Multiplex Super-Selective PCR Assays for the Detection and Quantitation of Rare Somatic Mutations
Posted 22nd February 2021 by Nicholas Noakes
Professor Fred Kramer spoke at the recent Research & Technology Series exploring Flow Cytometry / qPCR & Digital PCR / Liquid Biopsies. During his presentation, he explained how Super Selective primers enable the simultaneous identification and quantitation of rare somatic mutations in routine multiplex PCR assays, while virtually eliminating signals from abundant closely related wild-type sequences.
Talking T cells
Posted 28th October 2020 by Joshua Sewell
This article is republished with kind permission from BioVox.
BioVox got to speak with Prof. David Masopust, the man who discovered resident memory T cells. His seminal breakthrough opened up a new branch of T cell biology and catapulted the field forwards. Masopust shares his thoughts on the enormous untapped potential of T cells in new treatments and vaccines.
Cell therapies: opportunities and challenges
Posted 20th May 2020 by Joshua Sewell
This article is republished with kind permission from BioVox.
Recent activities in the cell therapy field have prompted many investment funds to pour fresh and increasing capital into this space. In this review, we would like to share some observations and highlight a few of the questions that arise when new modalities cross the bridge from bench to bed.
Improving the selection of candidate CD8+ T cell epitopes for immunotherapy
Posted 6th January 2020 by Joshua Sewell
Alongside the talks at our conferences, the poster presentations are a huge part of the knowledge sharing that takes place. We’re thrilled to be able to take a closer look at this poster from the Research & Technology Series, presented by Wim van Esch and the team at Sanquin.
Deep Learning based detection of tumor tissue compartments improves prognostic immunoprofiling in muscle-invasive bladder cancer
Posted 11th November 2019 by Liv Sewell
Worldwide, bladder cancer (BC) is the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer. In men, BC is the 7thmost commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide.[1]Although men are more likely to develop BC than women, women present with more advanced disease and have worse survival rates.[2]
Muscle-invasive bladder cancers (MIBC) are cancers that have grown into or through the muscle layers of the bladder wall.
Dr. Katharina Nekolla and Ansh Kapil and their team applied Deep Learning enabled pathology to better understand prognostic factors in MIBC. Here we review the significance of the research and share their original poster.
Strategic screening enables effective biomarker discovery
Posted 19th June 2019 by Joshua Sewell
During my eight years at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, I led a protein technologies group. We developed a protein expression library, and then high-content protein arrays. In total, we made arrays with 10,000 different human proteins.
Flow Cytometry: A powerful tool in drug discovery
Posted 17th June 2019 by Joshua Sewell
Flow cytometry is a powerful tool in drug discovery because it provides a way to understand the drug’s mechanism of action. In order to stratify a better target for patients, you often need to know where the drug is working, and what kind of pathway it is operating along.
Why do biomarkers fail?
Posted 12th June 2019 by Joshua Sewell
When conducting an experiment to identify biomarkers, it is crucial to design the experiment properly. 80-90% of all biomarker populations for the last 20 years have not and cannot be reproduced, and the main reason that biomarkers fail is that these experiments are not designed properly. In this post, I will outline two ways in which experiments are poorly designed, and then outline the technological and methodological solution in a later blog.