7:15 am Check-In & Morning Coffee

7:55 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

  • Deidre Dalmas Director - Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, GlaxoSmithKline Plc

2024 Industry Analysis: Leveraging Different Spatial Technologies

8:00 am Panel: Addressing Common & Diverse Challenges in Adopting & Implementing Spatial Technologies Across Drug Development

  • Lauri Diehl Executive Director, Research Pathology, Gilead
  • Shih-Ying Wu Senior Advisor - Data Science & Bioinformatics, Eli Lilly & Co.
  • Ben Chen Scientific Senior Director, Lab Head for Solid Tumor Translational Medicine Research, BMS
  • Deidre Dalmas Director - Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, GlaxoSmithKline Plc
  • Jason Reeves Director - Application Science, Nucleai

Synopsis

  • Understanding how industry experts select the right spatial biology tool for their study, be it based on disease indication, modality, stage within the pharma value chain or other criteria
  • Soundboarding ideas to overcome barriers to internal entry including cost, time and hesitancy to adopt new technology
  • Uncovering approaches when it comes to analyzing the data infrastructure and what needs to be built in-house to support the integration of new spatial biology technologies

Moderated by Deidre Dalmas, Director – Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, Formerly GSK

8:45 am AI 101: Understanding the Basics of Responsible AI Development for Applications in Digital Pathology

9:15 am Morning Break & Speed Networking

Synopsis

As the Spatial Biology community is reunited, this valuable session will ensure you get the chance to reconnect with peers and make brand new connections! This structured networking opportunity will pair you with fellow attendees for several 3-minute introductions, ensuring you have the opportunity to meet and network with your academic and industry colleagues!

Leveraging Different Spatial Technologies to Empower Drug Discovery & Development Workflows

10:15 am Enhancing Targeted Therapeutics with Spatial Biology

Synopsis

  • Innovative methods in biomarker discovery utilizing spatial biology
  • Leveraging spatial biology to advance the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
  • Integrating spatial biology techniques to improve patient-specific treatment strategies

10:45 am Spotlighting Strategies to Integrate Single-Cell & Spatial Biology to Support Drug Discovery

Synopsis

  • Combining spatial technologies using in vivo and ex vivo samples to better understand disease biology from oncology to immunology
  • Integrating single-cell technology with spatial biology techniques to support more accurate target identification and validation
  • Discussing how this spatial information and platforms could be used to empower downstream drug discovery and development

11:15 am Shaping the Future of Cancer Therapy with AI-Driven Spatial Biomarkers

Synopsis

  • Revealing hidden pathways and interactions beyond genomics in the tumor microenvironment with SpaceIQ
  • Using Explainable AI to analyze spatial relationships between immune cells and tumor cells to enhance immunotherapy effectiveness
  • Leveraging AI-driven spatial biomarker insights to uncover mechanisms driving immune evasion and cancer progression

11:45 am Lunch & Networking

12:45 pm Enabling Spatial Data-Driven Decision Making to Increase Success Rates for Next-Gen Therapeutics: A Framework For AI-Spatial Intelligence

Synopsis

  • Identifying novel spatial biomarkers across imaging modalities for portfolio prioritization/ positioning
  • Modeling the bystander effect of ADCs drug delivery within the tumor microenvironment for biomarker validation & patient selection
  • Patient selection for prospective trials using AI-augmented biomarker scoring and quantification

Applications Of Spatial Biology Across Different Stages of Drug Development & Different Indications

1:15 pm Leveraging Spatial Multiplex Imaging to Improve Translational Research for Solid Tumor Studies

  • Pei-Hsuan Chen Continuous Improvement Specialist & Continuous Improvement Manager Translational Biology, BMS

Synopsis

  • Exploring the application of multiplex spatial imaging platforms in solid tumor research
  • Utilizing spatial biology techniques to uncover predictive biomarkers for approved drugs across different indications
  • Leveraging this data to refine patient stratification methods and enhance the design of future clinical trials for improved treatment outcomes 

1:45 pm Demonstrating Robustness & Phenotypic Diversity with OmniVUE™: A Customizable Multiplex Immunofluorescence Platform

Synopsis

  • The new OmniVUE platform provides a highly customizable solution, offering up to 12-plex configurations from a validated menu of 24 biomarkers, with an expansion to 30 markers underway
  • We conducted a comprehensive assay verification to assess the performance of a 12-plex panel assembled from Ultivue’s pre-validated marker menu
  • The platform’s ability to detect multiple phenotypes in a single tissue section was demonstrated by targeting 12 distinct markers, including T-cell, macrophage, and tumor markers. The results showed that marker performance remained unaffected by the order of staining rounds, underscoring the flexibility and reliability of OmniVUE’s multiplexing approach

2:15 pm Uncover the Mechanism for Reproductive Toxicology: The Application of Spatial Transcriptomics in Drug Discovery

  • Lijun Zhou Principal Scientist - Spatial Multiplex Imaging, GSK

Synopsis

  • Utilizing spatial transcriptomics to understand drug treatment induced developmental issues
  • Analysis of pipeline development for the comparison of spatial transcriptomics data across two groups of samples
  • Further analyze the impact of differentially expressed genes on embryo development

2:45 pm Afternoon & Networking Break

Sharing Best Practices of Using Spatial Technologies to Supercharge Non-Oncology Drug Development

3:45 pm Mastermind Session: A Comparison of Currently Available Spatial Technologies Including Spatial Transcriptomics & Proteomics

  • Deidre Dalmas Director - Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, GlaxoSmithKline Plc

Synopsis

This session is your opportunity to share your most pressing challenges and work as a group to come up with solutions that you can implement right away! Each table group will have 25 minutes to discuss their thoughts on the given topic. Groups will then share their findings with all attendees during the final 15 minutes, giving you maximum exposure to new ideas!

Some points of discussion can include:

  • Evaluating the various spatial technologies industry utilizes for drug development including low-plex to highplex platforms
  • Understanding the pros and cons of spatial transcriptomics or proteomics including cost, timelines and ease of use

Moderated by Deidre Dalmas, Director – Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, Formerly GSK

4:30 pm Uncovering How to Leverage Spatial Tools to Better Support Immunology Research

  • Silvia Siso Senior Principal Scientist - Research Pathologist, Abbvie

Synopsis

  • Understanding the rationale behind the study design to inform target identification
  • Sharing optimized strategies to ensure good sample quality
  • Linking the information from spatial biology to improve immune-related disease research or drug development

5:00 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

  • Deidre Dalmas Director - Global Investigative Safety, Nonclinical Safety Project Lead, GlaxoSmithKline Plc

5:10 pm ‘Sip & Shake’ Themed Drinks Reception Hosted by Roche

Synopsis

'Sip & Shake' is a relaxed and fun way for you to build connections with your peers, old and new, after a long, content-filled day. Learn mixology while you mingle and play a few light games with your like-minded peers!