Droplet Digital PCR World 2023

Director of the Analytical Sciences at Sparing Vision, Fabien holds a PhD in virology and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the gene therapy field. Before joining Sparing Vision in 2022, Fabien was Head of R&D viral safety at Texcell (France) and Head of the CMC Analytical Department at Genethon (France). He is responsible for the analytical activities in the characterization and release testing of gene therapy products.

Antonio Salgado completed his studies of Biology in the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), followed by a PhD in Molecular Medicine, which was based on the proteomic study of epicardial fat and its involvement in cardiovascular disease.

Antonio continued his post-doctoral fellow at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, where he conducted projects on human RNA-based biomarkers, including microRNAs, long non-coding and circular RNAs.

He is currently Senior Scientist at Exothera, where he is the referent scientist in the development and qualification of molecular assays. He focuses on ddPCR applications to the characterization of viral vectors during process development.

Pieter A Van De Velden holds a position at the LUMC in the department of Ophthalmology as PI in the field of uveal melanoma (UM) genetics. Early in his career, he was involved in the discovery of Factor V Leiden. After this breakthrough, he moved to the Genetics Department of the Leiden University, studying familial melanoma.

His scientific research is oriented towards genomics with a focus on digital PCR‑based approaches. He holds a patent on DNA‑based B and T cell counting.

Rikke Fredslund Andersen works as a senior scientist and molecular biologist at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Lillebaelt Hospital, University Hospital of Southern Denmark. In collaboration with the Department of Oncology, she works on utilizing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analyses for personalized treatment of cancer patients. She aims to develop highly‑sensitive multiplex ddPCR methods for detection of ctDNA in several types of cancer and implement them in the clinic.

Dr. Elena Pomari works on the development of innovative nucleic acid detection and quantification assays. She and her colleagues were the first group to assess and directly quantify SARS‐CoV‐2, using droplet digital PCR. Moreover, she has managed development and technology transfer projects for international companies in the field of infectious diseases. She is constantly focused on other emerging infections as MPOX or mosquito spred infections like Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika Viruses.

Alasdair Allan is the manager of the ES cell biology lab at the Mary Lyon Centre MRC Harwell. Alasdair and his team uses ddPCR as a tool for the validation and quality control of ESC clones to ensure that correct modifications of interest are being transferred. We have recently become the centre for the National Mouse Genetics Network (NMGN) and are looking to expand the range of mouse models we can provide to the UK research community. These include looking to expand our capability to include monitoring gene expression levels post DNA modification using the ddPCR platform.

Frank Bizouarn joined Bio-Rad in 2000 to support quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology as a Field Applications Specialist (FAS) in the southeast United States. In 2006, he moved into the role of International FAS for Bio‑Rad's global Gene Expression Division to promote best practices in qPCR around the world. In 2011, Frank began working on Droplet Digital PCR applications (ddPCR) and joined the Digital Biology group. Currently, he is focused on supporting and promoting quantitation, detection, and sample discrimination applications that take advantage of the high resolution and sensitivity provided by the power of droplet partitioning.

Sarang Brahma currently leads the AD Molecular Biology group at Asklepios Biopharmaceutical (AskBio). With a focus on development of novel rAAV quantification and characterization methods, and IND‑enabling studies and technical innovation for the pre‑clinical and clinical‑stage programs at AskBio.

Before joining AskBio, Sarang worked as a formulation development scientist at KBI Biopharma, Durham, NC, a CRO/CDMO for drug‑development and biomanufacturing services. With a role focused on developing and executing cGMP assays and formulation studies for characterization of protein-based therapeutics.

Antonio Salgado completed his studies of Biology in the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), followed by a PhD in Molecular Medicine, which was based on the proteomic study of epicardial fat and its involvement in cardiovascular disease.

Antonio continued his post-doctoral fellow at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, where he conducted projects on human RNA-based biomarkers, including microRNAs, long non-coding and circular RNAs.

He is currently Senior Scientist at Exothera, where he is the referent scientist in the development and qualification of molecular assays. He focuses on ddPCR applications to the characterization of viral vectors during process development.

Dr. Nishita D'Souza is a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the Water Quality laboratory of Dr. Joan Rose at Michigan State University. Dr. D'Souza has a background in Water Microbiology with experience in developing, validating microbiological methods and working with waterborne bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens particularly in water/wastewater. Dr. D'Souza's research at MSU focuses on wastewater surveillance and variant testing for SARS‑CoV‑2 for which she received the MSU FW Excellence Award in 2021. She is the MSU network manager for the State of Michigan, SEWERS SARS‑CoV‑2 Wastewater Monitoring Program. She is a member of the core team leading the development of a global data center for SARS‑CoV‑2 data, W‑SPHERE.

Her research also focuses on studying microorganisms through classical microbial culture based methods as well as advanced molecular methods such as qPCR and Droplet Digital PCR. She has experience working on projects involving recreational water monitoring, microbial source tracking, pathogen detection and water treatment. Dr. D'Souza is an experienced microbiology instructor and enjoys mentoring undergraduate and graduate students on various projects.

Dr. Noble is an environmental molecular microbiologist with a strong background in wastewater and coastal water quality science. Her laboratory has devoted over 20 years to the development of rapid molecular diagnostics for use in wastewater, stormwater, drinking water, recreational water, shellfish, and food safety applications. Her laboratory has extensive expertise in quantification of important human pathogens and markers (SARS CoV‐2, norovirus, adenovirus, hepatitis A virus, enterovirus, rotavirus, Salmonella sp., Listeria sp., Campylobacter sp.) in complex, highly variable, and difficult to analyze matrices. Her lab team has devoted recent years to improving and streamlining the processing and pre‐analytical pathogen quantification approaches for complex and difficult to analyze samples using advanced digital PCR approaches.

Dr. Gary Pestano is a leader in development of molecular tests of use in liquid and tissue biopsies. He is currently the Chief Development Officer at Biodesix and serves as the NYS Laboratory Director of the company's CLEP/CLIA/ISO13485-certified laboratory in Colorado.

Dr. Pestano's experience spans assay and product development of high complexity molecular tests in oncology and virology with genomic and proteomic technologies. Dr. Pestano is a co-inventor on multiple national and international patents including for novel devices, antibodies and detection systems for nucleic acids, proteins, cells, and tissue analytes.

Dr. Pestano received his Ph.D. training in Cell and Molecular Biology and The Graduate Center, City University of New York and conducted his post-doctoral training in cancer immunology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Frank Bizouarn joined Bio-Rad in 2000 to support quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology as a Field Applications Specialist (FAS) in the southeast United States. In 2006, he moved into the role of International FAS for Bio‑Rad's global Gene Expression Division to promote best practices in qPCR around the world. In 2011, Frank began working on Droplet Digital PCR applications (ddPCR) and joined the Digital Biology group. Currently, he is focused on supporting and promoting quantitation, detection, and sample discrimination applications that take advantage of the high resolution and sensitivity provided by the power of droplet partitioning.

Professor Allen Chan has more than 20‑year experience on developing new applications of circulating nucleic acids. With Professor Dennis Lo and Rossa Chiu, he developed the noninvasive prenatal tests for detecting fetal Down syndrome and other chromosomal aneuploidies. The test has become a standard in prenatal testing and over ten million tests are performed each year across the world.

Professor Chan pioneered the use of circulating DNA analysis for cancer detection, an approach usually known as "liquid biopsy". In 2009, he demonstrated that digital PCR could enhance the sensitivity and specificity for detecting EGFR mutations in the plasma of lung cancer patients.

Professor Chan is a co‑inventor of over 150 patent families and was named one of the "Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2020" by the renowned scientific journal, Nature Biotechnology. He is a co‑founder of five biotechnology companies. One of his companies, Cirina, had a merger with Grail in 2017.

Dr. Paweletz is head of the Translational Research Laboratory (TRL) of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at Dana Faber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He joined from Merck & Co., Inc., where he most recently served as principal scientist, externalization lead, and proteomics site lead for the Department of Molecular Biomarkers at the Merck Research Laboratory in Boston.

At Merck, Dr. Paweletz successfully built platforms to look at disease biomarkers in body fluids and oversaw research activities spanning the spectrum from early‑stage discovery to the clinic. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland and a research fellow in the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Paweletz earned his PhD with honors from Georgetown University and his Bachelor of Science Degree from Baldwin Wallace College.

Dr. Miyaoka is a Project Leader of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science. He is also an Affiliated Associate Professor of Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, Japan. Yuichiro holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He trained as a post‑doctoral fellow at Gladstone Institutes, USA. Dr. Miyaoka has made a particular contribution to development of a method to quantify genome editing outcomes in a sensitive and quantitative manner. He also combines the genome editing technology and the human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology to study and cure diseases.

Dr. Masaaki Kitajima is an Associate Professor of environmental engineering at Hokkaido University. He earned his Doctor of Engineering degree in the field of urban environmental engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2011. After receiving the doctoral degree, he worked at the University of Arizona in the US as a Post‑Doc through the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad from 2011 to 2013.

Since 2016, he has been a faculty member at Hokkaido University in Japan, where he works on environmental virology with a current emphasis on wastewater-based epidemiology of COVID‑19. Dr. Kitajima has published 125 peer‑reviewed journal papers with 9,300+ citations and an h‑index of 48. He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher 2022 by Clarivate for the impact of his work demonstrating significant and broad influence reflected in the publication of multiple highly cited papers. His research area covers broad aspects of health‑related water microbiology from an environmental engineering perspective, represented by molecular epidemiological analysis of viral pathogens in natural and engineered water systems.

Dr Uchiyama is the Chief of the Division of Molecular Pathogenesis, the Department of Human Genetics, and the Director of the R&D of the Gene & Cell Therapy Promotion Center at the National Center for Child Health and Development (NICHD) in Japan. He received his M.D. from Tohoku University in 2005 and moved to the U.S. in 2007 to work as a research fellow at the NIH. After returning to Japan, he returned to Tohoku University as an Assistant Professor. Since 2013, he has worked as the Director of the Division of Developmental Genetics at NICHD. He has been engaged in research on gene therapy for primary immunodeficiency diseases for more than 10 years and is devoted to research every day to contribute to the development of gene therapy in Japan.

Jae young Lee is a director of R&D Therapeutics and Business development of ToolGen Inc., Before joining ToolGen in 2016, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University, Australia where he received his PhD in Medicine with the Dean's Award for Thesis excellence related to cell and gene therapy. His role in ToolGen as a business developer is to build external partnerships and to establish strategic decisions/plans. His role as a R&D director is to develop CRISPR/Cas9‑based therapy.

Adeline Chew has over 15 years of experience in R&D, spanning both academic and pharmaceutical sectors, with expertise in molecular biology, oncology and immunology. As the subject matter expert for flow and genomic based platforms at Tessa Therapeutics, Dr. Chew leads the effort in developing and qualifying bioanalytical methods for lot release and characterization studies of clinical‑stage cell therapy products. She is also accountable for developing extensive characterization assays to further understand the biology of CAR‑T product through evaluating and implementing the latest platforms and technologies, and provides scientific direction for assay transfer and validation to outsourced partners.

Dr. Hui Chen holds a Ph.D of Pharmacy from the University of Leuven, Belgium and holds an MBA from Rotterdam Business School/Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, The Netherlands. She has worked for KU Leuven and SYNTHON BIOPHARMA, participating in and advancing the launch of a biosimilar, an ADC drug into Phase 3 clinical trials and multiple new drug preclinical studies. She has over 10 years of experience in drug research, new drug and biosimilar IND/NDA (FDA and EMA), and has published 8 academic papers in SCI journals. She is responsible for the construction of AD&QC laboratory and quality control system of Porton, leading the team to complete the development, verification, transfer and quality control of gene cell therapy related analytical methods, as well as analytical testing, quality and stability research in CMC, and has rich experience in gene therapy products.

Dr. Usanarat Anurathapan is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Anurathapan completed his professional training in Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital. He currently works at the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, in Bangkok, Thailand. His research focuses on pediatric acute leukemia and CAR‑T cells cellular immunotherapy. Dr Anurathapan has been awarded multiple memberships in honorary and at professional societies including membership in the International Society of Paediatric Oncology and membership in the International Society of Cell & Gene Therapy. He is also experienced in conducting multicenter international clinical trials such as gene therapy in thalassemia disease.

Dr. Uchiyama is the Chief of the Division of Molecular Pathogenesis, the Department of Human Genetics, and the Director of the R&D of the Gene & Cell Therapy Promotion Center at the National Center for Child Health and Development (NICHD) in Japan. He received his M.D. from Tohoku University in 2005 and moved to the U.S. in 2007 to work as a research fellow at the NIH. After returning to Japan, he returned to Tohoku University as an Assistant Professor. Since 2013, he has worked as the Director of the Division of Developmental Genetics at NICHD. He has been engaged in research on gene therapy for primary immunodeficiency diseases for more than 10 years and is devoted to research every day to contribute to the development of gene therapy in Japan.

Youngsam Park is an analytical method development specialist at Curocell Inc., a pioneer of CAR‑T therapy industry in South Korea.

Through more than 16 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry including analyzing small molecules, proteins, and cell therapy He has established the analytical methodology required during the process of CAR‑T therapy development. He has established in developing in vitro assays, mass spectrometer analysis, and most recently, cell analysis utilizing cutting edge technologies including ddPCR and flow cytometry.

His current focus is on launching and commercializing Korea's first domestically developed CAR‑T therapy quality guaranteed and controlled with unrivaled analytical methodology.

Dr. Chris TL Chan is a passionate researcher in the field of genetics and epigenetics of hereditary cancers, as well as clinical genetic testing. He obtained his Ph.D. degree at the University of Hong Kong in 1999 after graduating from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK). Dr. Chan has been committed to using cutting‑edge technologies in his research, including the early application of pyrosequencing in quantification of DNA methylation which contributed to the discovery of the mechanism of transcriptional read-through as the cause of Lynch Syndrome.

After several years of research, Dr. Chan shifted his focus to clinical diagnosis where he worked as a molecular geneticist for over a decade. Currently, he serves as the Director of Phase Scientific Medical Laboratory, specialising in liquid biopsy tests and minimal residual disease monitoring. Since 2012, Dr. Chan has been utilizing NGS technology in various areas, such as somatic mutations and germline predisposition in cancer, as well as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT).Dr. Chan's latest work involves the use of long‑read NGS technology for structural variants, such as large genomic deletion/duplication, and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) for minimal residual disease monitoring. His dedication to the field has contributed greatly to the advancement of genetics and cancer research.

Dr Kong is the Lee Kuan Yew Fellow at the NUS Centre for Cancer Research (N2CR) of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in National University of Singapore (NUS). Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at MRC Cancer Unit (MRCCU), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Dr Kong earned his PhD in cancer pharmacology from National University of Singapore, during which he focused on understanding the resistance mechanisms in chemo-refractory tumours. He is currently holding a joint appointment at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSIS).

At CSI, Dr Kong has established several biomarker screening pipelines using liquid biopsies for detection of prognostic biomarkers. His collaboration with Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium (STCC) supports patient stratification into multi-centre clinical trials, which involves the National University Hospital (NUH) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Dr. Yoon‑La Choi, M.D., Ph.D., is a renowned professor in the Department of Pathology & Translational Genomics at the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine in Seoul, S. Korea. Her research focuses on cancer genomics, with an emphasis on identifying new biomarkers and developing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment. Dr. Choi's extensive research contributions have led her to be regarded as a leading expert in the field. In particular, Dr. Choi is recognized as a leader based on numerous research achievements in the field of companion diagnostics. Additionally, Dr. Choi is a professor at the Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Science & Technology, where she studies solid tumor genetics and explores the molecular pathological mechanisms underlying cancer. Her work aims to utilize these mechanisms as diagnostic and therapeutic predictors. Prior to her current affiliations, Dr. Choi served as a clinical instructor in the Department of Pathology at the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University, and as a clinical visiting instructor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, U.S.A.

Dr. Deepak Mishra is currently a Senior Consultant in Laboratory Haematology & Molecular Pathology at the Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata, a fledgling new comprehensive cancer centre. He is also the Director of the Department of Laboratory Sciences at Tata Medical Centre. After working for more than 25 years in the Armed Forces; in its flag-ship hospitals & institutes like Army Hospital (Research & Referral), New Delhi and Armed Forces Medical College, Pune; he joined his current assignment in May, 2010.

Dr Charles Ellen is a Product Development Scientist at Pacific Edge Limited, where he is driving the development of ddPCR based SNP assays for the detection of bladder cancer. As lead scientist and product owner for the integration of ddPCR into a diagnostic workflow, Charles' role has a focus on developing and improving molecular diagnostic tools to detect cancer earlier and faster.

Dr. Saranyoo has over 10 years in the field of Genetics, Molecular & Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Stem Cell Biology. He serves as Assistant Professor at the Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University. As more than 10 years of his experience in developing the preimplantation genetic test (PGT) especially PGTn‑M (monogenic disorder) in the private assisted reproductive medicine clinic and genetic testing company. He was also interested in the developing of droplet PCR for detecting fetal cell free DNA in maternal blood. Comparing the conventional invasive prenatal test, his research was initiated the feasible testing method using ddPCR for inherited monogenic disease especially thalassemia. Currently, he is working with BioRad R&D team in Thailand for developing ddPCR assay in many clinical aspects including validation of spatial transcriptome data and the quality control analysis for therapeutic exosome research.

Dr. Sridhar Epari is currently the Professor and Officer in‑charge of Pathology at ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. A graduate in MD Pathology from AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. Epari boasts over 20 years of post‑MD experience. His main scientific interests lie in molecular diagnostics and neuro‑oncopathology. Dr. Epari was instrumental in implementing advanced molecular diagnostics methods for neuro‑oncopathology, including multi‑panel gene expression tests and droplet digital PCR, among others. In addition to his research work, Dr. Epari is a prolific academic author with over 160 publications in both national and international journals. His work extends to collaborations with other institutions and neuro‑oncology centers, including IIT Mumbai and IIT Jodhpur.

Frank Bizouarn joined Bio-Rad in 2000 to support quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology as a Field Applications Specialist (FAS) in the southeast United States. In 2006, he moved into the role of International FAS for Bio‑Rad’s global Gene Expression Division to promote best practices in qPCR around the world. In 2011, Frank began working on Droplet Digital PCR applications (ddPCR) and joined the Digital Biology group. Currently, he is focused on supporting and promoting quantitation, detection, and sample discrimination applications that take advantage of the high resolution and sensitivity provided by the power of droplet partitioning.