May 26, 2015
11 am to 12 pm EDT

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

Preclinical in vivo studies is a critical step in drug development. In vivo imaging in such studies can benefit drug development with rapid and predictive assays to assess drug toxicity and efficacy to reduce clinical attrition rates. High frequency ultrasound imaging will be addressed in this regard by the panel of speakers.

Learning Objectives:

• Cardio toxicity in vivo imaging and study design using echocardiography
• Predictive in vivo assay of drug effect using contrast enhanced micro-ultrasound
• Tackling management of imaging data from high throughput studies

Speakers:

Andrew Needles, B.A.Sc, Electrical Engineering

Senior Manager, Product Innovation

FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc

Andrew Needles is the senior manager of Product Innovation and currently oversees the Vevo® Imaging Systems product line. His leadership focuses on enhancing overall user experience by delivering on a customer centric product roadmap. This focus stems from his experience ranging from a systems developer, developing high frequency ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging systems to a more customer facing role as a Product Manager until a year and half ago.

He received his B.A.Sc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto which included an internship at JDS Uniphase, Inc. (Ottawa, ON) on the development of instrumentation used for manufacturing and testing fiber optic components. His postgraduate work began as a Research Engineer at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center (Toronto, ON) in the department of Imaging Research. His research focused on the use of high frequency ultrasound for imaging blood flow in microcirculation.

Jonathan Heyen, MSc

Global Safety Pharmacology, Drug Safety Research and Development

Pfizer Inc

Jonathan (Jon) Heyen is currently a principal scientist working in the Safety Pharmacology department at Pfizer La Jolla. Jon completed his Undergraduate and Master's degrees at the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana, his research focused on Immunology particularly the effects of cytokines in the CNS.Jon was hired by Searle Company in St. Louis Missouri where he worked for the Cardiovascular Discovery Group. Within this group, Jon investigated the role of the immune system in various cardiovascular diseases and the potential for new therapies. At the completion of the Pharmacia/Pfizer merger in 2003, Jon relocated to La Jolla California and joined his current group: Global Safety Pharmacology. Jon's current role is to investigate the potential effects of novel therapies with emphasis on Oncology therapies on the Cardiovascular System and he also leads the cardiovascular imaging group within Safety Pharmacology.

Alexander Eichten, PhD

Senior Staff Scientist, Oncology & Angiogenesis

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Alexandra Eichten is a Senior Staff Scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in the Oncology & Angiogenesis group focusing on mechanisms of VEGF inhibition and tumor resistance to anti-angiogenic therapies. She received her PhD from Hannover University, Germany for her thesis work on regulation of p53 by the human papillomavirus type 16 E7 oncoprotein in Dr. Karl Münger’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Her postdoctoral fellowship focused on microenvironmental regulation of tumor progression and angiogenesis using a transgenic skin carcinogenesis mouse model in the laboratory of Dr. Lisa M. Coussens at UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center.

William (Bill) Cupelo, MSc

Product Manager

inviCRO LLC.

Bill Cupelo is the Product Manager of inviCRO’s software platform iPACS® and VivoQuantTM, including VisualSonics iPACS. inviCRO provides a full range of imaging services and software solutions including contract research services, custom data analysis, and software programs. Bill currently works with researchers to deliver powerful and intuitive tools for standardizing and automating image data management, processing, and analysis workflows in pre-clinical and translational clinical imaging efforts. Bill holds a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Georgetown University.

Moderator:

Minalini Lakshman, PhD

Applications Marketing Manager

FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc

Dr. Minalini Lakshman is a scientific applications marketing manager who brings 15 years of research experience in and publications on Oncology and Contrast imaging. She joined FUJIFILM VisualSonics as a product specialist on photoacoustic imaging of cancer models and molecular markers. She received her doctorate in the pathobiology of human diseases at the University of Toronto. Her postgraduate work focused on the development of models for experimental therapeutics to assess dosing of an NIH lead drug in Phase II clinical trial (Chicago), and in vivo assays to demonstrate efficacy of approved AZ inhibitors to enhance radiation therapy.