Droplet Digital PCR World 2024

Manuela Ferracin is Professor of Pathology at the University of Bologna, Italy. She has a background in molecular oncology, with a specific expertise in the identification of diagnostic or prognostic gene signatures. Professor Ferracin contributed to more than 160 publications in peer‑reviewed journals. She belongs to the team of researchers that first showed an association between microRNAs and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). She identified cancer‑specific signatures of cell‑free microRNAs for cancer diagnosis (CEBP 2014; Oncotarget 2015, Int J Mol Sci 2017). In 2016, she established her independent research group in Bologna, which focuses on: microRNA biomarkers in melanoma (J Invest Dermatol. 2020; Cell Death Dis. 2021 and Noncoding RNA. 2021); molecular assays for CUP site-of-origin prediction (Front Oncol 2018; Cancers 2021 and MolOncol 2021), CUP genetic characterization (Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021) CAR‑T cell therapy biomarkers (Front Immunol. 2023).

Katia is a Biology Scientist at Merck, in the Molecular Biology Technologies & Innovation Team. Her work is focused on molecular biology methods development for characterization of recombinant cell lines used in pharmaceutical production processes. After a Master degree in Biology, she started her job at Merck in 2014 as Associate Scientist in Biological Quality Control Group. After one year with Quality Control Team, working on genotypic cell characterization according with GMP quality standard, she has focused on new molecular biology methods and technologies. In the last years she has acquired expertise in Droplet Digital PCR with different applications as copy variation analysis, gene expression, and viral quantification.

David Cobeta is a Scientist at Charles River Laboratories in Leiden, Netherlands. His research revolves arounds early‑stage research and discovery programs for novel drug therapies such as cell therapies and therapeutic antibodies focusing on evaluating their safety and efficacy profiles in vitro.

Dr Isaac Garcia-Murillas is a Staff Scientist at the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in London where he leads and develops the use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and digital PCR (dPCR) technologies to study circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) from liquid biopsies. His research interests converge in the clinical utility of ctDNA as a potential biomarker to detect Minimal Residual Disease, monitor response to treatment, stratify patients to targeted therapies and identify the emergence of drug resistance.

Nerea Galdona holds degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of the Basque Country and a Master's in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. Since 2020, she has been with Viralgen Vector Core's Biomolecular Development department. Her role involves conducting QC assays for rAAV vectors in gene therapy. She also contributes to implementing new analytical methods and optimizing existing ones, focusing on establishing measurement parameters and acceptance criteria for analysis validation.

Valerie Taly is a research director and group leader of the Translational Research And Microfluidics group within the Cordeliers Research Center. This interdisciplinary group focuses on the development of microfluidic tools for cancer research. Dr. Taly's group has pioneered the use of ddPCR to detect tumor-specific genetic and epigenetic alterations. Most recently her group has also been involved in ddPCR development for the follow‑up of COVID‑19 patients.

Tyler Lindgren, part of BridgeBio Gene Therapy's Analytical Method Development group in Raleigh, North Carolina, specializes in molecular assays for characterizing rAAV products and process‑related impurities. He also supports method qualification, technology transfer, and analytical testing for pre‑clinical and clinical programs. Previously, Tyler interned at Novartis Gene Therapies (formerly AveXis), focusing on automating nucleotide isolation and purification for residual host cell DNA quantification. He holds an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology from Penn State University, with an emphasis on microbiology and upstream bacterial fermentation, and a Master of Science in Applied Biotechnology from the University of Wisconsin‑Madison.

Dr. Isaac Garcia-Murillas is a Staff Scientist at the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in London where he leads and develops the use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and digital PCR (dPCR) technologies to study circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) from liquid biopsies. His research interests converge in the clinical utility of ctDNA as a potential biomarker to detect Minimal Residual Disease, monitor response to treatment, stratify patients to targeted therapies and identify the emergence of drug resistance.

Valerie Taly is a research director and group leader of the Translational Research And Microfluidics group within the Cordeliers Research Center. This interdisciplinary group focuses on the development of microfluidic tools for cancer research. Dr. Taly's group has pioneered the use of ddPCR to detect tumor‑specific genetic and epigenetic alterations. Most recently her group has also been involved in ddPCR development for the follow‑up of COVID‑19 patients.

Dr. Clara García Samartino is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Epiliquid, she is a professional with a robust academic background in biological sciences. She holds a doctoral degree and postdoctoral experience in immunology, complemented by a master's degree in Medical Molecular Biology. In addition to her role at Epilquid, she serves as a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Cuyo, where she shares her expertise and passion for advancing scientific knowledge and innovation in the field. Through her career, she hopes to continue to drive advancements in technology and research, with a focus on contributing to equity in access and quality healthcare, enabling early diagnosis of cancer.

Dragana Milosevic works as principal developer in the Division of Laboratory Genetics and Genomics in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She graduated from University of Belgrade, Serbia, with master's degree in Biochemistry. Over the last 10 years, Dragana has developed and implemented numerous clinical assays that were based on ddPCR methodology. She was one of the first at Mayo Clinic to introduce this methodology in clinical laboratory practice. She has been an author on over 60 publications was recently recognized by Rochester Women Magazine.

During his academic training, Dr. Kyle McElroy explored the influence of chromatin on gene expression in several systems using methods spanning molecular biology, genetics, and biochemistry. Since 2020 he has applied these skills to the field of wastewater‑based epidemiology at Biobot Analytics, Inc. He led efforts to transform and optimize Biobot's laboratory operations to successfully test hundreds of wastewater samples a week, enabling the first nationwide monitoring program for SARS‑CoV‑2 wastewater levels during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to working on improvements to Biobot's SARS‑CoV‑2 testing workflows, he has led the laboratory development and implementation of new molecular assays for other pathogens of public health interest such as Mpox virus, Influenza A, Influenza B, and RSV.

Dr. Bradley J. White oversees Verily's public health efforts, including wastewater pathogen testing and mosquito control. An expert in both molecular genetics and mosquito biology, Brad has authored more than 70 peer‑reviewed publications and holds multiple patents related to molecular testing and mosquito control. At Verily, he currently leads the largest wastewater testing program for biosurveillance in the US, delivering more than 500k+ test results across 13 different pathogens over the past three years. He also oversees Verily's Debug program which releases sterile male mosquitoes to reduce populations of disease‑transmitting mosquitoes. After receiving a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2010, Dr. White joined the University of California as an Assistant Professor where his lab conducted federally‑funded research on insect genomics. In 2015, he left academia to join Verily (then Google Life Sciences).