-stimulatory domains (CD28, CD137, CD2 etc.) enhance T cell fitness, prevent early exhaustion, and improve anti-tumour activity and aligning primary CD3 activation with co-stimulation signals to maximise efficacy and avoid mismatched signalling
- Choosing the right co-stimulatory target – Comparative advantages, limitations, and clinical unknowns for different T-cell engager targets
- Design and delivery strategies – How linking co-stimulatory elements directly to the engager can optimise timing, localisation, and therapeutic effect
- Managing exhaustion and safety risks – Avoiding on-target/off-tumour risks by activation of non tumour T cell subsets, reducing CRS, and limiting Fc-mediated toxicity
- Combinations vs trispecifics – Comparing strategies, advantages, and limitations – looking at clinical data
This expert-led discussion will unpack the unique translational challenges and opportunities for T-cell engagers across oncology and autoimmune indications. Panelists will explore how emerging scientific insights, target biology, and mechanistic understanding can inform smarter therapeutic design, combination strategies, and clinical development pathways for both cytotoxic and tolerability-driven indications.
- How does target biology influence format selection, CD3 affinity tuning, and tissue-selective delivery approaches in solid tumours vs autoimmune tissues?
- What translational tools (e.g., biomarkers, PD readouts, in vitro/in vivo models) are proving most predictive for efficacy and safety in both therapeutic areas?
- What combination strategies are most promising e.g., with checkpoint inhibitors, cytokines, or tolerance inducing agents and how do we time them?
- Where are current translational models falling short, and how can we better model immune engagement, off-tumour effects, and chronic exposure?
- How do we de-risk multi-targeting and immune activation in non-lethal diseases where tolerance, durability, and safety thresholds differ from oncology?
