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Signalling Molecules as Proteomic Biomarkers in Brain Tumours
Cristiana Tanase, Proteomics Group Leader, "Victor Babes" National Institute of Pathology, Romania

A recent discovery in the field of brain tumour pathogenesis is represented by dysregulated signalling pathways. In order to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic targets, monitoring an array of signalling molecules in tumours versus peritumoral tissue provides a better understanding of the events in brain tumour progression.

From Proteomes to Pathways to Biosignatures – Progress Towards Understanding Psychiatric Disorder Etiology
Christoph Turck, Head, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Germany

Proteomic technologies in combination with pathway analysis promise to be of great value in molecular medicine, particularly for the discovery and validation of disease markers. Our biomarker detection efforts range from classical proteomics approaches such as quantitative mass spectrometry of brain tissue and body fluid proteins to in silico analyses of public data. A particular focus is the use of animal models that represent selected endophenotypes characteristic for the respective clinical psychiatric phenotype in humans. A comprehensive and sensitive proteomics platform that is based on metabolic labeling of mouse models with stable isotopes is used for mass spectrometry based analyses of protein levels and turnover. The resulting data can be used to detect disease relevant pathways and identify biosignatures that can be translated into the clinic.

Coffee Break & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias
Niklas Mattsson, Medical Doctor & Researcher, Sahlgrens University Hospital, Sweden

Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers may be used to monitor disease processes in the brain. Applications are available for research and clinical routine in patient management for several neurological diseases, for diagnosis, prognosis, patient stratification and monitoring of treatment effect and toxicity. Within dementia research, major efforts are devoted to the discovery and validation of biomarkers for different applications in Alzheimer’s disease.

Lunch & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

microRNA Array Profiling and Cancer Biomarker Discovery
Hazel Pinheiro, Senior Scientist, Exiqon, Denmark

We present the LNA™-based Array technology designed to enable truly genome-wide profiling of microRNAs and its application in the discovery and development of microRNA signatures for thyroid cancer and CTCL (skin cancer) using FFPE tissue sections.

Engrailed-2 (EN2): a Tumour Specific Urinary Biomarker for the Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer
Richard Morgan, Senior Lecturer, University of Surrey, United Kingdom

Engrailed-2 (EN2) protein is secreted by prostate cancer cells and can be detected in urine. This presentation reviews the progress of current trials of EN2 as a biomarker of prostate cancer, including its relationship with tumour stage, grade and volume.

Coffee Break & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Aminopeptidase Activities as Biomarkers for Cancer
Paul Tempst, Professor, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, United States of America

Using mouse models for prostate cancer, we discovered an inhibitory activity of dipeptidyl aminopeptidases (DPPs) in animals with aggressive disease. The affected enzyme was identified and shown to be similarly inhibited in sera of patients with metastatic tumors. When used in combination with PSA, the newly developed DPP activity-based assay improves disease stratification over PSA alone.

Biomarkers to Predict the Response to Rituximab
Saskia Vosslamber, Researcher, VU University Medical Center, Netherlands

The presentation highlights the outcome of biomarker discovery research, which adds new information to our understanding of the mechanism of action of B-cell depletion therapy, and demonstrates clinical useful biomarkers for response prediction, taking the paradigm of personalized medicine one step further.

Current Status of Genomics-based Biomarkers for Cancer: Cancer Personalized Medicine
Enal Razvi, Managing Director, Select Biosciences Inc, United States of America

This talk describes the current status of cancer personalized medicine as it relates to the utilization of companion diagnostics as well as the development of molecularly-targeted therapeutics.

Drinks Reception

Fast-tracking Molecular Diagnostics in Oncology via Antibody-based Proteomics and Digital Parthology
William Gallaghr, Chief Scientific Officer/Professor, OncoMark Limited/University College Dublin, Ireland

This presentation will cover the utility of antibody-based profiling using tissue microarrays and associated digital pathology approaches to expedite the transition from biomarker discovery to validation in oncology. Case studies covering a range of cancer and biomarker types will be outlined.

Discovery of Early Markers of Pancreatobiliary Cancers
John Timms, Group Leader, University College London, United Kingdom

Pancreatic and biliary cancers have a dismal prognosis and biomarkers for their early detection and differential diagnosis are urgently needed. Complementary proteomic strategies are being used to identify candidate markers using a unique set of serum samples that pre-date disease diagnosis and these tested alongside existing markers to improve detection.

Mutant Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA-based Biomarker Discovery: Validation for the Detection, Prognosis and Treatment of Cancer
Jason Bielas, Assistant Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, United States of America

The presentation provides an overview of our framework and data that guides our studies, which investigate the role of nuclear and mitochondrial mutations in cancer and explore the use of mutant DNA as the foundation for novel cancer prognostic indicators of tumor stage, therapeutic response, progression, recurrence and early detection.

Coffee Break & Networking in Exhibition Hall

The Use of Multi-dimensional Proteomics in Cancer Biomarker Discovery
Spiros Garbis, Associate Professor/Head, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Advancements made to sample preparation, biomolecular separation along with technological improvements to various mass spectrometry designs, now allows identification and quantification of dynamic proteomes derived from complex biomedical specimens with very high sensitivity and accuracy. Thanks to the proteomic methods developed in our group, it is now possible to detect and quantify tissue specific proteins in serum at levels that meet or exceed the detection limits of the ELISA assay. Here we will show representative data from breast and prostate cancer.

Lunch & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

A Small-molecule-based Synthetic Receptor Platform for Multiplexed, High-throughput Proteomic Biomarker Discovery & Verification
Gary Coulton, Director, St Georges University of London, United Kingdom

A major challenge facing proteomics is the identification and quantitation of entire proteomes of intact proteins with high throughput. Chromatographic matrices based on CARA^TM synthetic chemistry offer a novel, universal and scalable solution to this problem. CARA^TM –based strategies improve biomarker discovery and protein identification efficiency.

Towards a Disease-specific Biomarker Signature for Neuromuscular Disorders
Kay Ohlendieck, Professor, National University of Ireland, Iceland

In order to determine global changes in protein expression patterns of muscle pathologies and establish biomarker signatures that can properly differentiate neuromuscular diseases, our laboratory has initiated a mass spectrometry-based survey of the skeletal muscle proteome in health and disease.

Coffee Break & Networking in Exhibition Hall

DestiNA Genomics Technology: ‘SMART Chemistry’ for Integrated Solutions in Molecular Diagnostics
Salvatore Pernagallo, Product Development Manager, DestiNA Genomics Ltd, United Kingdom

DestiNA Genomics Ltd has developed a revolutionary SMART chemistry-based technology with massive global potential in multiple markets, including the medical, veterinary, food, agricultural and forensic sectors. This presentation will describe existing performance of DestiNA reagents with respect to Molecular Diagnostics.

Multivariate Biomarker Discovery - Common Misconceptions and How to Avoid Them
Darius Dziuda, Associate Professor, Central Connecticut State University, United States of America

In this presentation, we will discuss common misconceptions in biomarker discovery studies based on high-dimensional p >> n ‘omic’ data, and then focus on the methods maximizing the chances for discovering parsimonious multivariate biomarkers that are robust and biologically interpretable.

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