Modern Cell-Based Assays Virtual Symposium

Mara is a Principal Investigator at the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome, where she leads the Pediatric High-Grade Glioma Group.  Prior to moving back to Italy Mara completed numerous postdoctoral positions at the Institute cancer research where her real focus was developing many 3D models and how these could be used to reduce animal usage and enhance translational medicine. Her talk will be focused on what imaging systems can be used to study complex biological systems.

Martin did a year of civil service at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum and went on to study Biology at Mainz University. Following a visit of Umeå University, Sweden for a year as ERASMUS scholar and thesis work at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research he obtained his Diploma (MSc) in Mainz. His scientific career proceeded with a microscopy heavy PhD in developmental neurobiology from Heidelberg University which he completed with great honors (magna cum laude). After 3 years as Postdoc in the CellNetworks cluster of excellency he decided to continue his career as scientific support on the commercial side and currently supports Nexcelom as the Field Application Scientist for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH).

Steve Rees is Vice-President of the Discovery Biology department at AstraZeneca with global responsibility for reagent generation, assay development and functional genomics.  Prior to this Steve led the Screening Sciences and Sample Management department at AstraZeneca with accountability for Compound Management, the human tissue BioBank, Hit Discovery and Lead Optimisation biology support to preclinical discovery projects.  Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Steve worked at GlaxoSmithKline for 24 years in various roles.   Steve has led multiple international collaborations, has authored >65 scientific papers and has spoken at many international symposia.

Dr. Qiu earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1990 and conducted her postdoctoral research at 3M’s Corporate Research Lab. She is a pioneer of accurate cell counting methodologies, an inventor with 34 patents, and an accomplished researcher with over 45 publications in peer-reviewed academic journals. She is a member of the US Technical Advisory Group to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee where she continuously contributes to the development of new cell counting and viability standards for a variety of challenging cell types in complex sample conditions.

Bjørn Voldborg has more than 20 years of experience working with recombinant protein expression from both academic and industrial settings. Bjørn was team leader in the biotech company Pharmexa A/S, responsible for molecular cloning and expression of protein based drug candidates. From this he went to the NNF Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen as Head of the Protein Production Unit, and since 2012 Bjørn has been heading the CHO Cell Line Engineering project at the NNF Center for Biosustainability at the Technical University of Denmark, a project dedicated to the engineering of improved protein production cell factories.

I received my PhD in Biomedical Engineering from CCNY/CUNY while developing and testing novel models for invasion and metastasis within the dynamic tumor microenvironment.  My diverse postdoctoral research allowed me to collaborate with multiple labs within Boston (MGH, HMS), New York (MSKCC, CCNY), and San Diego (VA, UCSD).  I am driven to engage with scientific leaders while providing support and resources to research professionals.  As your Field Application Scientist at Nexcelom, I continue my cross-functional role focused on sharing current research and offering better tools for advancing therapy and improving quality of life.

Rushika Perera is an arbovirologist with over twenty-five years of experience conducting studies on flaviviruses and alphaviruses. She has pioneered studies on the impact of host metabolism on viral infection. Using advanced mass spectrometry techniques, her research team has detailed the metabolic changes that occur in human and mosquito cells during infection with dengue viruses and have used functional studies to identify the host components involved in the process. These studies have also identified that specific host metabolic enzymes are hijacked by viral proteins to benefit the viral life cycle.

Suzanne first delved into the Cancer Research world after accepting a job at AstraZeneca following her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. She continued with this line of research further and graduated with a PhD in Cancer Cell Biology from the University of Manchester. A four-year Post-Doctorate position in assay development led her to Nexcelom Bioscience where she has been working as an application scientist for the past two and a half years. Her expertise within Nexcelom includes Virology and Vaccine Development applications as well as high-throughput Oncology Assays and Accurate Cell Counting.

James L. Riley, PhD, is an Professor of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania. His lab studies the cell biology and therapeutic use of primary human T cells. His lab has developed and is developing a number of T cell-based therapies to treat HIV, cancer and autoimmune diseases. As an officer in the US Army, he received postdoctoral training in Dr. Carl June’s laboratory, where he developed an interested in T cell signaling pathways and therapeutic uses of primary human T cells.  Dr. Riley graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BS in Molecular Biology, studying Dictyostelium iscoideum, and subsequently earned his PhD from Emory University in Dr. Jeremy Boss’ laboratory, studying the gene regulation of MHC class II genes.

Andrea received her PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from New York Medical College. Her research focused on immune cell signaling and activation in the context of infectious disease, with particular emphasis on differential host-pathogen interactions. She joined Nexcelom in 2014 as a Field Applications Scientist, and currently serves as a Senior Business Development Manager, providing subject-matter expertise in the immunology and immuno-oncology research areas.