NewsMay 26, 2026

Reflections on the Future of Cell and Gene Therapy from Boston

Ada Shaw, PhDScientific Partnerships Lead

Looking back at ASGCT 2026

Now that ASGCT 2026 has wrapped up, it's a good time to reflect on the conversations we had at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center. Over five days in Boston, we met with researchers, clinicians, biotech executives, and patient advocates to share ideas and listen to where the field is headed.

A Clear Direction for the Field

It's clear that delivery innovation is starting to catch up with biology. There was significant progress shown in in vivo targeted delivery technologies, along with improvements in manufacturing for both viral and non-viral methods. The non-viral track - including lipid nanoparticles, synthetic carriers, and extracellular vesicles - highlighted a diverse and active landscape of new approaches.

Addressing the data challenge in CGT

Scientists can now profile metabolites, lipids, and proteins within a single sample with high resolution. This means that identifying targets and assessing risks now involves managing large, complex datasets. These multi-omics analyses across different biomatrices help in discovering biomarker signatures related to disease mechanisms and drug response.
As data generation becomes easier, the challenge shifts to interpretation. In early discovery, the goal is to move from a dataset to a solid target hypothesis. This involves understanding why a specific target or modality is worth pursuing. This synthesis step can often become a bottleneck if the reasoning isn't clear and reproducible. Eos was designed to help make this process more efficient and auditable.

Unpacking Trust in the Era of Agentic AI

Our CEO, Vivek Adarsh, discussed the Mithrl perspective and the Eos platform with the ASGCT community. During his talk, "From Target to IND: Verifiable AI Agents for Cell and Gene Therapy," he demonstrated how Eos can help move a target hypothesis toward an IND-ready rationale with transparency. The feedback from the audience showed a real interest in how we build trustworthiness into the platform.

What Comes Next

The conference covered a lot of ground, from gene editing to manufacturing. A common theme was that biology is often moving faster than the tools we use to make decisions. With more data and hypotheses to evaluate, the programs that succeed will likely be those that can synthesize evidence effectively.

Looking Forward to Next Year, and the Many Conversations Between Now and Then

If you stopped by our booth in Boston or would like to follow up on a conversation, we'd be happy to chat more.
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