Webinar on Demand: Building novel pharmacodynamic models and assays to support cell and gene therapy product development

 

Today, there are still many challenges to overcome in the discovery and development of biological or cell and gene therapy products. In comparison with traditional small-molecule medicines, there is no established pharmacodynamic model to investigate the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of large-molecule medicines, such as proteins and cells. Also, there is a lack of robust analytical methods and processes to appropriately measure cell quality, quantity, identity, purity, etc.  In this webinar, our speakers will describe the building of pharmacodynamic models and assays to support cell and gene therapy development.Our first speaker, Dr. Biju Parekkadan from Rutgers University, will present his research on building biophysical models to study and potentially predict the pharmacodynamic properties of proteins/peptides produced using the AAV gene delivery system.Our second speaker, Dr. James McDonald from Nexcelom Bioscience, will discuss how to apply the image-based cytometry system Cellaca PLX for reliable counting of cells, measuring cell viability, and performing immunophenotyping via surface marker detection with fluorescently conjugated antibodies. He will share how to control the quality and quantity of cell samples for single-cell analysis, such as single-cell sequencing.

 

Webinar Key Topics:

  1. Building biophysical models to investigate and potentially predict the pharmacodynamic property of AAV-coded molecules

  2. Image cytometry technology and applications to reliably count and characterize cell samples for development of cell and gene therapy products

Presenters

Biju Parekkadan

Biju Parekkadan, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine Department of Biomedical EngineeringRutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Dr. Parekkadan oversees a laboratory that specializes in cell and genetic engineering. Since beginning his academic career in 2009, his research has been disseminated in >100 invited lectures (including a TEDx talk), >60 publications in high-impact journals with >8000 citations, and >10 patent applications.

He has experience in developing biotech products as a founder of Sentien, a clinical-stage pioneer of ex vivo cell therapeutics, as well as advising several companies as a founding member of CellOne Partners. Dr. Parekkadan received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Medical Engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where he also completed all MD studies.

His efforts have been recognized through notable awards including being named Young Mentor of the Year by Harvard Medical School and a Presidential Early Career Scientist from the Office of the White House, the highest honor of an early-stage investigator.

Engineering Dynamics in Cell and Gene Therapeutics

James McDonald

James McDonald, Ph.D.Field Application ScientistNexcelom Bioscience

Dr. James McDonald is a Nexcelom Bioscience Field Application Scientist for the Pacific Northwest Territory. James’ background is in epigenetics and genomics with an emphasis on how DNA methylation affects transcription. He has over 10 years of research experience involving cell culture and analysis of both cell-based assays and genomics data.

Image-based high-speed, high-throughput automatic cell counting system Cellaca PLX for developing cellular therapeutic products