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2nd Annual Cell-Based Assays 2011

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

11th - 13th October 2011, Thistle City Barbican, Central Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 8DS

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Background Info
Workshop
Day 1
Day 2
Past Papers
Venue Info

Background Info

It takes well over £500 million and between 10 and 12 years to develop a new drug. For every million compounds screened, approximately 250 make it to pre-clinical testing, 10 advance to clinical trials and just one is approved for patient use. Industry can ill-afford to continue such a wasteful process.

Cancerous and animal cells, many having been in continuous culture for decades, poorly reflect patient physiology. These, finally, are yielding to more representative models that better reflect the intended recipients of new molecular entities. Advances in label-free technologies, human primary, 3D and embryonic-stem cell derived lines are heralding a paradigm shift in drug discovery, development and toxicity testing.

Focussing on these, the future tools that better reflect PK/PD, genomic and phenotypic differences within and between human populations, Visiongain brings you its second Cell-Based Assays conference. Attending this event will empower you to:
• Utilise new techniques in high throughput screening.
• Identify intracellular transduction cascades for G-protein coupled receptors and kinases.
• Accelerate high-content screening using primary cells.
• Incorporate computational models to study the effects of drugs on intracellular networks.
• Use 3D cell assays for more relevant testing of the effects of drugs on organs, including the liver, heart and brain cells.
• Harness human embryonic, adult and induced pluripotent stem cells for drug discovery, development and toxicity testing.

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

Thistle City Barbican
Central Street, Clerkenwell
London
EC1V 8DS
Phone: 0871 376 9004 / +44 845 305 8304
Fax: 0871 376 9104 / +44 845 305 8343
http://www.thistle.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/thistle_city_barbican/index.html

Workshop

Pre-Conference Interactive Workshop, Tuesday 11th October 2011

Industrial application of pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives
High-content screening as a valuable tool for drug discovery and toxicity testing

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

About the workshop

Demands for better models of human disease and more predictive screening assays to reduce late stage drug attrition, have promoted a growing interest in applying pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and their derivatives at various points in the drug discovery pipeline. Furthermore, the use of PSCs in identifying small molecules active in directing cellular reprogramming or differentiation, is a particularly promising tool for the regenerative medicine field.

This workshop will review recent advances in the field including issues surrounding cell quality, supply and banking, assay development and the screening process. It will evaluate the benefits of using 3D models, as well as address the efficacy of PSC-based models for assessing human developmental, cardiac and hepatic toxicity. Case studies of different compound screening campaigns using PSCs and their derivatives, will permit exploration of the field in detail.

Lessons learned:
• Examples of scaled up pluripotent stem cell culture for industrial applications
• Assay design considerations
• Examination of screening platforms and strategies
• A review of stem cell derivatives for screening

9:30 Registration and coffee
An introduction to pluripotent stem cells
Industrialisation of stem cells
Introduction to high-content screening and assay design
Screen execution and follow-up
12:40 Lunch
13:40 Case studies, lessons learnt
Stems cells in predictive toxicology
Stem cell derivatives in screening
15:00 Panel discussion
Q1: How predictive are stem cell based discovery systems? Is there added value above existing systems?
Q2: Are stem cell based platforms compatible with the time lines and automation systems required in an industrial environment?
Q3: What is the future for stem cell based discovery systems in the drug discovery pipeline

Day 1

Day 1, Wednesday 12th October 2011

09:00 Registration and refreshments

09:30 Opening address from the Chair

09:40 Impact of new technologies for cellular screening along the drug value chain
• Primary, stem cell, 3D and label-free screens employing cellular assays
• Ion channel screening
• Atomic force microscopy in drug discovery and development

10:20 A novel, rapid and automated method for creating 3D tissue models to study complex cell behaviour
• What type of information can 3D tissue models provide?
• What is preventing widespread adoption of 3D tissue models?
• The route to scalable and tuneable 3D tissue models

11:00 Morning refreshments

11:20 Unlocking the potential of 3D cell culture with Alvetex technology
• 2D vs 3D cell culture
• Development of unique scaffold
• Optimizing routine 3D cell culture

11:40 Application of a 3D tumour cell culture model to compound screening
• Three dimensional growth assay and image analysis
• Plate-based, label-free, high-content analysis evaluation
• Screening validation and pre-clinical results

12:20 Integration of label-free detection methods in GPCR drug discovery
• Comparison of impedance and optical read-outs
• Recombinant cells vs endogenous GPCR signalling
• Native receptor activity in disease-relevant cells

13:00 Networking lunch

14:00 Panel discussion: Label-free methods- where are we and what are the prospects for the future?
Despite their increasing importance, when will it be commercially viable to integrate non-invasive methods into HT screening? Can relevant quantities of primary cells be secured to enable this? The utility of label-free methods to reduce attrition rates and the conditions necessary to obtain real-time, quantitative measurements will be thoroughly assessed.

14:40 Development of cell-based methodologies relevant to ion channel drug discovery
• Direct and indirect measurement of ligand- and ion-gated channels in recombinant lines
• Electrophysiology using stem cell derived neurons
• Native tissue electrophysiology

15:00 Development of a multiplexed gene expression assay in primary neurons
• Quantification of compound-induced changes to expression of pain-related genes
• Challenges of using native neuronal cells as reagents for primary screening
• Application of the assay for compound profiling and new target identification

15:40 Afternoon refreshments

16:00 The FDSS series: a versatile platform for HTS and assay development
• Primary culture and cell line assays in fluorescence and luminescence
• Whole dispensing and imaging screening systems for cell-based assays
• Applications: new epilepsy model and luminescence multiplexing

16:20 Executable cell biology
• Mathematical versus computational models
• Models for executable biology
• Challenges for testing dynamics in complex systems

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 2, Thursday 13th October 2011

09:00 Registration and refreshments

09:30 Opening address from the Chair

09:40 Early toxicity testing: prediction and tissue-specific models
• Early toxicity testing paradigms
• Cellular models for toxicity testing, focusing on the liver, lung and heart
• Prediction models using global expression profiling

10:20 Protein-fragment complementation assays and compound profiling

10:40 Key considerations in the development of stem cell assays in predictive toxicology
• The need for improved drug screening models to predict risk for man
• Prerequisites for successful development of stem cells assays in toxicity testing
• SC4SM Predictive Toxicology Consortium: challenges and future opportunities

11:20 Morning refreshments

11:40 Therapeutic and research potential of human stem cells (hSCs) – the GE Healthcare perspective
• How hSCs will revolutionise medical care through regenerative strategies
• How hSCs will improve quality, price and accessibility of new pharmaceuticals
• Maximising hSC use in big pharma drug discovery and safety assessment studies

12:20 Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and their use in drug discovery and cellular assays
• Importance of scaleable systems for industrial stem cell production
• Cellular toxicity testing using hPSC derived cardiomyocytes and hepatocytes
• hPSC technologies compared to traditional in vitro and in vivo assays

13:00 Networking lunch

14:00 Enabling technology to enhance cell differentiation and function in vitro
• Cell differentiation in 3D culture using primary MSCs and pluripotent stem cells
• Development of small molecules to control reproducible human neural differentiation in vitro
• Use of small molecules to differentiate a 3D skin equivalent model with human keratinocytes

14:20 Predicting idiopathic cardiotoxicity with 3D heart tissues: combining rodent and human models
• Cardiac contractility response to to a panel of cardio-toxic drugs with iPSC and ESC based 3D engineered heart tissues
• Cost-effective and the most predictive screening approach
• Identifying idiopathic cardiotoxicity mechanisms for searching preventive strategies

14:50 Generating metabolically active hepatocytes from pluripotent stem cells
• Stem cells offer an unlimited source of hepaotcytes for human drug screening
• Stem cell derived hepatocytes exhibit phenotypic instability in culture
• We have identified a novel support which stabilises hepatocellular phenotype

15:30 Afternoon refreshments

15:50 Panel discussion: Opportunities and challenges for human stem cells in drug screening
Will hES and hPS/iPS-derived specialised cells better reflect human variation to toxic agents and match biological possibilities with end-user constraints? Can idiopathic and ethnic libraries aid patient stratification, or will cellular models remain oversimplifications? What new insights will organogenesis and disease models provide? Answers to these and other matters, including regulatory requirements and up-scaling for robust industrial production will be addressed.

16:30 Chair's closing remarks

16:40 End of conference

Past Papers

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

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Venue Info

Thistle City Barbican
Central Street, Clerkenwell
London, EC1V 8DS
Phone: 0871 376 9004 / +44 845 305 8304
Fax: 0871 376 9104 / +44 845 305 8343
http://www.thistle.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/thistle_city_barbican/index.html

Click here for Google maps.

Transport links:

London Underground
You can access this venue via the Northern Line (black), Metropolitan (purple), Circle (Yellow) and Hammersmith & City (Pink) line.

From Old Street Tube station (10 mins walk)
Take exit 8 out of Old Street station and walk up city road until you reach Moorfields Eye Hospital. Turn left after the hospital down Cayton Street and cross over Bath Street into Lever Street opposite. The Thistle City Barbican is 350 yards up this road on the right hand side.

From Barbican Tube station (10 mins walk)
Turn left out of Barbican station down Goswell Road. Turn right on to Old Street and take the first left up Central Street. Walk up this road and you will see The Thistle City Barbican to your right.

Heathrow Airport to the Thistle Barbican
Take the Heathrow express to Paddington national rail Station. Walk to Paddington underground station and take the Circle line (yellow) or Hammersmith & City line (pink) towards Kings cross St Pancras or Baker Street. Alight at Barbican and follow the above directions.

Gatwick Airport to the Thistle Barbican
Take the First Capital connect service towards Bedford Rail Station. Alight at London Bridge, walk to London Bridge underground station and take the northern line (black) towards Edgware or High Barnet. Alight at Old Street and follow the above directions.

Accommodation:

The Thistle City Barbican
Central Street
Clerkenwell
London
EC1V 8DS
Phone: 0871 376 9004 / +44 845 305 8304
Fax: 0871 376 9104 / +44 845 305 8343
http://www.thistle.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/thistle_city_barbican/location/index.html

How to book:
Guests to make their own reservations, by calling:
UK Telephone Number: 0871 977 0218
International Telephone Number: +44845 073 7154
E-mailing: groupsadmin.citybarbican@thistle.co.uk
Reference Number: VISD101011_001
Guests should quote the booking reference when making their booking in order to guarantee they receive the group rate.
Guests to provide credit card details on booking in order to guarantee their accommodation
The above sleeping rooms will be held until 27 September 2011. After this date reservations will only be taken on a space and rate availability basis.

Travelodge - London City Road Hotel
7-12 City Road
London
EC1Y 1AE
Tel: 0871 984 6333
Fax: 0207 628 2503
http://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/hotel_overview.php?hotel_id=340

Jury's Inn Islington
60 Pentonville Road
Islington
London
N1 9LA
Tel: +44 (0) 207 282 5500
http://londonhotels.jurysinns.com/jurysinn_islington

London City Holiday Inn Express
275 Old Street
London
EC1V 9LN
Tel: +44 (0) 207 300 4300
http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/gb/en/london/lonct/hoteldetail

For further information contact details:

Sarah Nicoise
Conference Co-ordinator
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7549 9988
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7549 9930
Email: sarah.nicoise@visiongainglobal.com

Nicholas Stone
Head of Conferences
Tel: +44 (0)20 7549 9978
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7549 9930
Email: nicholas.stone@visiongainglobal.com

Sara Peerun
Commercial Director
Tel: +44 (0) 207 336 6100
Fax: +44 (0) 207 549 9930
Email: sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com