Dr. N. Somanath
Bhat, M.Sc. (Microbiology), M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Ph.D., Senior Research
Scientist (Acting), Bioanalysis Group, National Measurement Institute (NMI),
Australia
Dr. Somanath Bhat is a Senior Research Scientist within
the Bioanalysis group at National Measurement Institute, Australia. Since 2007 he has been involved in
the implementation and validation of single molecule detection technologies and
matching these with research needs and direction in the areas of nucleic acid
measurement, CNV analysis, development and certification of reference standards
(research & diagnostics), SNP-genotyping analysis and service delivery.
More recently, he has been actively involved in projects funded by the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to develop and characterize reference materials for
routine gene doping testing and investigating the storage regimes and factors
affecting the stability of RM at frozen temperatures. He has worked with scientists
from different institutions to establish global recognition of Australia’s
biometrology infrastructure and has published several key papers using the
digital PCR platform. Dr. Bhat is highly regarded in the international
community and has been awarded a “certificate of appreciation” from the
American Chemical Society (ACS) publishing group for valuable contribution to
the publication of peer-reviewed research and generosity in sharing expertise.
He is also a recipient of NMIA “outstanding achievement award” as part of the
National Enabling Technology Strategies (NETS) team for an outstandingly
successful program delivering world-class measurement standards and services,
and for active and effective engagement with a wide range of stakeholders to
focus and apply these capabilities.
Stephen Bustin,
Ph.D., FSB, Professor, Molecular Medicine, Postgraduate Medical Institute,
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University
Stephen Bustin is Professor of Molecular Medicine at
Anglia Ruskin University in the UK. His research interests include identifying
prognostic biomarkers for colorectal cancer and, more recently, developing
novel approaches to the early diagnosis of fungal and bacterial pathogens He
has authored numerous papers, review articles and book chapters aimed at
improving the reproducibility and robustness of real-time PCR, including three
books: “A-Z of quantitative PCR” (2004), “The PCR Revolution” (2011) and “PCR
Technology” (2013).
Professor Bustin was an expert witness advising the UK High
Court and presented his evidence for the US Department of Justice at the MMR
omnibus trial in Washington DC in 2007. He led an international consortium
developing the MIQE guidelines for qPCR (2009) and digital PCR (2013).
Professor Bustin has extensive editorial involvements as Editor-in-Chief,
Biomolecular Detection and Quantification (Elsevier), Editor-in Chief (Gene
Expression), International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and is a member of
the editorial boards of several scientific journals.
Rémi Dangla,
Ph.D., President and Co-Founder, Stilla Technologies
Rémi DANGLA is CEO and co-founder of Stilla Technologies.
He has been developing innovative droplet microfluidic tools for molecular
biology since 2009, exploring both the fundamental underlying physics and the
addressable applications such as digital PCR.
Tanja Dreo, Head,
Bacteriology R&D, Biotechnology and Systems Biology, National Institute of
Biology
Tanja Dreo is an R&D manager of bacteriological
laboratory at the National Institute of Biology, Slovenia. The laboratory is
authorized for official diagnostics of plant diseases and is developing and
validating novel detection methods resulting in the first officially accepted
qPCR assays in the diagnostic standards of the European and Mediterranean Plant
Protection Organization (EPPO). She is active in the field of quality
assurance, metrology related to DNA detection based bio-analyses and
development and validation of on-site, isothermal detection methods for plant
quarantine bacteria and food pathogens e.g. Escherichia coli.
Randall T. Hayden,
M.D., Director, Clinical and Molecular Microbiology, Member, Pathology, St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Dr. Hayden is Director of Clinical and Molecular
Microbiology and Member in the Department of Pathology at St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee. He joined the faculty there in 2000,
following post-doctoral training in microbiology and molecular microbiology at
the Mayo Clinic and in surgical pathology at the MD Anderson Cancer
Center. He is board certified in
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology with sub-specialty certification in Medical
Microbiology. His research interests focus on the application of molecular
methods to diagnostic challenges in clinical microbiology, with particular
emphasis on the diagnosis of infections in the immunocompromised host. Work in
his laboratory has included development of several assays for the quantitative
detection of systemic viral disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplant
recipients and early studies on the application of digital PCR for this
purpose. He has also worked on several
new methods for enhancing detection of fungal infections, including the use of
both antigen detection and molecular amplification assays for this
purpose. He is editor-in-chief of
“Diagnostic Microbiology of the Immunocompromised Host” and co-editor of the
widely read “Molecular Microbiology, Diagnostic Principles and Practice”, both
from ASM Press. He serves on several editorial boards, including roles as editor
of “Clinical Microbiology Reviews” and associate editor for the “Journal of
Clinical Virology”.
Hatim Husain,
M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology,
University of California, San Diego
Hatim Husain, MD, is an assistant professor at the
University of California, San Diego, and a physician scientist at the UCSD
Moores Cancer Center. Dr Husain received his medical degree from the
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He
completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles, and an oncology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He has
published articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Cell Biology,
Oncology, Pharmacogenetics, Annals of Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research,
Pharmacogenetics and Genomics, the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, and the Journal
of Clinical Oncology, among others. His research focuses on novel cancer therapeutic strategies in solid
tumors, specifically lung cancer, with an emphasis on the epithelial growth
factor receptor and non-invasive cancer detection strategies to detect
circulating cell free DNA from tumors.
Filip Janku, M.D.,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I
Program), MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Filip Janku,
MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer
Therapeutics (Phase I Program) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Janku obtained
his MD and PhD at the Charles University Prague. He joined the program in the
2011 after completion of the fellowship at the same department. Dr. Janku is a
principal investigator for numerous phase I, most of which involve novel,
targeted agents, many of those being novel first-in-human studies. Dr. Janku
received multiple awards for his research efforts, including Sidney Kimmel
Scholar award, several ASCO Merit Awards as well as an American Association for
Cancer Research Scholar-in-Training Award. Dr. Janku has published over 110
articles in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Janku's academic research interests
focus on poof-of-concept clinical trials that possess a pivotal correlative component
especially those involving liquid biopsies, molecular profiling of cell-free
DNA, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and therapeutic use of oncolytic bacteria.
Dong-Ku Kang,
Ph.D., Assistant Research Scientist, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research
Center, Pharmaceutical Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, University of
California, Irvine; Co-Founder and CSO, VeloxBiosystems
Dr. Kang is an assistant research scientist at University
of California Irvine and expert in nano/micro biotechnologies who has extensive
experience in molecular diagnosis. His research aim is to develop miniaturized
devices for diagnosis and monitoring of various diseases including cancer,
neurological disorder, and infectious diseases. More specifically, his research
is dedicated to developing digital detection for the absolute quantification of
rare biomarkers in complex biological samples such as blood and plasma using
nano/micro technologies.
Emil Kartalov,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pathology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern
California
Emil Kartalov earned a BS'98 in Physics, a MS'04 in
Applied Physics, and a PhD'04 in Applied Physics & Bioengineering, all from
California Institute of Technology in Steve Quake's lab. After graduation, he
moved as a postdoc first with W.F. Anderson and later with C.R. Taylor at the
Pathology Dept at the University of Southern California. In 2006, Dr Kartalov
won the NIH K99/R00 Career Award and moved to a tenure-track faculty position
in USC Pathology in 2008. Dr Kartalov's research focuses on combining the best
elements of microfluidics, nanotechnology, fluorescence microscopy, and
biotechnology to produce new tools, devices, and assays for biomedical
diagnostics and basic biomedical science. Dr Kartalov has co-authored 22
publications and holds 13 issued US patents.
Errin L. Lagow, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Liaison,
Asuragen, Inc.
Errin Lagow first joined Asuragen in 2007 as Technical
Communications Manager, serving the commercial and operations teams. Dr. Lagow
has played a key role in multiple client-sponsored projects for assay
development in terms of design, planning, and management, and also helped spur expansion
of the Company’s offerings to include small RNA sequencing and qPCR-based tools
compatible with clinical samples of very limited input and quality. Prior
to Asuragen, Dr. Lagow conducted research in cancer biology at the M. D.
Anderson Cancer Center and at the Ordway Research Institute, and in
developmental neurobiology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Lagow received her B.S. in Biology from
Stephen F. Austin State University and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Michael
Masterman-Smith, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.
Dr. Masterman-Smith is an entrepreneurial scientist with
a Ph.D. in Molecular & Medical Pharmacology from UCLA and was a technology
developer in UCLA’s California NanoSystems Institute. He specializes in the development of single
cell analysis technologies for diagnostics and drug development. As a translational brain tumor biologist, he
conducted seminal studies into the identity of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in soft
tissue cancers and pioneered techniques to create self-renewing CSC lines from
patient biopsies. This work is finding increasing acceptance as a
transformative breakthrough in cancer biology.
William McDowell,
Research Technician, Molecular Biology Facility, Stowers Institute for Medical
Research
After receiving his BS in Biochemistry from the University
of Kansas in 2005, Willie McDowell joined the Molecular Biology Core Facility
at the Stowers Institute of Medical Research. He has worked for all the
departments in the facility utilizing a wide array of techniques. For the past
5 years he has specialized in the detection and quantification of nucleic
acids, particularly qPCR, dPCR, and HRM analysis.
Reinhold Pollner,
Ph.D., Director, Clinical Trial Assay Development, Genoptix, Inc., a Novartis
company
Dr.
Reinhold Pollner has extensive experience in assay/product development and
personnel management. He has a proven track-record of bringing products to
market - from early feasibility research to product launch and support. He also
has broad-based knowledge of technology assessment, technology development and
technology transfer complemented by innovative research.
He
led the development, validation and transfer of more than 30 laboratory
developed tests in the areas of next generation sequencing (Ion Torrent and
Illumina NGS), fluorescence in-situ hybridization, gene expression (RT-qPCR,
digital RT-PCR and Nanostring), mutation detection (qPCR and sequencing), copy
number variations (qPCR, digital PCR and Nanostring), gene quantitation (qPCR and digital PCR),
gene translocations (FISH, RT-qPCR and Nanostring) and infectious disease
testing (qPCR and RT-qPCR) used primarily for patient stratification and
monitoring in various Phase I - III clinical trials.
Minsoung Rhee,
Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Biological Science and Technology, Sandia
National Labs
Minsoung Rhee currently works at Sandia National
Laboratories, Livermore, CA, and his primarily focus of interest is whole
genome sequencing using droplet-based microfluidics and point-of-care
diagnostics with centrifugal microfluidics. He has been working on various
microfluidic and nanotechnology research topics in multidisciplinary research
laboratories, including microfluidic assembly blocks and targeted drug delivery
using polymeric nanoparticles. He
received his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor and completed three-year post-doctoral training in the David H. Koch
Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA and in Brigham and
Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. He also received Master’s degrees in Biomedical
Engineering, Bioinformatics, and Chemical Engineering from University of
Michigan and Stanford University.
Peter Schweitzer,
Ph.D., Director, Genomics Facility, Institute of Biotechnology, Cornell
University
Peter Schweitzer is currently the director of the Cornell
University Genomics Facility, which is operated as a shared scientific research
resource providing services to all campuses of Cornell University as well as
research institutions world-wide. The Genomics Facility provides DNA sequencing
services, both Sanger sequencing and Illumina next-generation sequencing, gene
expression, and SNP genotyping services and is a member of the Cornell
University Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC), which provides genomics,
proteomics, imaging, and informatics shared research resources and services.
The BRC is part of a Center for Advanced Technology in Life Science Enterprise
designated by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic
Research (NYSTAR).
Katia Sol-Church,
Ph.D., Head, Research Scientist Lab, Nemours Biomedical Research, Alfred I
Dupont Hospital for Children
Dr. Sol-Church originally from the south of France,
graduated with a PhD in molecular genetics from McGill University. She is currently a senior research scientist
at the Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, in Wilmington DE, and an
associate professor of pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson College of Medicine. As Director of the biomolecular core
laboratory at Nemours, Dr. Sol-Church developed a successful collaborative
research programs focusing on rare pediatric genetic disorders. Her team has recently discovered the genes
for Ayme-Gripp syndrome, Lateral Meningocele, and Diamond Blackfan Anemia with
mandibulofacial dystostosis. Dr.
Sol-Church has also reported on novel germline mutations causing rasopathy
disorders and is currently exploring new ways to control growth of embryonal
rabdomyosarcoma in patient with Costello Syndrome.
Dr. Sol-Church also directs the operation of a CLIA
compliant shared resource facility in the Center for Pediatric Research and
oversees the development of new molecular diagnostics and research tools. The core provides support in Sanger, next
generation sequencing (PGM), digital PCR (Quant Studio 3D), real-time PCR, SNP
genotyping, global gene expression analysis, and mentoring for project design
and data analysis.
Valerie Taly,
Ph.D., Group Leader, CNRS Researcher, UMR S1147, University of Paris Descartes,
CNRS
V. Taly conducts her research at the interface between
Chemistry, physics and biology. Since 2003, she has been working with Prof.
Andrew Griffiths, first in the Medical Research Council in Cambridge (UK) and
then in the ISIS Institute (Strasbourg). She focuses her research on in vitro compartmentalization
of biological and chemical reactions in emulsion droplets of few picoliters. In
2012, she founded the Translational Research And Microfluidics Group within the
clinical oncology research unit headed by Prof. P. Laurent-Puig. This team performs
interdisciplinary researches aiming at developing and validating microfluidic
tools for cancer research in close collaboration with clinicians and
researchers in oncology and toxicology. Recently, her research has been
dedicated to the clinical validation of droplet-based microfluidics for the
non-invasive detection of Cancer biomarkers, the highlighting of new Cancer
Biomarkers and the development of original tools and procedures for their
detection with applications in personalized medicine, cancer recurrence
detection and cancer diagnostics.
Oliver Thas,
Ph.D., Professor, Biostatistics, Ghent University (Belgium) and University of
Wollongong (Australia)
Olivier Thas is Professor of Biostatistics at Ghent
University and Honorary Professor of Statistics at the University of
Wollongong. His research focuses on the development and application of
statistical methods for problems in applied biology, including genomics. His
methodological expertise is situated in the areas of nonparametric and semiparametric
statistics. He is chair of the Master of Statistical Data Analysis at
Ghent University and co-founder of Statter (a university spin-off for
statistical data analysis).
Alexandra Whale, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Molecular and Cell Biology Team, Science and Innovation Division, LGC Group
Alexandra is a Senior Researcher within the Nucleic Acid
Research Group at LGC, the designated
National Measurement Institute for chemical and bioanalytical measurements in
the UK. Since joining in 2006, her research has focused on the use of digital
PCR in a wide range of applications that include quantification and
detection of DNA associated with microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance,
and detection of copy number variation and rare sequences in cancer. Other
areas of research have involved the use of dPCR as a method development tool to
investigate sampling bias or reverse transcription efficiencies. She has extensive
practical experience using different dPCR platforms and has giving a number of
presentations at conferences and workshops on the experimental and analytical considerations
needed for dPCR.