Unveil the Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection with New Innovations in Protein Detection and Gene Expression Analysis
PRESENTER:
Dr. Sigrun Badrnya | Manager Product Development at Thermo Fisher Scientific - Biosciences Division, Protein & Cell Analysis
PRESENTER'S BIO:
Sigrun Badrnya is Manager in Product Development at the Thermo Fisher Scientific Center of Excellence for Immunoassays in Vienna, Austria. Sigrun received her PhD in vascular biology from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. She continued as postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and within an industry-academia joint project for Randox Laboratories UK, where she focused on the development of multiplex protein biomarker assays. In her current role she is supervising an R&D team to develop immunoassays across diverse platforms including Invitrogen ELISA, ProcartaPlex and ProQuantum.
ABSTRACT:
Uncovering the interactions between pathogens and the immune system is key for both understanding and controlling infectious disease. As the novel human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the associated respiratory disease COVID-19 continue to evolve worldwide, innovative assay formats to characterize the humoral response to infection are instantly needed. While molecular PCR-based assays remain the gold-standard tests for diagnosis of acute viral infection, serological assays are crucial tools to screen convalescent sera for identification of individuals with SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Simple, rapid and multiplex high-throughput serology assays will enable researchers to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and to examine the immunological memory and potential protective immunity of previously infected or vaccinated individuals. Furthermore, gene expression analysis platforms can aid to better understand the molecular basis by identifying transcriptional signatures that may underlie SARS-CoV-2-induced infection. The so-called cytokine storm or cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a hyperactive state of the immune system, is a common complication of various pathological conditions and has also been observed as a critical feature of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, it is of great interest to analyze the level of a broader panel of immuno-modulatory markers in the context of SARS-CoV-2 to get a comprehensive picture of an individual’s immune status. This seminar will provide an overview of powerful technologies and innovative research solutions to explore major questions around the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, providing important insights for the development of therapies and vaccines.
High Definition Simoa Ultra-sensitive Cytokine Profiling for COVID-19 Research: Multiplexing with No Compromise on Sample Readability and Robustness
PRESENTER:
Dr. Paula Perin | Senior Field Application Scientist at Quanterix Corporation
PRESENTER'S BIO:
Dr. Paula Perin is a Senior Field Application Scientist with Quanterix Corporation. For the past four years, she has offered technical and scientific support on all of the Simoa platforms, with a recent focus on the Simoa planar platform. Paula received her PhD in Infection Biology and Virology from the Hannover Medical School in Germany.
ABSTRACT:
Cytokines are critical messengers of innate and adaptive immune responses. A fine- tuned balance of Th1/Th2 cytokines at appropriate levels is essential to clear viral infection with minimal harm to the host. SARS-CoV-2 infection is known to induce hyperinflammation/cytokine storm in a number of patients, which often leads to severe and critical COVID-19 disease. Profiling of early biomarkers to predict severe/critical disease is an essential consideration in a preventive approach. It also allows for better characterization of the longitudinal inflammatory process in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Quantification of baseline levels of circulating cytokines enables identification of early rises of cytokines, use of low sample volumes and highly precise and reproducible measurements for more robust statistical data analysis. However, quantification of cytokines in multiplex is critical, considering their pleiotropic, additive, synergistic or antagonistic effects. In this presentation, we will cover how the Simoa planar technology allows quantification of cytokine profiles (10-plex, Th1/Th2 cytokines) at ultra low levels in healthy controls and COVID-19 patient samples, without compromising sensitivity and quality of the data.
How to Streamline Your Vector Construction
PRESENTER:
Dr. Joan Marcano | Northwest Territory Manager at VectorBuilder
PRESENTER'S BIO:
Joan Marcano is the Northwest Territory Manager at VectorBuilder, where he focuses his efforts on establishing relationships with customers to help them achieve their research goals. Prior to joining VectorBuilder, Joan was a Postdoctoral Researcher at National Bioenergy Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO. In the laboratory, Joan focused on RNA structural biology and the application of RNA regulatory systems for synthetic biology applications. Joan earned his B.S. in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
ABSTRACT:
Every day, more labs realize that vectors are just another reagent in their experiments and have opted to outsource their vector construction allowing their researchers to focus on the main goals for their projects. VectorBuilder can be your research partner by providing you the one-stop solution for all of your vector needs. In today’s presentation, I will go over several of the advantages of outsourcing your vector construction to VectorBuilder. First, I will highlight our unique free Vector Design Studio features that allow you to make plasmid designs in an easy (and fun) way while avoiding common mistakes. Then, I will showcase how our platform will help keep accessible all the information about the plasmids including citations in one place. Next, I will present internal data highlighting our experience of making thousands of vectors and using that knowledge to meet your research needs. Finally, I will touch on our most recent research solutions to support your coronavirus research efforts. Please feel free to ask any questions you have about our services, and we will be looking forward to being your research partner.
One for All: A Small Peptide-Tag for Any Application
PRESENTER:
Dr. Klaus Herick | VP of Marketing and Sales at ChromoTek, Inc.
PRESENTER'S BIO:
Klaus has earned a PhD in Biochemistry and spent more than 20 years in various international roles such as product management, business development, and new product introduction. Klaus joined ChromoTek in April 2015 and is head of commercial operations.
ABSTRACT:
In this webinar, ChromoTek introduces the innovative Spot-Tag, the first peptide tag detected by a Nanobody in Super Resolution Microscopy (Virant et al. 2018, Nat. Commun.). The short (12 amino acid), inert Spot-Tag can be applied in multiple capture and detection applications including immunofluorescence, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation, and protein purification. An example of the biochemical and microscopic analysis of a Spot-tagged protein, which was CRISPR’ed into the cell’s genome, is shown to demonstrate the versatility and performance of the Spot-System.
How to Turbo Charge your Research with CRISPR
PRESENTER:
Harry Hunter | Sr. Account Specialist at Synthego
PRESENTER'S BIO:
Harry Hunter is a Senior Account Specialist at Synthego, covering the entire Southeast United States. Originally from California, started research at San Francisco State University, where he focused on both bioinformatics and wet lab applications, receiving both his BS and MS in Cell and Molecular Biology. Went on to do graduate work at the University of Washington, Seattle, focusing on Developmental Biology, and then moved into biotech afterward at Bio-Rad to later join Synthego 2 years later. While at Synthego, Harry has obtained CRISPR certifications at Harvard University and is currently based in Atlanta, GA.
ABSTRACT:
Join us to learn more about the easiest way to start using CRISPR in your research. See how your lab can use genome engineering to drive your research forward and accelerate discoveries. This webinar will review the process of how to optimize CRISPR genome engineering to create knockout cell lines as well as point mutations, gene tags, and other knockins at your target gene of interest. With an optimized CRISPR strategy you can edit genes not only in immortalized cancer cells but also in physiologically relevant induced pluripotent stem cells and primary cells.