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Cell-Based Assays

Optimising methods and integrating new platforms for drug discovery, development and toxicity testing

20th - 22nd September 2010, Hilton London Olympia, London, UK

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Background Info
Workshop
Day 1
Day 2
Partners
Past Papers
Venue Info
Speakers

Silver Sponsor

Associate Sponsors

Junior Sponsor

Media Partners

Discussion Groups

Background Info

Key Speakers
• Dr. Maria Flocco, Senior Director, Lead Discovery and Structural Biology & Biophysics, Pfizer
• Dr. Rachel Russell, Associate Director, Plate-Based Screening, Research Enabling Group, Pfizer
• Dr. Magalie Rocheville, Investigator, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline
• Dr. Priya Kunapuli, Director, In Vitro Sciences, External Discovery and Pre-Clinical Sciences, Merck Research Laboratories
• Dr. Philip G. Hewitt, Head, Molecular Toxicology, Merck Serono
• Dr. Matthew Peters, Principal Scientist, Lead Generation, AstraZeneca
• Dr. Alastair Brown, Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca
• Dr. Nick Thomas, Principal Scientist, GE Healthcare
• Dr. Daniella Steel, Senior Scientist, Cellartis
• Dr. Julian Burke, Chief Scientific Officer, Genetix
• Dr. Dusko Ilic, Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science, King’s College London
• Professor Frank Bonner, Chief Executive Officer, Stem Cells for Safer Medicines
• Dr. Stephan Heyse, General Manager, Discovery Informatics, Genedata
• Professor Jonathan S. Dordick, Co-Founder, Solidus Biosciences

Despite spiralling R&D costs, 90% of lead candidates identified by current in vitro systems fail to become drugs. Setbacks including poor efficacy and unanticipated side effects remain significant challenges, frequently undetected in animal and pre-clinical testing.

New advances in microarray, label-free and stem cell platforms are facilitating faster screening using human cells and dramatically improving next generation models.

This 3-day event, comprising pre-conference workshop and two-day meeting, provides practical insights into the latest developments in this exciting field. With an international faculty of leading experts, accelerate your product launches with insights from key decision makers.

By attending Visiongain's Cell-Based assays conference, you will obtain distilled insights from outstanding speakers, in key areas including:

• Whole-cell screening for GPCR ligands
• Direct small-molecule kinase activation
• Advances and challenges in label-free technologies
• Induced pluripotent and hESCs for drug discovery
• Embryonic stem cell-derived hepatocytes and adult liver cells for CYP450 toxicity evaluation
• Accelerated high-content screening with human cardiac cells
• Neural progenitor cells for HT/uHT testing
• Three-dimensional primary cell cultures for drug development
• Cell migration and uptake assays
• Primary and three-dimensional culture methods for pharmacological profiling

Who should attend?

Presidents, Chief Executive Officers, VPs, Global Heads, Chief Scientific Officers, Directors, Principal Scientists, Franchise Heads and Investigators in:
• Bioanalytical Development
• High-Throughput/High-Content Screening Operations
• Compound Profiling
• Drug Discovery/Validation
• Drug Delivery
• Lead Generation
• In Vitro Sciences
• ADMET
• Pre-clinical Development
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Toxicology
• Stem Cell Technologies & Platforms
• Pharmacovigilance and Safety Testing
• Chemistry and Bioapplications
• GPCR/Kinases/Molecular Pharmacology
• External/Contract Research
• Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics
• Global Research and Development
• Business Development
• Investment and Venture Capital

Venue:

Hilton London Olympia
380 Kensington High Street
London, W14 8NL
http://www.hilton.co.uk/olympia

Workshop

Post-conference Workshop, Wednesday 22nd September 2010

Label-Free Cellular Assays: The Relevant Future of Drug Discovery

Led by: Mr. Ryan McGuinness, Principal, Ryan McGuinness Consultants
Panelists: Dr. Magalie Rocheville, Investigator, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline
Dr. Matthew Peters, Principal Scientist, Lead Generation, AstraZeneca
Dr. Alastair Brown, Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca

Timings: 09:30 - 10:00 Coffee & Registration
10:00 - 15:00 Workshop
Timing includes lunch and refreshment breaks

The purpose of the workshop is to allow you to engage in knowledge sharing with your peers in a smaller, less formal environment than the main conference. As such, the audience size will typically be no more than 20 participants in order to enable maximum interaction between the workshop leader and the delegates. The format is also more interactive, with less emphasis on ‘lecture-style’ presentations and more emphasis on group discussions, exercises and Q&A sessions.

A review of Label-free cell-based assays - what they are, how they work and where they fit.

Today a majority of compound screening campaigns performed by the Biopharmaceutical industry rely on cell-based assays for one particular reason: cell-based assays enable functional measures of target activation in a more relevant and informative setting when compared to biochemical assays. Label-free cellular assays are driving this paradigm forward with their exquisite sensitivity, robustness, ease of use and flexibility. These assays are now performed routinely throughout early drug discovery from target identification and validation to primary screening, lead identification and lead optimization and into safety and toxicology. Through their sensitivity to endogenous levels of receptor targets in cell types closely aligned to the disease processes under study, these technologies provide highly accurate models of complex biological states in formats compatible with industrialized drug screening.

During this workshop we will review the leading, commercially available label-free cellular assay platforms and discuss their applications, advantages and disadvantages. We will have a full discussion of the underlying technology of each platform and compare their abilities to advance various stages of the drug discovery process. We will also explore where label-free technologies fit in the process and how they can be utilized to promote better decision making about which lead candidates to advance. The future of these exciting new technologies is in their ability to create opportunities for researchers to put a higher degree of cell biology into their drug discovery in ways that until now were unattainable.

Lessons Learned
• In-depth understanding of the leading label-free cellular assay technologies currently on the market.
• Discussion of label-free’s placement in the drug discovery process.
• Advantages and disadvantages of adopting label-free cell based assay technologies.
• Case studies illustrating the utility of label-free assays.
• Discussion of the future directions of these technologies.

About your workshop leader

Ryan McGuinness was trained in genetics and cell biology at the University of California at Davis. Since 1988 he has worked in several biotechnology companies and spent time as a private research consultant. His research background encompasses broad areas of molecular cell biology including gene therapy, cellular therapeutics, receptor-mediated signal transduction and functional pharmacology. Ryan has also held customer-facing positions related to the introduction of novel technologies to the Biopharmaceutical industry. He has most recently contributed his expertise to the development and commercialization of the CellKey System family of label-free products at MDS Analytical Technologies. Working at the forefront of label-free cell based assays Ryan has developed numerous applications, published multiple scientific communications and lead collaborations world wide with well-known drug discovery teams from companies like Merck, Amgen, J & J, Novartis and AstraZeneca.

Day 1

Day One, Monday 20th September 2010

09:00 Registration and refreshments

09:30 Opening address from the Chair

Dr. Rachel Russell
Associate Director, Plate-Based Screening, Research Enabling Group
Pfizer

09:40 Emerging GPCR assay technologies for drug discovery
• Functional assays for GPCR drug discovery and uHTS
• GPCR functional assays and assays to identify biased ligands
• Label-free and other assay technologies for GPCRs spanning from recombinant to physiologically relevant cell systems

Dr. Priya Kunapuli
Director, In Vitro Sciences
External Discovery and Pre-Clinical Sciences
Merck Research Laboratories

10:20 Whole-cell label-free screening for GPCR ligands
• Direct comparison of impedance-based (CellKey) and optical-based instruments (BIND and Epic) for Gi, Gq, and Gs-coupled receptors
• Detecting and distinguishing activation of multiple G-proteins and thus functional selectivity
• An expanding niche for label-free approaches in GPCR screening

Dr. Matthew Peters
Principal Scientist, Lead Generation
AstraZeneca

11:00 Morning refreshments

11:20 Technologies for label-free, real-time cell analysis, and high-throughput automated cell imaging
• Study cell proliferation or cell invasion/migration in real-time with the xCELLigence Systems
• High-throughput cell imaging in microplates with the Cellavista Analyzer

Mrs. Sarah Garland
Senior Product Manager - Cellular Analysis
Roche Applied Science

11:40 Accelerated high-content screening
• Cell-cycle specific assays
• Apoptosis and cell death

Dr. Julian Burke
Chief Scientific Officer
Genetix

12:20 High content 2.0 - the evolution of high content analysis
• The technology of high content screening has evolved rapidly since it started 14 years ago
• Recent cutting edge technologies and products have been released by Thermo Fisher Scientific
• These are the result of a combination of customer feedback and our innovation, and represent a significant step forward in high content analysis

Dr. Mike Davenport-Cooper
Lead Application Scientist, Life Science Research- Cellomics
Thermo Fisher Scientific

12:40 Networking lunch

13:40 Image analysis in the cloud
• myWim- High reliability, cost-effective scalability, and multi-site comparability
• WimScratch- assay specific algorithms for precise results and outstanding performance
• Co-Creation - trusting users and harnessing collective intelligence for supreme service

Mr. Kilian C.M. Schramm
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Wimasis

14:00 High-throughput 3D cell cultures for drug discovery and human toxicology
• Cell-based microarray platforms
• Adoption of multiple cell-based assays into high-throughput format
• Metabolism-based toxicity screening for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics

Professor Jonathan S. Dordick
Director, Center for Biotechnology & Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Co-Founder, Solidus Biosciences

14:40 Fabricating, growing, assaying and storing 3D cell cultures: applications in drug discovery and beyond
• Drug discovery applications of 3D cell culture systems
• Label free cell and tissue mechanics assay system
• Cross talk between ontological drug targets and cardiac toxicity
• Genomic effects on disease phenotypes
• Development of cardiac tissue patches

Dr. Tetsuro Wakatsuki
Chief Scientific Officer
InvivoSciences

15:20 Afternoon refreshments

15:40 Cell-based assays and high-content imaging for early identification of liver toxicity liability. What can be predicted early in discovery and why bother?
• When does it make sense to identify toxicity liabilities early?
• Which liabilities can be predicted in early discovery?
• Which in vitro assays have enough validation behind them?

Dr. Katya Tsaioun
President, Scientific Director and Co-Founder
Apredica

16:00 SimuGen: effective modelling of in vitro genomic and high content screening data for drug discovery
• Current toxicogenomics has failed due to expense, complexity of results, and lack of scalability for early stage screening
• Dose-response models of this highly complex data in human cell culture, developed by SimuGen
• SimuGen's flagship liver toxicity product using hepaRG cells, and the HT-Stream software developed by SimuGen for in vitro predictive toxicology

Dr. Quin Wills
Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder
SimuGen

16:20 Panel discussion: A network view of disease and compound screening
Panelists will discuss utilising diverse screening methodologies to maximise lead optimisation, and moving towards physiologically relevant disease constructs for more accurate lead identification. The impact of chemical biology to identify disease networks, and utilising genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data will also be covered. What are the implications of this systems-based approach for the linear-causality model of disease? How will this impact HT screening and personalised drug discovery? Please email your questions for the panel to: john.shah@visiongainglobal.com.

Chair: Dr. Maria Flocco, Senior Director, Lead Discovery and Structural Biology & Biophysics, Pfizer
Panelists: Dr. Priya Kunapuli, Director, In Vitro Sciences, External Discovery and Pre-Clinical Sciences, Merck Research Laboratories
Professor Jonathan S. Dordick, Director, Center for Biotechnology & Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Co-Founder, Solidus Biosciences
Dr. Stephan Heyse, General Manager, Discovery Informatics, Genedata
Dr. Mike Davenport-Cooper, Lead Application Scientist, Life Science Research- Cellomics, Thermo Fisher Scientific

17:00 Closing remarks from the Chair

17:10 Networking drinks
Take your discussions further and build new relationships in a relaxed and informal setting

Day 2

Day Two, Tuesday 21st September 2010

09:00 Registration and refreshments

09:30 Opening address from the Chairs

Professor Frank Bonner
Chief Executive Officer
Stem Cells for Safer Medicines

Mr. Chris Parker
Chief Commercial Officer
Cellular Dynamics International

09:40 Screening tools for toxicity and drug discovery
• Overview on screening tools for discovery toxicology
• Use of omics to explain and predict toxicities
• Hepatocytes for ADMET

Dr. Philip G. Hewitt
Head, Molecular Toxicology
Merck Serono

10:20 Human hepatocytes as an effective alternative experimental system for the evaluation of human drug properties
• Metabolic stability
• Drug-drug interactions and toxicity evaluation
• Transporter studies

Dr. Albert Li
President and Chief Executive Officer
Advanced Pharmaceutical Sciences

11:00 Morning refreshments

11:20 Human embryonic stem cells in drug testing and discovery
• hESCs as a model for embryotoxicity screening
• Disease-specific hESCs in biomarker and drug discovery
• What is preventing hESC utilisation at the rapid pace that befits their enormous potential?

Dr. Dusko Ilic
Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science
King’s College London

12:00 Introducing the BIND^® scanner– high resolution, label-free applications for primary cultured cells
• Toxicity assays with ES-derived cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes
• Stem cell differentiation assays
• Transwell-free chemotaxis assays

Dr. Steven Shamah
Director of Cell Biology
SRU Biosystems

12:40 Networking lunch

13:40 Cell models and assays for investigative toxicology
• hESC derived cell models for hepatotoxicity and cardiotoxicity
• High content analysis for cellular toxicity
• Electrophysiology for cardiotoxicity

Dr. Nick Thomas
Principal Scientist
GE Healthcare

14:20 Use of human pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes for drug discovery and development
• Derivation and characteristics of cardiomyocytes from hESC
• Utility of hESC-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiotoxicity testing
• Validation and bench-marking to existing models

Dr. Daniella Steel
Senior Scientist
Cellartis

15:00 Afternoon refreshments

15:20 Panel discussion: Stem cells in drug development- where are we and what are prospects for the future?
Topics discussed will include: advantages and disadvantages over human primary and other cell models, efficacy in pre-clinical testing for new medicines, and current safety challenges. Utility of iPSC-derived models for cardiotoxicity and hepatoxicity, prospects for iPSC diversity panels, and iPSC-derived disease models will also be discussed. Please email any questions you have for the panel to: john.shah@visiongainglobal.com.

Chair: Professor Frank Bonner, Chief Executive Officer, Stem Cells for Safer Medicines
Panelists: Mr. Chris Parker, Chief Commercial Officer, Cellular Dynamics International
Dr. Dusko Ilic, Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science, King’s College London
Dr. Nick Thomas, Principal Scientist, GE Healthcare
Dr. Daniella Steel, Senior Scientist , Cellartis

16:00 A novel imaging-based high-throughput screening approach to anti-angiogenic drug discovery
• Limitations of current HTS compound screening
• An organotypic EC-vSMC co-culture assay system compatible with high-throughput/high-content image screening
• Quantitative evaluation of anti-angiogenic inhibitors

Dr. David Micklem
Chief Scientific Officer
BerGenBio

16:40 Primary brain cells for drug screening: the brain chip platform
• Use of primary neurons for high content screening
• Dissecting cell-cell signaling in neuroinflammation

Dr. Fabio Bianco
Chief Executive Officer
Neuro-Zone

17:20 Chair’s closing remarks

17:30 End of conference

Partners

Silver Sponsor:

Thermo Scientific Cellomics Products
A Total Solution Platform for High-Content Analysis...
Reagents Instruments Software
We offer complete systems for High Content Screening (HCS) and High Content Analysis (HCA) to drug discovery and systems biology researchers. Our Thermo Scientific Cellomics family of products offers a total platform, comprising automated imaging instrumentation, BioApplication image analysis software and high content informatics, coupled together with reagents, laboratory automation and services to provide the life science researcher with the fastest possible "time-to-decision". Our products are being applied today in all aspects of the drug discovery process from target id and validation through screening and ADME/Tox to pre-clinical, as well as academic research. For further information, please visit www.thermoscientific.com

Associate Sponsors:

Roche
At Roche Applied Science we are committed to providing innovative, high-quality instruments and reagents combined with excellent customer service – offering powerful tools to address the evolving needs of life science researchers worldwide. We offer real-time label-free cell analysis with the xCELLigence system, automated imaged-based cell monitoring with the Cellavista system, and a range of cell-counting technologies with our Cedex XS and CASY systems. Coupled with a wide range of cell biology products, and our established portfolio of genomics and proteomics systems and reagents, Roche Applied Science is with you every step of the way. For further information, please visit www.roche-applied-science.com

InvivoSciences LLC
InvivoSciences LLC is a frontier in developing next generation 3D cell culture and assay systems to provide unprecedented solutions in the biomedical research, cosmetics and drug discovery, and toxicology screening. Cells cultured in 2D have been used for biomedical research and development as primary biological samples before results are tested on animal models. However, most cells in human body have 3D interactions. Application of our products, a high-throughput screening device (Palpator™) and plastic consumables for 3D cell culture system, can narrow the gap between 2D cell culture studies and in vivo analysis. The system precisely, rapidly, and cost-effectively quantifies the effects of drug candidates, chemicals, and gene products on the physiological properties of reconstituted tissues (3D cell culture) that mimic in vivo tissue/organ functions. For further information, please visit www.invivosciences.com

Bionas
Bionas® specializes in instruments and services for label-free, cell-based assays.
The B2500 analyzing system is a 6 channel system for the simultaneous monitoring of oxygen consumption, acidification and cellular impedance/adhesion. The instrument generates real-time data about the metabolic activity of cells, including regeneration effects. Adherent, primary or suspension cells can be analyzed for applications in toxicology, oncology, drug discovery.
The B9600 adcon reader is a versatile instrument for label-free monitoring of cellular impedance in 96 well format. It provides real-time information about cell adhesion, proliferation, morphology etc. for high-throughput screening and laboratory research. GLP laboratory service is also available. http://www.bionas.de

Cellular Dynamics International
Cellular Dynamics International is the world's largest producer of fully functional human cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Our iCell™ product lines provide industrialized quantities of pure, homogenous, terminally differentiated human cells enabling basic research, efficient drug discovery programs, and reliably predictive toxicity and efficacy screening through in vitro clinical trials. For further information, please visit www.cellulardynamics.com

Wimasis GmbH
The Wimasis GmbH is a provider of quantitative image analysis solutions that run online. The platform doesn't require any software installation or specialized hardware equipment. Simply by accessing https://mywim.wimasis.com/ through the browser, users can conduct the quantitative image analysis from anywhere in the world. Just upload your images, start the analysis process and receive the results via email and as a downloadable detailed report.
Migration Assays, Chemotaxis Assays (beta phase), Angiogenesis Assays (beta phase), Autophagy Assays and Custom Solutions are available to fit your needs: www.wimasis.com.

Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Lonza’s Bioscience Division provides innovative, reliable products and services for drug discovery research and preclinical screening. We focus on primary cell supply, including diseased cells, stem cell derived cells, immortalized cells, biosensor cells, transfection of difficult cells and cell expansion services. We also offer improved prediction from cell models, including contextual cell-based assays for toxicity and mechanism-of-action assessment. We make reagent production easier for our customers with our Cells on Demand™ Services and putting the assays you already use into biologically relevant primary cells. For further information, please visit www.lonza.com/drugdiscovery

Cellular Technology Ltd
CTL's Mission: "Elevating ELISPOT to an Exact Science".
CTL's Unique Feature: the only company that specializes in all aspects of ELISPOT, offering our unparalleled expertise in the field to the scientific community.
Presently 62 full time CTL employees focus on: ImmunoSpot Readers; ImmunoSpot Software for analysis, and data management; ELISPOT Kits (sold through BD); Serum free assay media; Antigens: positive and negative assay controls; HLA-typed and immune characterized PBMC library; PBMC reference samples; ELISPOT standardization package; Serum free PBMC cryopreservation; Assay consultation and training; GLP compliant high throughput ELISPOT testing.
For more information, please visit www.immunospot.com

Junior Sponsor:

SimuGen
SimuGen is a pharmacogenomics company focused on early stage drug discovery. The company combines groundbreaking human cell culture and genomic modelling to produce high throughput screens for use alongside other early ADME testing. SimuGen's flagship product, HT-Stream, is software that allows you to model in vitro genomic and high-content screening data to predict human toxicities and the doses at which these toxicities emerge. The software is easy to understand, decision-centric, and has features allowing you to input prior ADME knowledge and relate results back to structure-activity modelling. For more information on HT-Stream and how to use SimuGen's hepaRG liver tox models for your in vitro screening please visit www.simugen-global.com and contact quin.wills@simugen-global.com

Apredica
Apredica is the oldest early-ADME/Tox contract research lab in New England. Our mission is to provide the benefits of outsourced early ADME/Tox analysis with the same speed and service quality provided by an in-house service department. We combine the flexibility, expertise, and low cost of outsourcing with the speed and scientist-to-scientist communications of insourcing. For further information, please visit www.Apredica.com

Media Partners:

PharmiWeb.com
PharmiWeb.com is the leading industry-sponsored portal for the pharmaceutical sector. Supported by most of the leading pharmaceutical corporations, PharmiWeb.com provides dynamic real-time news, features, events listings and international jobs to industry professionals across Europe and the US. For further information please email: corporate@pharmiweb.com

BIOTECHNOLOGY EUROPE
BIOTECHNOLOGY EUROPE is owned by BIOTECHNOLOGY WORLD. It is based and located in Warsaw, Poland. Biotechnology World was founded in 2007 to provide the world’s biotech and pharma information and market to make it universally accessible and useful for scientific and business processes. Its first step to fulfilling that mission was building the BIOTECHNOLOGY EUROPE platform that will allow a quick spread of information in different channels. BIOTECHNOLOGY EUROPE offers companies completed internet public relations, publication and marketing solutions. One of the main goals of BIOTECHNOLOGY EUROPE is to integrate the Biotech and Pharma Sector in Europe to global biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life science activities. For further information please visit www.biotechnology-europe.com

Future Pharmaceuticals
Future Pharmaceuticals has forged powerful relationships with key industry leaders to provide a platform for successful brand recognition, and for senior decision-makers to have the means to procure and plan implementation strategies based on the topics covered. Positioned to be an authoritative resource within top pharma companies as well as small, specialty, and biotech, Future Pharmaceuticals magazine is geared to create a deep penetration into a highly targeted and responsive audience, bridging the gap between the industries' top issues and the solutions top-tier vendors can provide. For further information, please visit www.futurepharmaus.com

InPharm
InPharm is the online platform for exclusive pharmaceutical news, comment, contracts, services, jobs and events and is home to InPharmjobs.com, Pharmafile and Pharmafocus. For further information please visit: www.In-Pharm.com

Pharma Connections Worldwide
Pharma Connections Worldwide® is the leading professional business networking website focused in the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Life Sciences research industry. Our goal is to provide a conduit for delivery of premiere content coupled with the right clientele in order to facilitate business development opportunities among industry professionals responsible for making key decisions in a global marketplace. For further information please visit www.pharmaconnections.com

Enquiries

If you would like more information on the range of sponsorship or exhibition possibilities for visiongain's Cell-Based Assay Conference, please contact us:
Ronald Reyes Magali, +44 (0)20 7549 9934
ronald.magali@visiongainglobal.com
James Hopkins, +44 (0)20 7549 9974
james.hopkins@visiongainglobal.com
Franck Gaudilliere, +44 (0)20 7549 9969
franck.gaudilliere@visiongainglobal.com

Past Papers

Speaker presentations are free to delegates. If you are unable to attend the event, the presentations are published two weeks after the event and are available to purchase.

Buy Now

Venue Info

Hilton London Olympia
380 Kensington High Street
London, W14 8NL
http://www.hilton.co.uk/olympia

Speakers

Chris Parker

Chief Commercial Officer

CELLular Dynamics international

Chris Parker is responsible for sales, marketing and business development at Cellular Dynamics International (CDI). Parker brings more than 20 years of experience in the life science industry to CDI. As a Vice President at Affymetrix, he managed all aspects of sales and marketing for the Global Pharmaceutical Business Unit, where he led the sales efforts that grew Affymetrix to over $350 million per year in revenue within 8 years. Prior to his position in the Global Pharmaceutical Business Unit, Parker was responsible for market development of Affymetrix's genetics business and flagship products, establishing key contacts and applications that drove the growth of the genome scanning market and chromosomal copy number applications.
Dr Dusko Ilic

Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science

King's College London

From 2005-2009 Dr Dusko Ilic worked as the Director of Research and Development at StemLifeLine, a California-licensed, state-of-the-art cell culture facility that follows current good tissue practices (cGTP) for derivation and the long-term cryopreservation of the derived human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines. In August 2009, he joined King's College London as Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Science in the Assisted Conception Unit at Guy's Hospital within the Division of Reproduction and Endocrinology. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Regenerative Medicine.
Dr Julian F Burke PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Genetix Limited

Dr Julian F Burke PhD is Chief Scientific Officer at Genetix Limited and a visiting Professor at the University of Southampton. Genetix Limited, now part of Leica Microssytems, currently employs 170 people and has been run as a consistently profitable business developing reagents and instrumentation for the Biopharmaceutical industry. The company played a major role in the Human Genome project supplying colony pickers to the major academic sequencing centres and commercial sequencing companies. The company has now evolved and focuses on its core strengths of imaging and analysis in the field of cell biology. Genetix Limited develops systems for early stage therapeutic antibody production, cell screening and cell based diagnostics.
Dr Nick Thomas

Principal Scientist in Cell Technologies

GE Healthcare

Dr Nick Thomas is Principal Scientist in Cell Technologies at GE Healthcare based in Cardiff. He has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow and a PhD from the University of Wales College of Medicine. In a 27 year career with Amersham International, Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Nycomed Amersham, Amersham and GE Healthcare he has held a number of positions in Operations, Marketing and R&D. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 60 patents covering a wide range of technologies from microfabrication to molecular and cellular sensors.
Dr Rachel J. Russell

Associate Director

Pfizer Global Research & Development

Rachel Russell, PhD is an Associate Director in the Research Enabling Group (REG) at Pfizer's Research and Development site in Sandwich, U.K. Within this group Rachel is responsible for the co-ordination of SAR generation and assay development for chemistry led projects in the Pain Therapeutic area. Rachel has contributed to Pfizer's worldwide Discovery effort to look at how Pfizer can prosecute its plate based pharmacology in a forward thinking & globally consistent manner and champions closed loop screening on the Sandwich site. In parallel Rachel has been a Research Project Leader for an Allergy & Respiratory target where she was accountable for project progression & scientific strategy through discovery and up to first in human.
Fabio Bianco

Chief Executive Officer

Neuro-Zone srl

Dr. Bianco is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Neuro-Zone srl, a spin off company from the University of Milano dedicated to the development of products, tools and solutions for advanced research in the field of neuroscience. His research activity has been focused on the study of intercellular communication among brain cells, in physiological and pathological conditions. In particular, results from his studies revealed the existence of a novel alternative mechanism of communication inside the Central Nervous System responsible for the onset of neuroinflammatory events leading to neurodegeneration.
Katya Tsaioun, Ph.D.

President, Scientific Director and Co-Founder

Apredica

Prior to founding Apredica, Dr. Tsaioun worked as a Group Leader at Surface Logix, Mitotix and NitroMed, where she developed in vitro ADME and in vivo DMPK programs for angiogenesis (oncology), CNS, metabolic disease, and infectious disease programs. Dr. Tsaioun earned her Ph.D. from Tufts University. Her Ph.D. thesis on effects of signal transduction and apoptosis factors in the rat brain was done under direction of Dr. Joseph in Neuroscience. Her post-doctoral training was at Harvard University Primate Center, working on in vivo and in vitro drug-dependence models with cannabinoid receptor and dopamine transporter systems.
Matthew F. Peters, PhD

Principal Scientist

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

Matthew F. Peters, PhD is a principal scientist at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in Wilmington, DE. Matt has focused on functional assays with GPCRs and leading early stage drug hunting projects targeting psychiatry conditions. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Physiology from University of North Carolina for work developing a new model for the molecular organization of dystrophin complexes and identifying synapse-specific forms of these complexes. His postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University focused on the pathogenic mechanisms involved in Huntington’s disease.
Philip Hewitt

Head of Molecular Toxicology

Merck Serono

I originally trained as a Medical Biochemist at the University of Birmingham (1986-1989). I worked as a Research Assistant in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department at Imperial College, London where I received my PhD in the lab of Dr Sharon Hotchkiss. The main theme of the research project was “percutaneous absorption: metabolic and kinetic parameters”. In 1996, I transferred to The University of California, San Francisco, in the Dermatology Department; I spent 18 months there under the guidance of Prof. Howard Maibach. In 1998 I started a permanent position in the Institute of Toxicology at Merck KGaA in Germany, where I established the Molecular Toxicology Group. I am currently responsible for ‘Omics profiling, several PhD students and a team representative on several internal pharmaceutical projects.