BRC Symposium 2026

Description

 

The 20th Annual Botulinum Research Symposium will be held on July 22-24, 2026.

Theme: Evolution in Botulinum Neurotoxin for Sciences and Medicine

Venue: Wamsutta Club, 427 County St, New Bedford, MA, and Zoom Meeting Room (link to be distributed)

Registration: Please use the link below to register for in-person or virtual attendance.

Hotel Information: Residence Inn by Marriott New Bedford Dartmouth, 181 Faunce Corner Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747 (508) 984-5858  

Program:

 

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 (US - Eastern Standard Time)

5:00 PM     Delegate Registration and Opening Assembly, Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford, MA, USA

6:00 PM     Dinner, Networking, and Evening Entertainment

  • Magic Show - Timothy Su, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MA, USA
  • Lab Concert - John Bogdan (Guitar) and Satya Parayitam, (Mouthorgan)

 

Thursday, July 23, 2026 (Wamsutta Club, 1st Floor Ballroom)

8:00 AM     Delegate Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM     Introduction - Bal Ram Singh, National Botulinum Research Center, Dartmouth, MA, USA

Session I

Session Chair – Karen Bunting, IPSEN Bioinnovations Ltd., UK

9:15 AM       Inaugural Symposium Speech – A Parallel World: Homologues of Classic Bacterial Toxins, Min Dong, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

10:00 AM     Q & A

10:15 AM     Morning Break

Session II

Session Chair – Klaus Fink, MERZ, Germany

10:30 AM     Identification and Use of Peptides as Potent Inhibitors of Toxin Activity - John Bogdan, Valaria/Corvent Medical, Westminster, MD, USA

11:00 AM     Programming of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the Mother’s Womb: Can Botulinum Toxin Be Used to Inhibit or Treat ASD During Pregnancy or in the Offspring - Surendra Sharma, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA

11:30 AM     The Invention and Development of Two Innovative Botulinum-Based Therapies: Eirion’s Topical ET-01 and Injectable AI-09 – Mike Epplito, Woburn Eirion Therapeutics, Inc., MA, USA

12:00 PM     Status of Botulinum Toxin in Multimodal Approach for Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration-Next Steps - Gary Borodic, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

12:30 PM     Symposium Luncheon

Session III

Session Chair – Karen Bunting, IPSEN Bioinnovations Ltd., UK

1:30 PM     Panel Discussion: Advancing Creative Research in Botulinum Biotechnology and Medical Use

Moderator

  • Brenda Wilson, University of Illinois, IL, USA

Panelists

  • John Bogdan – Valaria/Corvent Medical, MD, USA
  • Andrew Ress – Liv Plastic Surgery, FL, USA
  • Klaus Fink – Merz, Germany
  • Raj Kumar – Institute of Advanced Sciences, MA, USA
  • Will Rondeau – AbbVie, USA
  • Gary Borodic – Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

2:30 PM     Group Photo

2:45 PM     Poster Session (*Send poster printing requests to keria@inads.org, if needed), Open Networking, and Conclusion of Symposium Day 2

3:00 PM     Optional: Local Points of Interest Tour (*Email mlindo@inads.org to sign up)

4:00 PM     BRC Board of Advisors Meeting

6 - 8 PM     Optional: Informal Dinner and Sharing of Scientists' Perspective on the Impact of Global Political Issues on Science - Institute of Advanced Sciences Conference Room, 78-520 Faunce Corner Mall Road, Dartmouth, MA, USA (*sign-up & transportation requests available at registration)

Distinguished Dinner Speech - A Tale of Two Botulism Outbreaks, Robert Hall, Former Program Manager, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA

 

Friday, July 24, 2026 (Wamsutta Club, 1st Floor Ballroom)

8:00 AM       Breakfast

Session IV

Session Chair – Michael Adler, US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA

8:30 AM       Dr. B.R. DasGupta Memorial Lecture – Synaptic Remodeling at Mature Neuromuscular Junctions During the Action of Botulinum Neurotoxins, Jordi Molgo, University of Paris-Saclay, France

9:15 AM      Q & A

9:30 AM       Differentiating from Autoimmune Disease Such as Myasthenia Gravis and Guillain-Barré - Andrew Ress, Liv Plastic Surgery, Boca Raton, FL, USA

10:00 AM     Morning Break

Session V

Session Chair – Shuowei Cai, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, MA, USA

10:15 AM     Prime Bio & Gufic Biosciences Collaboration for Botulinum Toxin Type A: The Scientific Way Forward - Samveda Samel, Gufic Biosciences, Mumbai, India

10:40 AM     Engineering Pentraxins to Treat BoNT Intoxication - Scott Willett, Pentrax, Doylestown, PA, USA

11:05 AM     Predicting the Membrane Permeability of Potential Inhibitors of BoNT/A Metalloprotease by Molecular Dynamic Simulations - Ridwan Sulaimon and Gilles H. Peslherbe, Concordia University, Canada

11:25 AM     Engineering a Clostridium-Based Platform for Tetravalent Dengue Vaccines - Raj Kumar, National Botulinum Research Center & Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, MA, USA

11:50 AM     Neurotoxin-Associated Proteins, Cytokines, and Immune Response – Lei Wang, Prime Bio, Inc., Dartmouth, MA, USA

12:15 PM     Living Scientific Life with Botulinum - Klaus Fink, Merz, Germany

12:40 PM     Symposium Luncheon

Session VI

Session Chair – Robert Hall, Former Program Manager, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA

1:40 PM     Panel Discussion: Role of Botulinum in Evolution of Human Treatment

  • Karen Bunting - IPSEN Bioinnovations Ltd., UK
  • Andrew Ress - Liv Plastic Surgery, FL, USA
  • Surendra Sharma - UTMB, TX, USA
  • Min Dong - Harvard Medical School, MA, USA
  • Shuowei Cai - UMass Dartmouth, MA, USA

2:40 PM     Symposium Conclusion, Networking, and Departure