QxBio 2026 — Sep 24–26 · San Jose
Featuring

Confirmed Speakers

Sessions & Schedule

Three days of keynotes, panels, poster sessions, breakout groups, a lab visit and a student hackathon.

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Registration & Lunch

Welcome and lunch for all attendees on arrival at The Harker School.

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM

Opening Session

  • Welcome by The Harker leadership
  • Opening remarks by Mr Dheeraj Pandey & Mrs Swapna Pandey, Param Hansa Philanthropies
  • Documentary — QxBio 2026
  • Context setting — Mr Dheeraj Pandey
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM

Session 1: Reflection Through Journey — Partners’ Speak

Seven-minute reflections from each partner institution.

  • UT Austin (2 speakers) — Dr Danny Diaz & Dr Charley Taylor
  • Stanford University (2 speakers) — Dr Michael Fischbach & Dr Juliet Knowles
  • IISc (1 speaker) — Dr Mohit K. Jolly
  • Aspire (1 speaker) — Ms Meena Sonea
  • The Harker School — Mrs Anita Chetty
  • City of Hope (1 speaker) — Dr Srividya S

Facilitated by

Dr Jennifer Cochran, Dr David Vanden Bout & Mr Amit Kumar — followed by Q&A.

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM

Tea Break

3:45 PM – 4:45 PM

Session 2: Panel / Fireside Chat

Beyond the grant: philanthropy+ for scientific research & translation.

Facilitated by

Joseph Battaglia — with Karen Kardos, Swapna Pandey & Dheeraj Pandey.

4:45 PM – 6:30 PM

Session 3: Poster Presentations

Open to High School, Undergraduate and Graduate participants.

  • Theme 1 — Quantum–AI Systems Biology: Converging Discovery, Engineering, and Clinical Translation
  • Theme 2 — AI & Drug Discovery: Lab to Community (philanthropy + catalytic investment)
6:30 PM

Departure for Welcome Dinner

Leave The Harker School for the Pandey residence.

7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Welcome Dinner

Pandey private residence. Timings to be confirmed.

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM

Breakfast at The Harker School

9:00 AM – 9:40 AM

Session 4: Quantum–AI Systems Biology — Converging Discovery, Engineering & Clinical Translation

  • Opening Keynote — Dr Reinhard C. Laubenbacher (University of Florida): “From Molecules to Patients — Multiscale Digital Twins as Mathematical Biology’s Answer to Precision Oncology”
  • Speaker 1 — Dr Marc R. Birtwistle: “Cancer Cell State Networks — Predicting Drug Combination Responses for Precision Oncology”
  • Speaker 2 — Dr Ernesto Lima (UT Austin Oden Institute, Center for Computational Oncology): “Digital Twins for Precision Oncology — Simulating Treatment Response Before It Happens”
  • Speaker 3 — Dr Jason T. George: “Stochastic Models of Tumour–Immune Interaction — How Mathematical Biology Predicts Cancer Immune Escape and Treatment Resistance”
  • Closing Remarks — Dr Stacey Finley: “Drug Target Discovery in the Tumour Microenvironment — Computational Systems Biology Models for Predicting Immunotherapy Response”
9:40 AM – 9:45 AM

Session Transition

9:45 AM – 10:15 AM

Session 4A: Quantum–AI Systems Biology — Fireside Chat / Panel

  • Dr Karen Willcox: “Engineering Trust into Biology: What Aerospace-Grade Digital Twins Teach Us About Quantum-AI Systems Biology”
  • Dr Mohit K. Jolly: “The Physics of Cancer: How Hybrid Cellular States Drive Metastasis, Resistance and the Case for Quantum-AI Systems Biology”
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM

Group Photo

10:30 AM – 11:10 AM

Session 5: Data & Research — Building & Nurturing the Physician-Scientist Collaboration

  • Keynote Speaker 1 — Dr Charley Taylor: “The Collaboration Architecture: Building the Physician-Scientist Partnership That Changes Clinical Practice”
  • Speaker 1 — Mr Arvind T: “From Cardiac Signals to Cancer Biomarkers — How AI-Embedded Point-of-Care Diagnostics Can Scale Quantum-AI Cancer Detection to Every Community”
  • Speaker 2 — Dr Emma Lundberg: Data simulation — real time
  • Speaker 3 — Dr Debanu Das: “Atomic-Resolution Drug Target Discovery — How AI-Enhanced Structural Biology Identifies Precision Oncology Candidates That Computational Models Alone Cannot Find”
  • Keynote Speaker 2 — Dr John Lowengrub: “The Mathematical Engine: Personalized Predictive Models as the Science Inside Physician-Scientist Collaboration”
11:10 AM – 11:15 AM

Session Transition

11:15 AM – 11:45 AM

Session 5A: Data & Research — Fireside Chat / Panel

  • Dr Hongfang Liu (UT Austin): “Building the Data Backbone for Digital Twins — Translational AI and Real-World Evidence in Precision Oncology”
  • Dr Prasun Mishra: “Why Drugs Fail Safely — Explainable AI as the Trust Layer Between Data Science and Clinical Practice”
11:45 AM – 12:25 PM

Session 6: AI & Drug Discovery — Lab to Community (Philanthropy + Catalytic Investment)

  • Keynote Speaker 1 — Dr Michael Fischbach: “LAB” — discover the drug from biology, powered by AI molecular simulation
  • Speaker 1 — Dr Thomas Yankeelov: “From MRI to Treatment Decision: Cancer Digital Twins as the Clinical Bridge from Drug Discovery to Community Care”
  • Speaker 2 — Dr Dean Bottino: “Quantitative Approaches to Optimizing Cancer Drug Dosing — From Pre-Clinical Modelling to Community-Scale Treatment Deployment”
  • Speaker 3 — Dr Siva Vanapalli: “From Worm to Human: AI-Powered High-Throughput Screening as the Missing Link Between Computational Drug Discovery and Clinical Reality”
  • Keynote Speaker 2 — Dr Alexander Anderson: “Adaptive Therapy: Mathematical Models That Carry Drug Discovery from the Lab to Every Patient”
12:25 PM – 12:30 PM

Session Transition

12:30 PM – 1:00 PM

Session 6A: AI & Drug Discovery — Fireside Chat / Panel

  • Mr Santiago Matheus: “Backing the Machine — How Investing in AI Drug Research Companies Builds the Capital Bridge from Lab Discovery to Community Impact”
  • Dr Melissa Landon: “The AI Drug Discovery Platform Layer — How Computational Chemistry and Autonomous Labs Are Industrializing the Discovery-to-Deployment Pipeline”
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Lunch

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Session 7: Panel / Fireside Chat

Beyond the grant: impact investment (early stage).

Facilitated by

Mr Andrew Lee — with Ms Julie Binder, Mr Dheeraj Pandey & Mr Amit Kumar.

3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Session 8: Breakout Sessions

Four parallel working groups.

  • Group 1 — Alliances, partnerships, scientific community & translation. Facilitated by Mrs Swapna Pandey & Mrs Karen Kardos.
  • Group 2 — Data & Research: Building & Nurturing the Physician-Scientist Collaboration. Facilitated by Mr Mahesh Sathiamoorthy & Dr Alexander Anderson.
  • Group 3 — Quantum–AI Systems Biology. Facilitated by Dr Emma Lundberg & Mr Todd Kimmel.
  • Group 4 — AI & Drug Discovery: Lab to Community. Facilitated by Dr Prasun Mishra & Dr Melissa Landon.
3:45 PM – 4:15 PM

Session 9: Key Points from Breakout Group Discussions

Presentation by each group.

Format

5 minutes × 4 groups = 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes Q&A.

4:15 PM – 4:55 PM

Session 10: Discovery, Translation, Capital & Partnerships — Priorities Ahead

Panel with Mr Navin Chaddha & Mr David Lewis.

4:55 PM – 5:00 PM

Session Transition

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Session 11 (Concluding Session): Summing Up, Next Steps & Valedictory

Led by

Mr Dheeraj Pandey, Mrs Swapna Pandey & Mr Amit Kumar.

5:30 PM – 6:00 PM

High Tea

8:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Parallel Activity 1 — Visit to Stanford University Lab

8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Parallel Activity 2 — QxBio 2026 Student Hackathon

Open to students from High School through PhD. Two themes, both built on Computer, by DevRev.

  • Theme 1 — AI Agents for Computational Oncology
  • Theme 2 — AI Agents for Quantum–AI Systems Biology

Tiered by Level

Explorer (High School) · Builder (Undergraduate) · Researcher (Graduate / PhD).