Professor of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology & Health Sciences. Areas of special interest include Immunotherapy and CAR-T cells, leading a major collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology at Powai (IIT-B) and National Cancer Institute, Bethesda that led to India’s first indigenously developed and approved CART-cell product. Principal Investigator at CAR T- & Cell Therapy Center (CTCTC) at TMC developing multiple cell & gene therapies for cancer and related indications. Leads multi-center randomized controlled trials of Indian Pediatric Hematology- Oncology Group (InPHOG) as core-member of ALL ICiCLe- Trial Group, and Study Chair of Multicentre RCT of Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma. Other areas of interest in research are Histiocytic Disorders, Cancer associated Thrombosis and Immunology in Malignancies. Senior member & past-Convener of Pediatric Hemato-lymphoid Group at Tata Memorial Center Mumbai that oversees a clinical program of 11-1200 new case of leukemia, lymphoma and histiocytic disorders in children annually and a DM Pediatric Oncology Training program that enrols 6 new students a year.

Dr (Lt Col) Pawan Kumar Gupta, is President – Medical & Regulatory Affairs, Stempeutics Research, Bangalore since October 2008, which is the first stem cell company in India focusing on clinical development of major unmet medical needs using allogeneic bone marrow derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells.

Dr Pawan is a Hematologist & Medical Scientist and has worked in Armed Forces in India for 24 years. He has worked in Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota and trained in the field of stem cells. He was the former Dean of Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore. Under his leadership the product stempeucel® has progressed from pre-clinical to clinical trials and has been granted manufacturing and marketing approval for three indications in India.

  He has more than 100 publications and is the Asia Regional Vice President of International Society of Cell & Gene Therapy.  

Dr. Rahul Purwar is a professor at Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay. He

holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from Hannover Medical School, Germany. Dr. Rahul’s

professional journey spans various prestigious institutions and roles. He started his post-doctoral

fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. After his fellowship, he joined ImmunoGen,

Inc. (Boston, USA), as a scientist before returning to India as a faculty member at IIT Bombay.

His lab at IIT Bombay developed indigenous technology platform for CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, a

type of gene therapy. Based on his research at IIT Bombay, Dr Purwar founded ImmunoACT in 2018,

first cell & gene therapy company in India. Upon successful multiple clinical trials, ImmunoACT

received market authorization of the country’s first CAR-T cell therapy, and Honorable President of

India dedicated CAR-T cell therapy to the nation on April 4th, 2024. This is the first of many planned

milestones in democratizing access to advanced cell & gene therapies in India.

Dr. Purwar’s research work is well-recognized in the scientific community, with numerous

publications to his credit in esteemed journals. His contributions to the field of Biosciences & Bioengineering are commendable and his work continues to inspire many in the scientific community.

An esteemed leader in the biologics, cell and gene therapy industry with over two decades of expertise in developing molecules for the US and EU markets in the biologics space. In addition to a strong background in structural, biophysical, process development, analytical, and biological assays, Lakshmikanth has demonstrated expertise in cell and gene therapy programs using AAV and Lentiviral vector based therapies over last eight years. He has filed several patents in the field of product development in biologics and cell and gene therapies and been part of successful approvals of US IND’s, BLA’s and EU MAA’s for biosimilars. As the Chief Scientific Officer at Immuneel Therapeutics, Lakshmikanth oversees a team of professionals dedicated to the development of novel cell and gene therapy products and platforms. The key achievements of the same include technology transfer of antiCD19-CAR-T from HCB to Immuneel facility in India, resulting in a commercial approval of the first global CD19-CAR-T product (Qartemi®) in India, as well as successful development of a patented SIM-CAR-T platform resulting in both 3 and 7 day CAR-T product. Other notable achievements include development of an allogenic CAR-T platform and evaluation of novel humanized AntiCD19-gd CAR-T with established POC data for further studies. Prior to the current role, Lakshmikanth has served as Chief Scientific Officer of InnovaVector SRL a Gene therapy company based in Naples, Italy. He also served as Sr. Vice President, at Intas Pharmaceuticals handling R&D and Manufacturing Sciences for both Biologics and Cell and Gene therapy verticals, where he set up the R&D facility and programs for both Gene therapy and CAR-T cell therapies. Prior to that he has also served in various leadership roles in Biological Evans, Sanofi and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.