Meeting the challenges of drug discovery today
The core techniques used in toxicology studies have remained largely unchanged for over 40 years. It is acknowledged in the pharmaceutical industry that more predictive, earlier tests need to be established in order to prevent unsafe drugs progressing into the clinic and to stop potentially effective therapeutics being excluded from development.
This recognition is driving the development of more relevant, specific, and reliable toxicology models and tests to improve drug safety and reduce the cost of development. In particular, the use of stemcell–derived model, Cytivaâ„¢ Plus cardiomyocytes can provide an opportunity to develop a transformative, integrated drug toxicity surveillance system.
To ensure you can meet the challenges currently faced within the industry sign up to our webinar today.
Presented by
Hirdesh Uppal, Ph.D., DVM,
Dr. Uppal has a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and clinical specialization in immunology from Punjab Agricultural University, India. He is current working at Medivation Inc. doing work in development of predictive biomarkers and diagnostics. He was previously a scientist in Safety Assessment & Development Sciences at Genentech Inc., leading laboratory activities to develop novel molecular science capabilities to support safety assessment in early drug discovery. Dr. Uppal also led a Genentech program to develop and apply cutting-edge stem cell technologies to the use of pluripotent stem cells in drug discovery and regenerative medicine.
Dr. Uppal has over eight years of experience in drug development across the value chain including work at F. Hoffmann-La Roche focusing on preclinical drug development and investigative drug safety, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine performing pharmacology and toxicology research, and for the Government of India Vaccine Institute doing vaccine development. Dr. Uppal has also served in leadership roles in miscellaneous industry consortia and has been an invited speaker at many scientific meetings as well as having numerous top-tier journal publications and several industry patent applications.
Liz Roquemore, Ph.D.,
Technology Manager, Technology Manager, Cell Applications
Dr. Roquemore gained her Ph.D. from the biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. She has studied diverse aspects of intracellular protein regulation, membrane protein trafficking and cell phenotype throughout her career.
Currently the technology manager for cell applications within the Cell Technologies Division of GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Dr. Roquemore has played a leading role in development and validation of cell lines, reagents, assays and imaging tools for research and drug discovery.
A major focus area for her work has been the application of high throughput microimaging tomicroscopy and analysis technologies for cell biology research and drug development. Most recently investigating the combined use of stem cell-derived model systems and high-content analysis techniques to enable earlier predictive toxicity testing.
