感染症治療のための分子診断

分子診断ツールの分野では、技術革新の進展に伴って投資も活発化しており、バイオテクノロジーや医薬品、医療機器などの関連企業にとって重要な事業分野が形成されています。最近では、一般的な病原菌と新しい病原菌の両方を検知し、特徴付ける必要に迫られ、シーケンシング、マイクロアレイ、マイクロ流体工学などの分野における技術の進歩に促される形で、各種診断プラットフォームの開発へと焦点が移りつつあります。新たなシーケンシングプラットフォームやポイントオブケア(POC)アッセイが実用化されれば、作業が大幅にスピードアップし、利便性と感度も向上して分子診断の新たな発展が促されると見られており、医療と医薬品開発の分野で優れた成果を達成し、大幅なコスト削減へとつなげていくことも可能になります。

1日目 | 2日目

10月12日水曜日

13:00 Conference Registration

 

Molecular Diagnostics For Infectious Disease
(感染症治療のための分子診断)

14:00 Chairperson’s Remarks

14:05 Next-Generation Sequencing for Infectious Disease Surveillance - from “Base Pair to Bedside”

Dag Harmsen, M.D., Head of Research, Periodontology Department, University Hospital Münster

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has fundamentally altered genomic research. New developments will bring NGS costs and performance down to an everybody’s technology with extreme potential for ultra fast and accurate molecular bacterial typing as it provides the ultimate whole genome information. However, the current bottleneck in analysis, i.e. bioinformatics, needs to be overcome to make successfully the transition from data to knowledge in routine infectious disease surveillance.

14:35 Adaptation of Next-Generation Sequencing for Exploration of the Malaria Epigenome

Richard Bartfai, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Biology, Nijmegen Center for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen

Exploration of epigenetic regulatory mechanism unique to Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria, could provide novel targets for drug development. We have developed the Linear Amplification for Deep Sequencing (LADS) method that enables preparation of highly representative sequencing libraries from the extremely AT-rich P. falciparum genome. Using this novel method we analyzed the epigenome (ChIP-seq) and transcriptome (RNA-seq) of the parasite at unprecedented depth, during multiple stages of development.

15:05 The Transcriptional Landscapes of Human Pathogenic Fungi Revealed by Next-Generation Sequencing

Kai Sohn, Ph.D., Molecular Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology

Human pathogenic fungi are causing superficial infections of the skin but also life-threatening systemic diseases. To define the pathogenicity at the molecular level, information about the genomes and the corresponding transcriptomes is crucial. We applied next-generation sequencing for the qualitative annotation as well as for the quantitative analysis of the transcriptional landscapes in different Candida species that represent the most important fungal pathogens.

15:35 Refreshment Break - Networking with Sponsors

16:15 Sponsored Presentations (Opportunities Available)

16:45 An iPod Touch-Based Hand-Held Gene Analyzer for Pathogen Screening in Limited Resource Settings

Syed Hashsham, Ph.D., Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University

Currently available genetic analysis platforms are powerful but they are expensive and too complicated for use by non-experts. We have developed a small and low cost device, called the GeneZ(TM) analyzer, which is a small smart phone-driven (both Apple’s iPod Touch and Google’s Android based phones) genetic analysis platform capable of analyzing 64 assays using an LED-photodiode system. The functionality and versatility of the platform will be discussed.

17:15 Application of Intact Cell MALDI-TOF MS to the Identification of Bacteria: From Colonies to Clinical Samples

Bernard LaScola, M.D., Ph.D., Faculty of Medicine, University of the Mediterranean, Marseille

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) on intact cells is on the front end of a new revolution in the routine identification of microorganisms in clinical microbiology laboratories. It provides results in a few minutes and by its accuracy has the potential to replace or at least complement all other methods for microorganism identification.

» PLENARY KEYNOTE SESSION 18:00 Keynote Introduction 18:05 Protein Engineering: Benefitting Therapeutic Proteins and Small Molecule Drugs Alike Andreas Plueckthun , Ph.D., Professor, Biochemical Institute, University of Zurich 18:40 Keynote Presentation to be Announced