Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group

To be useful, phenotypic screening strategies must accurately convey drug effects in 3D physiologies, not just 2D simulations. 3D Cell Models Are Taking Screening into the Third Dimension, helping those methods evolve so they contribute to more fruitful drug development and more successful patient therapies.

Experts from industry, academia and government address the possibilities in the above-named session, through talks such as:

FEATURED PRESENTATION: DESIGNING 3D TISSUE MODELS OF HUMAN SKIN DISEASE: FROM IPSC TO CRISPR

Jonathan Garlick, D.D.S, Ph.D., Professor, School of Dental Medicine, Tufts University; Director, Division of Cancer Biology and Tissue Engineering, Tufts School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
When combined with emerging technologies, such as gene editing and iPSC reprogramming, 3D tissue models offer unique platforms that mimic the complex microenvironments in which human disease develops. This talk describes the development of 3D, skin-like tissues that incorporate iPSC-derived cells and cells modified by CRISPR-Cas9 that model non-healing diabetic wounds and Scleroderma. These “disease in a tissue” platforms can now accelerate the translation of in vitro findings into clinical applications.

Using in vitro Models of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Drug Screening

Mahmud Bani, Ph.D., Team Leader, Senior Research Officer, Translational Bioscience, National Research Council Canada

Recent advances in cell reprogramming have enabled the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) as renewable sources of cells for a wide range of applications in drug discovery and cell-based therapies. Our laboratory has established several iPSC lines from human amniotic fluid cells, and differentiated them into various phenotypes. We show that 2D and 3D iPSC models can serve as complementary tools to evaluate drug candidates in preclinical stages.

3D Cellular Models for Therapeutic Target Discovery

Aron Jaffe, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, Regenerative Medicine Hub Leader, Developmental and Molecular Pathways, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

High-throughput screening of immortalized or tumor cell lines grown on plastic is widely used to identify potential therapeutic targets. However, these methods fail to recapitulate many features of multicellular tissue architecture found in vivo, which have profound effects on a variety of cell behaviors. This presentation highlights the strategies for designing complex (3D) cellular assays for target discovery using medium and high-throughput screening methods.

Quantitative High-Throughput Screening Using a Primary Human 3-Dimensional Organotypic Culture Predicts in vivo Efficacy

Madhu Lal-Nag, Ph.D., Group Leader, Trans-NIH RNAi Facility, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health

Two-dimensional cell cultures cannot recapitulate the issues of drug gradients, drug perfusion and the effects of hypoxia. Increasing evidence attests to the fact that gene expression signatures and the regulation of various signaling pathways are dependent on various cues from the tumor microenvironment. In vitro model platforms that are designed to be biologically relevant fill a critical gap between the cellular and animal model domains and offer the opportunity to study, screen and select compounds that are therapeutically attractive in real time.

Development of Biologically Relevant Three-Dimensional Solid Tumor Models for Target Validation and Compound Screening

Jason Ekert, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Biologics Research, Janssen BioTherapeutics

Development of biologically relevant in vitro models to better mimic the tumor microenvironment for solid tumors need to be established so drug targets can be better characterized. We have established multiple high-content imaging-based 3D tumor models for evaluating biologics and other novel therapeutic platforms. The tumor models should allow for a more informed characterization of drug candidates.

SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBIT OPPORTUNITIES

NOTE: Due to high demand and limited space, we are now only selling booths as part of sponsorship packages. For more information on our various levels of sponsorship, please contact:

Joseph Vacca

Associate Director, Business Development

Cambridge Healthtech Institute

T: (+1) 781-972-5431

E: jvacca@healthtech.com