Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 22nd Annual
Difficult-to-Express Proteins
Enabling the Successful Expression of Complex Proteins
May 10-11, 2027
As protein therapeutics become increasingly complex and AI-generated designs expand the boundaries of what can be engineered, producing them at the required speed, quality, and quantity remains a fundamental challenge. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 22nd Annual Difficult-to-Express Proteins conference will explore the latest strategies for overcoming expression barriers that impede research, discovery, and development. Topics will include alternative hosts and cell-free systems, membrane proteins and GPCRs, multispecific antibodies and other complex formats, and the expression challenges associated with minibinders and de novo proteins. A new session on conjugation precursors will examine redox control and site-specific conjugation for antibody-drug and antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates.
Coverage will include, but is not limited to:
- Membrane Proteins & GPCRs: From Solubilization to Scale
- Host system comparisons for multipass targets
- GPCR production workflows supporting drug discovery
- Nanodisc and SMALP methods reaching production
- Milligram screening to gram-scale production
- Beyond CHO and E. coli: Novel Hosts for Production-Scale Workflows
- Advancing insect and engineered yeast platforms
- Unlocking expression gains with Vibrio natriegens
- Cell-free systems reaching GMP manufacture
- Host selection on total workflow economics
- Multispecific and Complex Format Expression: Assembly, Pairing & Quality
- Improving bispecific assembly and chain pairing
- Asymmetric antibody purification and quality control
- Vector design and DNA ratio effects
- Fc fusion proteins remain persistent challenges
- Minibinders and de novo Therapies: Closing the AI-Design-to-Expression Gap
- Expression bottlenecks for de novo proteins
- Standardized benchmarks for AI binder failures
- Predicting minibinder expression directly from sequence
- Non-canonical amino acids for modularity
- Expression to Conjugation: Engineering ADC and AOC-Ready Precursors
- Redox control shaping DAR and conjugation
- Cell-free site-specific ADC conjugation
- Personalized therapeutic production using cell free
- Expression strategies for antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs)
The deadline for priority consideration is October 23, 2026.
All proposals are subject to review by session chairpersons and/or the Scientific Advisory Committee to ensure the overall quality of the conference program. Additionally, as per Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s policy, a select number of vendors and consultants who provide products and services will be offered opportunities for podium presentation slots based on a variety of Corporate Sponsorships.
Opportunities for Participation:
- To submit a podium presentation, please click here.
- To become a sponsor, click here.
- To present a poster, click here.
- To sign up to attend, click here.