QxBio 2026 — Sep 24–26 · San Jose
Featuring

Confirmed Speakers

Sessions & Schedule

Two days of keynotes, panels, poster sessions and breakout groups.

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12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Registration & Lunch

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

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM

Opening Session

  • Welcome by The Harker Leadership
  • Opening remarks by Dheeraj & Swapna Pandey
  • Documentary screening
  • Context setting for QxBio 2026
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM

Session 1: Reflection Through Journey — Partners' Speak

Seven-minute reflections from partner institutions on collaborative research progress.

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

Facilitators

Dr Jennifer Cochran, Dr David Vanden Bout & 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.”

Facilitator & Panellists

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

4:45 PM – 6:30 PM

Session 3: Poster Presentations

High School, Undergraduate & Graduate presenters across two themes.

Theme 1

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

Theme 2

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

6:30 PM

Departure for Welcome Dinner

Coaches leave The Harker School for the Pandey Residence.

7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Welcome Dinner at
Pandey Private Residence

Programme finalisation TBD.

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM

Breakfast at The Harker School

8:30 AM – 9:10 AM

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

Institutions · IISc Bengaluru · PHCCO · UT Austin · UC Irvine · Texas A&M · Stanford

  • 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: 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.”
9:10 AM – 9:15 AM

Session Transition

9:15 AM – 9:45 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.”
  • Mohit K Jolly: “The Physics of Cancer — How Hybrid Cellular States Drive Metastasis, Resistance and the Case for Quantum-AI Systems Biology.”
9:45 AM – 10:00 AM

Group Photo

10:00 AM – 10:40 AM

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

Institutions · UT Austin · USC Viterbi · HD Medical SF · Bespoke Labs · UC Irvine

  • Keynote Speaker 1: Charley Taylor: “The Collaboration Architecture — Building the Physician-Scientist Partnership That Changes Clinical Practice.”
  • Speaker 1: 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: Mahesh Sathiamoorthy: AI training data infrastructure — data curation, RL environments for physician-scientist AI platforms.
  • 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: John Lowengrub: “The Mathematical Engine — Personalized Predictive Models as the Science Inside Physician-Scientist Collaboration.”
10:40 AM – 10:45 AM

Session Transition

10:45 AM – 11:15 AM

Session 5A: Data & Research — Fireside / Chat

  • Speaker 5: Dr. Hongfang Liu (UT Austin): “Building the Data Backbone for Digital Twins — Translational AI and Real-World Evidence in Precision Oncology.”
  • Speaker 4: “Why Drugs Fail Safely — Explainable AI as the Trust Layer Between Data Science and Clinical Practice.”
11:15 AM – 11:55 AM

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

Institutions · Stanford · UT Austin · Moffitt Cancer Center · Takeda Oncology · MilliporeSigma

  • Keynote Speaker 1: 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.”
11:55 AM – 12:00 PM

Session Transition

12:00 PM – 12:30 PM

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

  • 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.”
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

Session 7: Panel / Fireside Chat

“Beyond the Grant: Impact Investment (Early Stage).”

Institutions · PHP · UBS · Hamilton Square Healthcare

Facilitator & Panellists

Facilitated by Andrew Lee — with Dheeraj Pandey & Amit Kumar.

2:30 PM – 3:15 PM

Session 8: Breakout Sessions

Four parallel working groups.

  • Group 1 — Alliances, Partnerships, Scientific Community & Translation. Facilitated by Swapna Pandey.
  • Group 2 — Data & Research: Building & Nurturing the Physician-Scientist Collaboration. Facilitated by Charley Taylor & Alexander Anderson.
  • Group 3 — Quantum–AI Systems Biology. Facilitated by Karen Willcox & Dr Debanu Das.
  • Group 4 — AI & Drug Discovery — Lab to Community. Facilitated by Michael Fischbach & Melissa Landon.
3:15 PM – 4:15 PM

Session 9: Group Presentations

Each breakout group presents back, followed by debrief.

  • Group 1 — Alliances, partnerships, scientific community & translation (Swapna Pandey).
  • Group 2 — Data & research: physician-scientist collaboration (Charley Taylor & Alexander Anderson).
  • Group 3 — Quantum–AI Systems Biology (Karen Willcox & Dr Debanu Das).
  • Group 4 — AI & Drug Discovery — Lab to Community (Michael Fischbach & Melissa Landon).

Debriefing & Key Action Points

Jennifer Cochran, Rajas Desai & Adarsh Das.

4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

Session 10: Concluding Session — Summing Up, Next Steps & Valedictory

Concluding Remarks

Dheeraj Pandey, Swapna Pandey & Amit Kumar.

5:00 PM – 5:30 PM

High Tea

8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Option 2 — QxBio 2026 Student Hackathon

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

Register for the hackathon Adult (18+) or Minor (<18) — consent form required.

Track 1

AI Agents for Computational Oncology

Track 2

AI Agents for Quantum–AI Systems Biology

Tiered by Level

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