ACEA Biosciences Announces Winners of its Travel Award
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 31, 2017 -- ACEA Biosciences, a privately owned biotechnology company that develops cutting edge instrumentation for cell-based assays, disperses a quarterly travel award to noteworthy scientists who will be presenting research using ACEA Biosciences’ technology at scientific conferences. Highlighting the broad applicability of ACEA’s xCELLigence instruments, today the company announced that its new round of awards are being given to scientists studying cardiotoxicity and prostate cancer.
Dr. Miriam Butler, a postdoctoral fellow working in the labs of Dr. Paul Rennie and Dr. Artem Cherkasov at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, was selected for her work entitled “Discovery and characterization of small molecules targeting the DNA binding ETS domain of ERG in prostate cancer”, which she will present as a poster at the AACR meeting taking place April 1-5 in Washington DC. Chromosomal rearrangements which cause overexpression of the ERG transcription factor are associated with aggressive disease (including enhanced metastatic potential) and occur in 50% of prostate cancers. Dr. Butler’s work has focused on using rational in silico screening methods to identify drugs capable of disrupting ERG’s DNA binding capabilities. Subsequent analyses of drug candidates demonstrated one molecule, VPC-18005, to directly bind ERG and disrupt its interaction with DNA. VPC-18005 was also shown to inhibit cell invasion and migration (using xCELLignece RTCA) in ERG-expressing cells, and to reduce metastasis in zebrafish xenograft models. To view a summary of Dr. Butler’s work in poster format, click here.
Dr. Jason Maynes, Director of Research, Anesthesia and Pain Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, was selected for his work entitled “Measuring Clinical Cardiac Effect and Toxicity”, which he will present in a podium talk at the 2017 Queenstown Molecular Biology Meeting taking place March 16-17 in Shanghai. Using iPSC-derived cardiac tissue in conjunction with cardiomyocyte functional analysis using impedance monitoring by xCELLigence RTCA, the Maynes group studies cardiac disease, cardiac drug effects and cancer chemotherapy-induced cardiac dysfunction. Beyond mechanistic analyses, they conduct high-throughput drug screening to identify agents that attenuate or eliminate these disease phenotypes.
To learn more about ACEA’s Travel Award, see profiles of past winners, or download the application form for future funding cycles, click here.
About xCELLigence® RTCA
ACEA’s xCELLigence® Real Time Cell Analysis (RTCA) instruments utilize gold microelectrodes embedded in the bottom of microtiter wells to non-invasively monitor the status of adherent cells using the principle of cellular impedance. In short, cells act as insulators – impeding the flow of an alternating microampere electric current between electrodes. This impedance signal is measured automatically, at an interval defined by the user, and provides an extremely sensitive readout of cell number, cell size/shape, cell-substrate attachment strength, and cell invasion/migration. Unique amongst the xCELLigence line of instruments, the Cardio ECR model combines real-time impedance recording with field potential measurement and a pacing function to provide a view of cardiomyocyte health at an unprecedented level of detail. Learn more about the xCELLigence Cardio ECR instrument, and how it is revolutionizing cellular cardiology research.
About ACEA Biosciences
Founded in 2002, ACEA Biosciences is a pioneer in the development and commercialization of high performance, cutting edge cell analysis platforms for life science research. ACEA’s xCELLigence® impedance-based, label-free, real-time cell analysis instruments and NovoCyte® flow cytometer are used in pre-clinical drug discovery and development, toxicology, safety pharmacology, and basic academic research. More than 2,000 instruments have been placed globally, leading to >1,200 peer reviewed publications.
For more information, click here.
For further information please contact:
ACEA Biosciences, Inc.
Dr. Jeff Xue
Phone: 1-858-724-0928, x3075
email: jxue(at)aceabio(dot)com
Jeff Xue, Ph.D., ACEA Biosciences, Inc., http://www.aceabio.com, +1 8587240928 Ext: 3075, [email protected]
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