New at the Tri-Conference for 2018!

Cambridge Healthtech Institute is pleased to incorporate the addition of our new skill-based Training Seminars to the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference. Training Seminars offer in-depth training and instruction on a specific subject area that isn’t covered at this level during the main program, symposia or pre-conference workshops. The topics of the Training Seminars include science-focused, business-focused, and personal development.

Our Training Seminars offer real-life case studies, problems encountered and solutions applied, and extensive coverage of the basic science and business issues underlying each topic. Experienced Training Seminar instructors offer a mix of formal lectures, interactive discussions and activities to help attendees maximize their learning experiences. These immersive trainings will be of value to scientists and business professionals from industry and academic research groups who are new to the life sciences field and want to advance, entering new areas of life science and not sure of a career path, or honing knowledge or skill on a certain subject to excel in a supporting role.

February 15-16, 2018 | Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Day 1 (Thursday, February 15) 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Day 2 (Friday, February 16) 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

TS1: Practical Introduction to PKPD Modeling in Drug Discovery and Development: Better, Faster, Cheaper

Arijit Chakravarty, CEO, Fractal Therapeutics

Ryan Nolan, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co

Model-based Drug Development (MBDD) has evolved into a set of practical techniques that dramatically reduce pharma R&D costs without sacrificing quality. Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic (PKPD) modeling lies at the heart of MBDD. Part 1 of the seminar will teach the concepts of MBDD and its application in drug R&D. Part 2 will provide an in-depth introduction to key concepts in PKPD modeling, and teach hands-on implementation of PKPD modeling on real and simulated datasets.

TS3: Beginner’s Guide to Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Holger Becker, Ph.D., Founder & CSO, microfluidic ChipShop GmbH

This 1.5-day lecture-based interactive seminar will provide an overview on the technological aspects of POC system developments. It will introduce current technologies such as microfluidics, sensors, paper- and smartphone-based approaches and discuss their trends and limitations. It will present a variety of POC systems in different stages of their development, from early stage to established diagnostic systems in the clinical routine. Market aspects of POC systems as well as practical examples of commercialization for molecular diagnostic, immunological and clinical tests will be presented.

TS4: Clinical NGS Laboratory from A to Z

Jamie Platt, Ph.D., Managing Director, BRIDGenomics, LLC

Martin Siaw, Ph.D., MB(ASCP), Technical Consultant, Siaw Consulting

Nearly 10 years after the first publication of next-generation sequencing, this paradigm shifting technology has progressively migrated into the clinical diagnostic space. A diversity of clinical diagnostic assays are now routinely performed on a variety of NGS platforms, spanning from single gene to multi-gene sequencing, to genome wide analyses for the detection of germline and somatic mutations. For clinical laboratories with NGS experience, and especially for those just starting to use the technology, designing and operationalizing robust NGS assays remains a challenge. This training seminar will review principles and diagnostic approaches for NGS assays as applied to molecular oncology and inherited disorders, platforms and instruments, as well as laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing specific to NGS.

TS5: Introduction to Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Development

H. James Harwood Jr., Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Delphi BioMedical Consultants, LLC

This 1.5-day lecture-based interactive seminar focuses on strategies for identifying drug discovery targets, discovering and characterizing small molecule hits, and developing structure-activity relationships to advance hits through lead optimization, preclinical development, and clinical evaluation. Participants will learn the stages and processes required to advance programs from idea to clinic, through examples and case studies. This seminar is intended for scientists in either academia or industry who would like to become more familiar with small molecule drug discovery and development.

TS8: Introduction to Liquid Biopsy

Sunita Badola, Director, Functional Genomics, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

John K. Simmons, Ph.D., Director, Translational Science and Diagnostics, Personal Genome Diagnostics

Jennifer Jackson PhD, Oncology Science Liaison, Translational Science and Diagnostics, Personal Genome Diagnostics

This 1.5-day lecture-based interactive seminar will provide an introduction to the biology and science of liquid biopsies. It will provide an in-depth look into the clinical application, utility and validation of liquid biopsy assays with a focus on how to choose the right assay for your goals. It will present a variety of liquid biopsy techniques and go into the pros and cons of each. Overall, this seminar will provide attendees with an comprehensive tool-kit to overcome their liquid biopsy challenges.

What is a Training Seminar?

Each Training Seminar offers 1.5 Days of instruction with start and stop times for each day shown above and on the Event-at-a-Glance published in the onsite Program & Event Guide. Training Seminars will include morning and afternoon refreshment breaks, as applicable, and lunch will be provided to all registered attendees on the full day of the class.

Each person registered specifically for the training seminar will be provided with a hard copy handbook for the seminar in which they are registered. A limited number of additional handbooks will be available for other delegates who wish to attend the seminar, but after these have been distributed no additional books will be available.

Though CHI encourages track and symposia hopping between conference programs, we ask that Training Seminars not be disturbed once they have begun. In the interest of maintaining the highest quality learning environment for Training Seminar attendees, and because Seminars are conducted differently than conference programming, we ask that attendees commit to attending the entire program, and NOT engaging in track hopping, as to not disturb the hands-on style instruction being offered to the other participants.