Four scientists from Pfizer’s BioMedicine Design team share how they are using long-read sequencing as a single, in-house platform, from screening antibody candidates to confirming cell line identity.
Sequencing informs decisions at almost every stage of biotherapeutic development. Yet many teams still rely on outsourced services and several separate technologies to get their answers, which adds delays, complexity and cost.
Working with Oxford Nanopore, Pfizer’s BioMedicine Design team set out to change that. In this webinar, Jonathan McDaniel, Ilya Tikh and Hamza Sahil explain how they are implementing Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing as a unified, in-house platform across the pipeline. They draw on real examples from three stages:
- Discovery: screening antibody candidates earlier, with full-length sequences and VH-VL pairing preserved
- Construct verification: checking plasmid constructs end to end
- Cell line development: confirming the identity and purity of stable CHO cell lines
The team will also cover what it takes to make the platform scale:
- Standardised analysis
- Automated sample preparation
- Multiplexing
- Deployment across multiple sites
After the presentation, the speakers are joined by Lijian Yu for a live Q&A. You can bring questions about your own sequencing workflows.
Our speakers
Mia Rapoza Peterson has been a member of the Strategic Biopharma team at Oxford Nanopore for two years, supporting biopharma customers across the Boston and New England region.
Hamza Sahil leads the DNA production and next-generation sequencing (NGS) efforts at Pfizer Cambridge in the Biotherapeutic Expression and Purification group, where he supports projects from early discovery through to cell line process development. Before joining Pfizer, Hamza worked at a microbiome start-up, using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) for 16S sequencing. Before that, he spent several years at a contract research organisation (CRO), primarily focusing on DNA production and Sanger sequencing.
Jonathan McDaniel is a Senior Principal Scientist in Biomedicine Design at Pfizer, where he leads the development and application of next-generation sequencing and high-throughput discovery technologies for biologics research. His work combines molecular biology, automation, computational analysis and antibody engineering to enable large-scale interrogation of immune repertoires and accelerate therapeutic candidate discovery. He has contributed to the implementation of nanopore sequencing workflows for antibody discovery and is focused on building integrated platforms that translate complex sequencing datasets into actionable insights for drug development.
Dr Ilya Tikh is a Senior Principal Scientist in the Biomedicine Design group at Pfizer, where he leads efforts in synthetic biology and cell line development to enable the production of next-generation biologics. He is passionate about developing novel platforms that accelerate biologics development workflows. As part of its cell line development and characterisation activities, the Biomedicine Design group has built extensive experience applying next-generation sequencing technologies, including nanopore sequencing, to address complex biological challenges. This includes the validation and characterisation of stable CHO cell lines.
Dr Lijian Yu is a Senior Principal Scientist at Pfizer, where he uses advanced DNA sequencing and bioinformatics tools to support the discovery and development of new medicines. His work supports the design of next-generation biologic therapies, including multispecific antibodies that target disease in novel ways. He is passionate about translating genomics technologies into practical tools that advance medical innovation.
What will you learn?
- Understand how long-read sequencing enables full-length antibody sequence analysis, preserves VH–VL pairing, and captures sequence diversity to support early candidate screening and antibody discovery.
- Explore how Oxford Nanopore sequencing can support end-to-end plasmid verification, vector integrity assessment, and construct validation across biotherapeutic development.
- Discover how long-read sequencing can characterise stable cell lines, confirm clonal identity and identify potential cross-well contamination.
- Learn how standardised bioinformatics, consensus generation and quality-control approaches can support accurate, scalable analysis of long-read sequencing data.
- Understand how automation, multiplexing and standardised workflows can enable a common sequencing platform to be deployed across different applications and sites.
- Recognise how bringing sequencing in-house can replace fragmented, outsourced workflows, shorten turnaround times, improve flexibility and cost efficiency, and accelerate decision-making across the biotherapeutic pipeline.
Join the conversation
Join this webinar to learn how Pfizer accelerates biotherapeutic discovery and development with in-house Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing, replacing fragmented outsourced workflows across candidate screening, plasmid verification and cell-line characterisation.
Access the free webinar by registering for a membership or logging into your account.
Is the panel discussion free?
Yes – there is no charge to watch the panel discussion, either live or on-demand.
When will the panel discussion take place?
The webinar will be taking place on October 21st 2026 at 16:00 GMT
Can I watch it later?
The panel discussion will become available to watch on-demand shortly after the live webinar takes place.
What are the benefits of attending live?
You’ll be able to ask the speakers your questions, which will be answered live in the Q&A towards the end of the session.
How long will the panel discussion be?
This panel discussion will last up to an hour.
What do I need to watch this panel discussion?
All you need is a computer with an internet connection. We recommend using headphones if possible if you’re in an office environment.