Innovation Showcase

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF DETERMINISTIC CELL PROGRAMMING IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND DRUG DISCOVERY

The session is split into 3 parts.
1) Transcription factor-mediated cell programming. Roger Pedersen (Stanford University) will discuss the paradigm shift achieved using transcription factor-mediated cell programming to alter pluripotent stem cell fate. He will detail how transcription factor-based programming impacts reproducibility and scalability and dramatically improves stem cell utility in research and future therapeutic applications.

2) Unravelling Alzheimer’s disease: Insights into pathogenesis, promising therapies, and the potential of stem cells. Matthias Pawlowski (University of Münster) will explore genetic, protein misfolding, and neuroinflammation roles in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, alongside promising treatment strategies including small molecule inhibitors and immunotherapies as well as research on pluripotent stem cells as a transformative approach for advanced disease modelling and drug development.

3) hiPSC-derived cell models for functional genomics and neural network formation studies. Sejla Salic-Hainzl (bit.bio) will present on the use of human iPSC-derived cells in functional genomics and drug candidate characterisation. She will discuss the integration of CRISPR-Cas9 technologies with these cells, exploring their potential for disease modelling, target identification and validation. Additionally, she will showcase data on co-cultured neural cells forming functional networks, highlighting their importance in understanding disease mechanisms and developing targeted treatments.