PCR – Webinars and Online Events

In this webinar, our expert speakers will explore the vital role of qPCR and digital PCR in supporting advanced therapy medicinal products, including cell therapies. Discover best practices for assay design, validation parameters and acceptance criteria crucial for ensuring the safety and efficacy of cell therapy programs. Learn how molecular precision can safeguard these innovative therapies and drive breakthroughs in the field.

In this webinar, Dr. Jonathan Schmitz will provide a broad overview of PCR in diagnostic microbiology, with particular emphasis on the challenges that can face the development of new assays and impact their clinical actionability. Many of these issues - while hardly unique to SARS-CoV-2- can be highlighted by the evolving dynamics of this virus over the past three years.

Amplicon-based sequencing approaches have been widely adopted for routine microbiology applications, including targeted 16S rRNA for bacterial taxonomic classification and tiled multiplex PCR for viral whole-genome sequencing.

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was adopted rapidly into clinical and point-of-care testing laboratories enabling prompt diagnostics, treatment and surveillance. qPCR remains the go-to method for microbial detection in areas including clinical, agricultural, veterinary and food safety diagnostics.

To adequately assess the safety and efficacy of candidate gene therapies, robust bioanalytical technologies must support regulated studies. Hence, many labs now incorporate the latest qPCR and digital PCR (dPCR) methods into their preclinical and clinical development workflows to assure data accuracy and product effectiveness.

Multiple solutions have been devised to increase multiplexing in qPCR, including single-well techniques, using target-specific fluorescent oligonucleotide probes, and spatial multiplexing, where
segregation of the sample enables parallel amplification of multiple targets.

There is a need for innovations that will push forward the multiplexing field in qPCR, enabling for the next generation of diagnostic tools which could accommodate high throughput in an affordable manner. To this end, the use of machine learning algorithms has recently emerged to leverage information contained in amplification and melting curves– two of the most standard biosignals emitted during qPCR – for accurate classification of multiple nucleic acid targets in a single reaction.

Thermo Fisher Scientific are not affiliated with the webinar speaker. Any application of machine learning technologies with the Diomni™ software package, related assay definition files (ADFs) and related qPCR instruments are for research use only.

Liquid biopsies and the advent of blood-based diagnostics have emerged in recent years as promising alternatives and complements to tissue-based genomic and proteomic assays. Biodesix, a global leader in molecular diagnostics and assay design/development, leverages cutting-edge technology, including droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), to advance translational and clinical oncology research and to assist biopharma companies in delivering new, targeted, life-saving therapies to patients.

This presentation provides a comprehensive exploration of new blood-based diagnostics, including the development of a microsatellite instability (MSI) test on the ddPCR platform and the dynamic monitoring capabilities of ddPCR using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA).

Unleash the potential of genetic analysis technologies in gene therapy development. Join this webinar to explore the scientific advancements and breakthroughs made possible by analytical methods. Discover how these technologies overcome challenges, enabling critical product characterization, safety and regulatory compliance.

When designing molecular diagnostic tests, different parameters are of interest to evaluate, for example, sensitivity, specificity, dynamic range, turnaround time and user friendliness. Which parameters are most important depends on application and may require extensive optimization. Examples will be discussed based on quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR).

The polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is firmly established as the method of choice for the detection of microbial agents in the areas of clinical, veterinary and agricultural diagnostics and food safety. The current pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of local, fast and specific testing for SARS-CoV-2. It should also act as a wake-up call for the threat posed by infectious diseases spreading because of climate change, increasing antibiotic resistance and the hazard of zoonotic transfer caused by human encroachment of animal habitats. We are working on new tests, protocol and reagents to achieve faster molecular diagnostic testing both for both laboratory based and POC applications. Our target of delivering a diagnostic test result within five minutes of sampling has the potential to lead to a paradigm shift in our approach to detecting and classifying microbial pathogens in preparation for the inevitable next pandemic