Nuno Pires
Senior Manager Rare Diseases & Modalities In Vivo Pharmacology and Translation Bial
Nuno is a translational pharmacology leader with over 16 years of experience advancing innovative therapies across the pharmaceutical industry. His expertise spans the drug development continuum, with a strong focus on disease biology, in vivo pharmacology, biomarkers, and translational research to support targeted therapy development. Nuno has contributed to the successful development and commercialisation of therapies for epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, while advancing programmes in cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurological disorders through clinical development. He currently leads biomarker strategy and translational research across multiple therapeutic areas, working with cross-functional teams to generate robust data packages that accelerate decision-making and clinical progression.
Seminars
Gain comprehensive expertise in the most transformative biomarker class for synucleinopathies. This intensive workshop delivers practical knowledge on seed amplification assays, novel PET tracers, and plasma-based detection methods, enabling you to design robust biomarker strategies that de-risk your PD, MSA, and Lewy body dementia programmes. Learn standardisation protocols, compare vendor platforms, and understand regulatory pathways to confidently implement α-synuclein biomarkers from Phase 1 through registration trials.
Key Questions to be Answered:
- How do you establish standardisation protocols for α-synuclein seed amplification assays with different labs and vendors yielding different results, and what harmonisation strategies ensure reproducible outcomes across multiple sites?
- What are the key differences between α-synuclein detection methods, seed amplification assays in CSF and skin biopsies versus novel PET tracers versus plasma-based assays and when should you prioritise each modality based on your trial design, patient population, and mechanism of action?
- How do you validate that α-synuclein biomarkers accurately reflect brain pathology and disease progression, and what evidence is required to use them as eligibility criteria, pharmacodynamic endpoints, or surrogate markers in regulatory submissions?
- How do you integrate α-synuclein fluid biomarkers with PET imaging to create multimodal strategies that provide convergent evidence of target engagement and disease modification, and what are the operational challenges of combining these modalities?
- What are the current limitations of α-synuclein biomarkers, peripheral contamination in blood, lack of correlation with clinical outcomes, unclear relationship to disease subtypes and how do leading programmes address these challenges to build regulatory-grade validation packages?
