CAR-TCR Summit 2026

Mark Wallet joined Link Cell Therapies in October 2024 as Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, he was VP and Head of Immuno-oncology at Century Therapeutics, leading preclinical development of gene-edited iPSC-derived CAR-NK and CAR-T cell therapies for cancer. Earlier, at Fate Therapeutics, he built the translational science team advancing allogeneic donor-derived NK and iPSC-derived cell therapies. He began his career as a faculty member at the University of Florida where his lab focused on immunogenetics research in autoimmunity and infectious disease. Mark holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from UNC Chapel Hill.

Rachel Abbott is Chief Executive Officer of Pan Cancer T, having joined the company in January 2023 as Chief Scientific Officer and assuming the CEO role in May 2023. She brings extensive expertise in TCR-T cell therapies, developed through industry leadership roles at Adaptimmune and Enara Bio. Her work has spanned TCR discovery, affinity-engineered T cell pipelines, large-scale T cell manufacturing, and advancement of programs targeting PRAME and NY-ESO. Rachel holds a DPhil and MBiochem from the University of Oxford and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Birmingham.

Aaron Cooper is Vice President, Early Discovery at Arsenal Biosciences, where he leads early discovery programs advancing next-generation cell therapies for cancer. He is a group partner and leader with broad expertise in synthetic biology, gene editing, immunology, large-scale retroviral vector production, and NGS and computational biology methods for advancing drug development, supporting cross-functional teams to achieve product development goals. His work includes focused product development of cell therapies for cancer and development of discovery technologies built on cell barcoding and artificial intelligence. Aaron holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Molecular Biology from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Biology from Pomona College.

Chris Crowell, PhD is Global Head of Manufacturing at Kite Pharma, a Gilead Sciences company, where he leads global manufacturing operations for cell therapy programs. He is an experienced CMC Operations Executive focused on bringing medicines through the commercialization process to positively impact patients lives. Chris joined Kite after more than two decades at Amgen, where he held senior leadership roles including Executive Director, Global Operations and Executive Director, Plant Manager Drug Substance. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and a BS in Biological Sciences from University of California, Santa Barbara.

John Cesarek is the Senior Director of Automation Engineering at Cellares, where he leads the design and development of the integrated digital, scientific, and operational workflows for automated quality control in cell therapy manufacturing.

Justin Skoble is Vice President of Technical Operations at Caribou Biosciences, Inc., where he leads technical operations supporting the development and translation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. He is a leader in the area of drug development focused on the research, development, and translation of immunotherapies to treat cancers and prevent infectious diseases. Justin holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and completed postdoctoral training in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Chupei Zhang is Director and Head of MSAT at Wugen, where she leads manufacturing science and technology strategy supporting cell therapy development and commercialization. She brings 15+ years experience in cell and gene therapy, including 10+ years in industrial CMC roles, specializing in cell therapy process science, CMC strategy, technology-driven manufacturing, technical operation, and tech transfer. Her work focuses on advancing scalable manufacturing and clinical readiness across cell therapy programs. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Biological Science from the University of Science and Technology of China.