THE PREMIER BIOPHARMA GATHERING DRIVING BIOPROCESS INNOVATION & MARKET GROWTH ACROSS THE DACH REGION

Dr. John Bridgeman is an accomplished immunotherapy and cell therapy expert with nearly two decades of experience advancing innovative cancer immunotherapies from early scientific discovery through translational and clinical development. He currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer at ImmunoKey, where he leads the company’s scientific strategy focused on developing next-generation CAR-T therapies designed to address the challenges of treating solid tumours.

Dr. Bridgeman holds a PhD from The University of Manchester, where his research focused on understanding the signalling biology of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) in T cells. His work contributed to uncovering novel insights into CAR transmembrane domain function and T-cell receptor interactions, laying an important scientific foundation for the advancement of engineered cell therapies. He later continued his scientific training at Cardiff University, contributing to the development of viral-specific T-cell receptor assays and lentiviral engineering technologies for T-cell modulation.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Bridgeman has held leadership roles across several cell therapy and biotechnology organisations, including Instil Bio, Immetacyte Ltd., and Cellular Therapeutics Ltd., where he led research teams focused on novel gene engineering strategies, translational immunotherapy programmes, and CAR-T platform development. His expertise spans T-cell engineering, immuno-oncology, translational science, intellectual property strategy, and advancing innovative therapies toward clinical application.

At ImmunoKey, Dr. Bridgeman is leading the development of the company’s proprietary CARKey™ platform, a multi-specific CAR-T technology designed to overcome tumour antigen heterogeneity and improve the effectiveness of CAR-T therapies in solid cancers. His work focuses on developing safer, more targeted, and more durable cell therapies capable of addressing some of the most significant limitations currently facing solid tumour immunotherapy.

Widely recognised within the advanced therapies and immuno-oncology community, Dr. Bridgeman is a regular speaker at international scientific conferences and industry forums discussing the future of CAR-T therapies, cell engineering technologies, and translational immunotherapy innovation.