Jessica Sgrignuoli
Associate Director - Environment, Health & Safety Lab Central
Seminars
Tuesday 24th March 2026
Workshop A: Practical Biosafety Risk Management for the Handling of Emerging Modalities
9:00 am
Dive into the day-to-day realities of managing biosafety in evolving biopharma environments. Participants will tackle the practical side of working with live agents, hybrid hazards, and novel compounds, where toxicology data is scarce, contractors vary in competence, and operational demands can compromise safety. Take-away strategies for maintaining robust biosafety without slowing innovation.
Key Questions to Be Addressed
- How can site teams justify and protect biosafety controls, such as BSCs or isolators, when operational or space constraints challenge their necessity?
- What workable approaches exist for safely handling novel compounds and live materials when toxicological or exposure data are incomplete?
- How can teams verify validation quality, leak testing, and equipment integrity when local regulations or contractor experience are limited?
- What training methods, peer learning, or digital tools can quickly upskill teams transitioning to advanced modalities like ADCs, radiopharma, or gene therapy?
- How can site-level leaders foster a biosafety culture where biological risks are recognised early, discussed openly, and prioritised alongside productivity?
Thursday 26th March 2026
Designing for the Unknown: Building Flexible, Safe, & Sustainable Biopharma Labs
12:30 pm
- Address how lab and facility design must evolve to accommodate novel compounds, potent materials, and rapidly shifting modalities, from peptides to gene therapies, and highlight real-world approaches to containment, disposable systems, ergonomic design, and staged investment strategies
- Explore how adaptive design principles and data-driven risk assessment can reduce unnecessary capital expenditure, prevent contamination, and ensure safety and comfort within cleanroom constraints
- Gain actionable insights on balancing safety, scalability, and human factors in lab design, learning how to future-proof facilities for scientific innovation without compromising on ergonomics, containment, or cost efficiency
