Free Webinars
Please register for every webinar individually. If you miss a webinar you can access the recording of the webinar on this page.
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Date/Webinar/Speaker |
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March 31th, 2021 |
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March 31th, 2021 Laboratory-based drug screening for personalized therapy Dr Nan Qin - University Hospital Düsseldorf Abstract: Classifying tumors by organ, such as breast or brain, ignores the genetic, biologic, and patient-related factors that make cancer cases unique. Cancer therapy is therefore moving from a one-size-fits-all paradigm to one of greater personalization. Using an in-house established platform, based on an assembly of benchtop instruments, researchers in the Remke Lab at the University of Dusseldorf Medical School have developed a system that will help guiding oncologists toward the right treatments, at the right time, for the right patients. Speaker Bio: Dependable, creative, and capable scientists, Nan Qin and her colleagues, have developed a semi-automated high-throughput drug screening platform in the Department for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Clinical Immunology at the Children’s Clinic of the University Hospital in Düsseldorf. |
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May 12th, 2021 |
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May 12th, 2021 Multimodal Analysis of Anticancer Drug Testing In Tumor-Specific 3D Cell Culture Models Julia Kirshner, Ph.D. - Founder & CEO, zPREDICTA Abstract: The high rates of clinical failure of new anticancer drugs highlight that the standard approaches to evaluate drug efficacy do not faithfully reproduce human biology, and thus, do not accurately represent the disease processes or response to treatment. In this webinar we will discuss the advantages of using 3D culture models over the traditional methods, with particular emphasis on the importance of tumor microenvironment and tissue-relevant extracellular matrix (ECM) in obtaining accurate drug response data. We will show examples of tumor-specific 3D culture models and their use for screening of anticancer compounds, including immuno-oncology agents. Finally, we will highlight the advantages of using multimodal readout to evaluate multiple parameters associated with cellular response to anticancer drugs.
Learning objectives:
Speaker Bio: Julia has over 20 years of experience in oncology R&D spanning multiple areas of cancer biology, including: the development of organotypic preclinical models, molecular target and biomarker discovery, evaluation of drug-resistance, tumor microenvironment, cancer stem cells, and tumor immunology. Prior to founding zPREDICTA, Julia held a faculty appointment at the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University working on the mechanisms of cancer development and spread and the effects of tissue microenvironment on drug response. Subsequently, Julia founded zPREDICTA with a goal to develop tumor-specific 3D culture models reconstructing the native microenvironment of human tissues to mimic the drug behavior as seen in patients. From target discovery and lead optimization to preclinical evaluation of efficacy and toxicity, zPREDICTA’s goal is to develop the tools necessary to accurately identify compounds that will have the highest probability of improving human health. |
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May 27th, 2021 |
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May 27th, 2021 Automation of scaffold-free and scaffold-based 3D cell cultures Dr Epifania Bono - Zurich University of Applied Science Abstract: Organotypic cultures are well established in research but are mainly manually processed. In order to implement these technologies in industry, the method standardization using liquid-handling platforms to automate production processes is mandatory. We will present some key examples of production and maintenance of scaffold-free and scaffold-based 3D cell cultures in comparison to manual handling. Cultures based on tumor cell lines (HCT-116) and human fibroblasts (WI-38) were produced in a high throughput-compatible 96 well plate format, which makes them amenable for drug screening. Speaker Bio: Dr Epifania Bono is a research associate in the Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering team at ZHAW in Waedenswil. She completed her degree in biology, specializing in molecular biology, at the University of Palermo in Italy. During her PhD, Epifania focused on cell biology and molecular biology at the University of Palermo, and then worked at the Institute of Biomedicine and Molecular Immunology ‘A.Monroy’ in Palermo. Her current scientific research focuses on cell culture technology, tissue engineering, and bioprinting for the development and application of biomaterials, as well as cell and tissue characterization in manual and automated cultivation systems. |
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September 14th, 2021 |
5pm CET |
September 14th, 2021 / 5pm CET / 11am EST Combine metabolomics with systems pharmacology in cancer Dr Mattia Zampieri - ETH Zürich Abstract: Metabolic profiling of cell line collections has become an invaluable tool to study disease etiology, drug modes of action and to select personalized treatments. However, large-scale in vitro dynamic metabolic profiling is limited by time-consuming sampling and complex measurement procedures. By combining high-throughput metabolomics with time lapse microscopy we established a workflow for large-scale metabolic profiling of adherent mammalian cells and the rapid measurement and analysis of drug-induced dynamic changes in intracellular metabolites. I will illustrate how this technology enables to study the role of aberrant transcriptional regulation in mediating cancer metabolic rewiring and can be applied to reveal drug mechanism of action. Our approach opens new opportunity in systems pharmacology and reveals new ways to analyze patient-derived metabolic profiles and the development of alternative therapeutic strategies to counteract upstream reprogramming of cellular metabolism. Speaker Bio: Mattia Zampieri is a junior PI at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology of ETH in Zurich. He studied Bioengineering in Padova before doing a PhD in Bioinformatics at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste and Boston University. During his PhD he worked on mathematical modeling of microbial metabolism and reverse engineering transcriptional regulatory network from molecular profiling data. In 2011 he moved to the lab of Prof. Uwe Sauer at ETH where he developed novel high throughput metabolomics frameworks and quantitative models to study the role of microbial metabolism in mediating the response to antimicrobial treatments. His research led to unique high-throughput metabolomics frameworks and computational tools broadly applicable to diverse biological systems and therapeutic areas, opening new opportunities in systems biology and systems pharmacology. |
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