On March 26, at.las and Becton Dickinson (BD) and FACSUA (Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Core Facility UAntwerp) organized the ‘FLOW towards your goal’ event to highlight the importance of flow cytometry in cell and gene therapies, in particular the role this technology can play in characterizing, sorting and manipulating cells for therapeutic purposes. Several experts from BD taught the 70 participants the basic principles of flow cytometry and presented possible applications through theoretical and practical examples.
Nathalie Cools, vice president of the Belgian society for the advancement of Cytometry, and spokesperson of FACSUA is enthusiastic, and emphasized the importance of flow cytometry education and training for future scientists and physicians: “As this technique is commonly used in various fields such as immunology, oncology and regenerative medicine, training future scientists and clinicians is essential. Students, young researchers and lab technicians must learn not only how to operate flow cytometers, but also how to design experiments, analyse data, troubleshoot problems, and interpret results. Great to see this coming to life in the program.”
Gianluca Rotta, Scientific Affairs Manager at BD, commented on flow cytometry in the CAR-T cell therapy workflow, highlighting the role of analytical approaches in controlling the testing variability. He provided examples on stratification of CAR-T eligible patients and correlation of phenotypes with in vivo potency and persistency. Finally he discussed next generation analytical approaches and the benefits of image based cell sorting and multi-omics single cell analysis.
Both attendees and organizers look back at a successful event:
Bo Coppens, GMP Facility University Hospital Ghent: “It was an interesting day with a good refresher on the flow cytometry basics and a nice introduction to the more advanced technologies”.
Yosma Bingol, Hematology University Hospital Antwerp: “As I am involved in the clinical follow up of patients it is good to keep up to date and refresh my knowledge. It is interesting to learn more about new applications such as CAR-T”.
Hans De Reu Lab Manager of University of Antwerp: “As a core facility of the University of Antwerp, our ambition is to make both basic and advanced flow cytometry and cell sorting accessible. Through close collaboration within our university and with the Antwerp University Hospital , we can offer a total package, ranging from the use of our equipment by external parties to participation in clinical studies. It is great that we can draw more attention to our expertise through this at.las initiative”.
Sabine Herbert, Biotech Sales Development Manager at BD: “ The dedication and hard work that went into planning and executing the event together with at.las were evident in every aspect. From the divers and engaging program sessions given by my colleagues to the seamless logics and excellent facilities provided by at.las. It was truly a valuable experience for all attendees, me included. And the fact that some attendees already expressed the wish for a follow up event gave me the confirmation that the event was successful”.
Mira Van de Velde, ecosystem developer for at.las: “ It was great bundling forces with BD and FACSUA. This event stands for cooperation, knowledge sharing and training future cell and gene specialists, precisely in line with what at.las envisions”.
This Scientific event was hosted at the Science Park UA, Niel.
Review the full program here.
