Enabling Technologies

Friday, 21 April • 10:30 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.

This session centers on the innovations in technologies and practices that enable the application of 3D and complex models to investigate and characterize biology. The session will cover advances and applications of novel cell culture environments, labware and organ-on-a-chip design; the use of technologies to increase throughput such as microfluidics and encapsulation; and lastly the state-of-the-art methodologies to quantify and derive meaningful quantification.

Session Chair:

James Pilling, Ph.D. (AstraZeneca)
Pilling is an associate principal scientist within the Global High Content Biology Group in AstraZeneca. He joined AstraZeneca in 2004 and has worked with applying novel technologies and approaches to drug discovery processes across various therapeutic areas. The remit of the High Content Biology Group is to develop and deploy high-content phenotypic assays, mechanistic profiling and high-content imaging platforms across AstraZeneca. Pilling holds an M.S.c. in biochemistry and biological chemistry from Nottingham University and a BPS diploma in pharmacology. His research interests currently include developing and applying precise genome editing technologies to aid target identification and using advanced 2D and 3D cellular models to predict drug safety and efficacy.

Speakers:

Brinton Seashore-Ludlow, M.S., Ph.D. (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)
High Content Imaging in Primary Models for Near-Patient Drug Repurposing and Drug Discovery
Seashore-Ludlow is a senior research specialist and team leader at the Department of Oncology-Pathology at Karolinska Institute, as well as head of the assay development and screening team at the Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden at SciLifeLab. Seashore-Ludlow's research focuses on near-patient drug repositioning and drug discovery. The projects merge concepts from chemical biology and functional precision medicine to better match patients to existing and emerging drugs.

Michele Zagnoni, M.S. (ScreenIn3D)
A Microfluidic Platform to Upscale Screening of Patient-Derived 3D Models
Zagnoni is an electronic and biomedical engineer by training. In 2006, he completed a Ph.D. in electronic engineering and computer science from the University of Bologna, on capacitive sensors for aircraft wing performance. He subsequently trained in cell biology and microfluidic technologies at the University of Southampton and the University of Glasgow, UK, as a post-doctoral researcher. In 2011, he obtained a tenure faculty position at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, where he is now a Reader. Here, he leads a multidisciplinary research group focused on developing lab-on-a-chip methodologies based on large-throughput, microfluidic systems for fundamental biological investigation, compound screening and treatment of disease. He is also the co-founder, director and chief executive officer of ScreenIn3D Limited, a start-up company that provides drug screening solutions based on microfluidics and 3D cell culture.

Stephanie Ling, M.S., Ph.D. (AstraZeneca)
Integrated Imaging and Spatial Biology in Drug Development

Olivier Frey, M.Sc., Ph.D. (InSphero)
Deep-Learning-Assisted Image Analysis Enables Mechanistic Differentiation of Compound Action in Human 3D Models of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis for High-Throughput Drug Discovery
Frey is the vice president and head of technology & platforms at InSphero and leads the Microphysiological Systems and organ-on-chip programs. Before joining InSphero, he was a group leader and SNF Ambizione fellow at the department of biosystems science and engineering of ETH Zurich, Switzerland on integrated microfluidic systems for single cell handling and 3D tissue cultures. He holds an M.S.c. in Microtechnology and Mechanics from ETH Zürich and a Ph.D. in Micro Engineering from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.