Ines Grazina de Matos
Principal Scientist Roche
Ines Grazina de Matos, is a Principal Scientist at the Roche Innovation Center Zürich, within pRED Oncology Disease Therapeutic Area. With over 12 years of experience in early oncology drug discovery, she specializes in advanced modalities, including Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and Degrader-Antibody Conjugates (DACs). She leads interdisciplinary project teams, steering molecules from target assessment through Lead Optimization and toward IND submission. A key component of her role involves driving external innovation by scouting for next-generation targeted conjugates and identifying promising drug candidates. Ines holds a PhD in Immunology & Microbiology from The Rockefeller University.
Seminars
As the field matures, developers are grappling with two persistent barriers: poor tumor penetration and a treatment landscape that is rapidly filling with combination options. This session brings together perspectives on where next-generation ADC design is heading, from tumor-activated and conditionally active constructs to novel target combinations such as PD-L1/VEGF ADCs positioned as alternatives to bispecifics, and asks what the competitive and combination landscape will look like as these approaches mature.
Learning Takeaways:
- Understand the emerging competitive landscape for ADC linker technology, including new protease-specific linkers, and what this means for differentiation against established assets.
- Explore practical strategies being developed to address poor tumor penetration, a barrier that continues to limit the efficacy of large molecule ADCs in solid tumors.
- Consider how novel dual-function constructs, such as a PD-L1/VEGF ADC, could offer a differentiated path compared to bispecific approaches, and what this signals for future combination strategy
