Industry Lunch Symposia

Make your mark on the future of immunology

Room: Hörsaal G (Session Room G)

Speaker:

Koen Degelas, Science & Technical Advisor I, 10x Genomics

Jonas Schupp, Principle Investigator, Clinic for Pneumology, Hannover Medical School

Advancements in single cell sequencing and spatial profiling have enabled the next generation of breakthroughs in immunology, allowing to build a more detailed map of the cellular and molecular signatures of immune cells in health and disease. Join this symposium to learn how single cell, spatial, and in situ technologies of 10x Genomics can help to advance your research. Moreover, you will learn from Jonas Schupp how single cell RNA sequencing empowered his work.

Accelerating cytometry data analysis with the Cytobank platform: from raw data to statistical results

Room: Hörsaal H (Session Room H)

Speaker: Dr. Nicole Weit

In this session you will learn how the Cytobank platform can accelerate your cytometry data analysis by automatically analyzing hundreds of files. Analyze and visualize your data using statistical tools without any export steps. You will see how fully integrated machine learning-assisted tools enable the discovery of previously undescribed populations in a 20-color deep immunophenotyping experiment. And last but not least, share your results with collaborators with just a couple of mouse clicks. Better results, faster.

Spatially defining the future of cancer biology with advanced multiplexed immunofluorescence

Room: Hörsaal D (Session Room D)

Speaker: Peter Herzer, Ph.D. Senior Application Scientist. Ultivue

Immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of metastatic and recurrent solid tumors. Advances in technology in the past few years have created unprecedented opportunities to identify biomarkers of disease processes, especially by using multi-omics technologies and datasets to derive valid and useful signatures of disease. Despite these advances, today only a minority of patients respond to immunotherapies. Prediction of response to therapies such as checkpoint inhibitors that rely on activation of endogenous immune responses has been shown to be especially difficult due to complex and heterogeneous immune escape mechanisms in each patient. Increasing evidence suggests that measurement of robust biomarkers through spatial analysis of the tissue will be key to enable rational patient selection for an improved clinical trial process and design precise combination therapies. The urgency to discover and implement new biomarkers lays bare the need to integrate a variety of advanced tools to probe the dynamic nature of events happening in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Recently, technology updates integrating the use of multiplex immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence (mIHC/IF) provides much needed insight into cellular composition, cellular functions, and cell-cell interactions. Importantly, recent studies have used mIHC/IF to explore specific immune cells as part of the tumor immune microenvironment (TME) and found that it is helpful for clinical prognosis and efficacy prediction in patients with cancer. In this presentation we will show a streamlined unique workflow supporting whole slide imaging of an 8-plex mIF and traditional same slide H&E fusion on a single tissue slide for a comprehensive tissue immunophenotyping analysis.

Learning objectives:

• The utility of a high throughput, high-plex (Immuno-8) staining and mIF assay development for scientists and clinicians
• Demonstrate how advanced AI-driven image analysis can be applied to discover cell types, populations and morphological context
• Discuss how whole slide image analysis of the tumor microenvironment can provide insight into specific cancer types

Title 1: Imaging Fow Cytometry and Cell Sorting – Broadening the spectrum of high-dimensional biomarker discovery: reveal more for your single-cell research with the image-enabled cell sorting technology

Title 2: Re-Discover Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting

Speaker 1: PhD Diana Ordoñez-Rueda
Speaker 2: Mark Dessing

Room: Hörsaal A (Session Room A)

1. Have you ever looked at a cell under a microscope and thought how exciting it would be to isolate and characterize it? Have you ever wondered what’s really behind those anonymous dots in a flow cytometer plot? Then you should join this talk in which I will present a novel image-enabled cell sorting (ICS) platform that combines the spatial resolution of a fluorescence microscope with the speed and sensitivity of flow cytometric cell sorting. This technology, developed at BD Biosciences and tested by EMBL researchers, can be used for the rapid identification, isolation, and molecular characterization of cells with unique (sub)cellular phenotypes. Join to get an overview of its advantages and applications and to know how ICS can help to accelerate your research.

2. BD Biosciences is on the threshold of adding single cell imaging on a high speed cell sorter. Join this talk to learn more about the technology and how this will enable scientists to use spatial information to identify and sort cells.

Title 1: Forty color flow analysis of different clinical samples with the 5L Cytek Aurora – a field report.

Title 2: 41-color panel to characterize co-inhibitory molecules and their ligands in mice

Room: Hörsaal E (Session Room E)

Speaker: Philipp Schatzlmaier,  Johannes Brandi

Forty color flow analysis of different clinical samples with the 5L Cytek Aurora – A field report, Philipp Schatzlmaier. Philipp is a PostDoc in the Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology in Vienna. He will present their work on adapting the OMIP-69 to the study of multiple different study cohorts (e.g. post-Covid- 19 and Rheumatoid Arthritis). “41-color panel to characterize co-inhibitory molecules and their ligands in mice”, Johannes Brandi. Johannes is a PhD Student from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. His presentation will be on their recently developed 41-color panel, which they employed to characterize the immune system in an experimental mouse model of malaria.

In-depth analysis of Type 1 Diabetes with Imaging Mass Cytometry

Room: Hörsaal N (Session Room N)

Speaker: Nicolas Damond, PhD, Bodenmiller Lab, Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland

By applying highly multiplexed IHC with Imaging Mass Cytometry, we are capable of performing multaneous profiling of insulin-producing β cells located in pancreatic islets and of the immune cells that infiltrate these islets. Our approach demonstrates the value of highly multiplex imaging for improving our understanding of T1D pathogenesis and is applicable to a wide range of diseases

1. Successful integration of the MACSQuant® Analyzer in high-throughput research

2. Enabling characterization of genetically modified T cells used for immunotherapy

Room: Hörsaal H (Speaker Room H)

Speaker:
1. Dr. Julian Braun, Postdoc / Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies BCRT Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

2. Dr. Sonja Schallenberg, Team Coordinator R&D Immunotherapy, Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG

Maximize efficiency while enjoying the certainty – MACS® Quant Analyzers; Lunch symposium with Miltenyi Biotec ; Join us as we hear from experts in the field about the integration and application of the MACS® Quant Analyzer in their respective research over a free lunch! Hear from Dr. Julian Braun as he describes how his team at AG Thiel have utilized the MACS® Quant Analyzer in multiple studies to generate huge datasets related to assessing T cell reactivity towards the COVID-19 pathogen. They have identified pre-existing, cross-reactive immunity in naïve donors and decided to dive deeper into monitoring infection- and vaccination-induced immunity with a workforce of five MACSQuant instruments. Additionally, Dr. Sonja Schallenberg will share her team’s research in enabling flow cytometry-based characterization of genetically modified T cells and the challenges of cell composition, phenotype, or activation state measurement of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells they have overcome with the MACS® Quant Analyzer. We are looking forward to these fascinating talks, and can’t wait to see you there!

Brightfield Imaging-enabled Flow Cytometry

Room: Hörsaal G (Session Room G)

Speaker: Cora Hallie Chadick, Technical Director, Amsterdam UMC

Build Bigger Better Panels with StarBright Dyes

Room: Hörsaal A (Speaker Room A)

Speaker: Clemens Jäger PhD, Flow Cytometry Sales Specialist – Central Europe at Bio-Rad Laboratories

Multicolor flow cytometry is helping to unravel the complexities of biological systems, particularly the immune system, but there are many aspects to panel building that need to be considered to ensure reproducible results.The recently launched fluorescent dyes from Bio-Rad, StarBright Dyes, deliver tunable brightness and spectral properties, greater stability, improved lot-to-lot reproducibility, and spectral consistency. Specifically designed for multicolor flow cytometry with researchers needs in mind, StarBright Dyes address the common pain points in flow such as brightness, broad emission spectra, staining consistency, and ease-of-use, solving issues of signal resolution when constructing complex panels. Here we will give a brief overview of best practice in panel building, guide you through some helpful online tools and show data on our recently launched StarBright Violet and Ultraviolet Dyes and a preview of our newest additions to the StarBright range, the StarBright Blue and StarBright Yellow Dyes in conventional and spectral flow cytometry.

Cell Avidity: A key parameter to understand and optimize immune cell therapy and cell engagers

Room: Hörsaal E (Session Room E)

Speaker: Dr. Peter Djali, BD Manager – Cell Avidity from LUMICKS

Recent studies have revealed that the overall binding strength (or cell avidity) between T cells and tumour cells represents a crucial parameter for identifying and developing potent cancer immunotherapies. Unlike affinity, cell avidity is driven by a multitude of factors, including receptor density, affinity, the engagement of co-receptors and T-cell engagers. Whether exploring T cells such as TCR or CAR-T, NK cell function, or cell engagers, cell avidity is providing new insights into downstream events and therapeutic effectiveness. One of the main obstacles in measuring avidity is the lack of fast, specific, and accurate technologies. The z-Movi® Cell Avidity Analyzer is a novel and unique instrument for direct measurement of cell–cell interaction strength using acoustic forces. This new technology provides predictive, reproducible and fast high-throughput results at a single-cell level. In this talk, we will highlight our recent cell avidity case studies with an emphasis on TCR, CAR-T and cell engagers.

Expanding the power of Spatial Biology from Organs to Organelles

Hörsaal N (Session Room N)

Speaker: 1. Dr. Christoph Koenig, Sr. Application Scientist NanoString
2. Dr Dorothee Preimel, Sr. Technical Scientist NanoString

Want to learn more about how spatial single-cell imaging with the CosMx SMI platform can drive deeper insights for cell atlasing, tissue phenotyping, cell-cell interactions, cellular processes, and biomarker discovery? Join us for the NanoString Symposium to learn more and ask your questions.

Fast and Easy Immune Cell Isolation from Large-Volume Samples

Room: Hörsaal G (Session Room G)

Speaker: Graeme Milton, STEMCELL Technologies

Isolating cells from large-volume samples such as leukapheresis or whole blood bags is a common procedure that precedes many immunological studies. Working with large volumes can be challenging, as the sample often needs to be split and processed in parallel, which can be tedious and may delay downstream studies. In this symposium, we will discuss how the Easy 250 EasySep™ Magnet, combined with column-free immunomagnetic EasySep™ reagents, provides an efficient and user-friendly option to scale up cell isolations.