(PRWEB) September 03, 2014 -- LabRoots announces a new educational webinar for the NGS community. The webinar, titled “NGS Lessons in Translational Diagnostics: Mining and Migrating Robust Cancer Biomarkers to Unified DNA and RNA NGS Panels,” will be airing live September 10, 2014 1:00pm Eastern Time.
In this webinar, a comprehensive approach for NGS-based biomarker discovery will be introduced, as well as a discussion of the successful migration of these markers to targeted NGS assays using low-quality (FFPE) and low-quantity (FFPE or FNA) tumor biopsies. These markers can be queried using a unified assay approach that reveals cancer-associated DNA and RNA variants from total nucleic acid. Speakers will share lessons learned from building high-performance, multi-modal cancer panels that incorporate functional nucleic acid quantification, highly multiplexed target enrichment, and versatile and complementary variant call pipelines. An integrated approach, such as Asuragen’s SuraSeq® system, enables reliable detection and quantification of DNA mutations, expression markers, and RNA fusions across multiple disease pathways and cancer types to support retrospective studies, clinical trial assays, and in vitro diagnostic products.
This webinar features Gary Latham, Ph.D., the Vice President of Research & Technology Development at Asuragen and Brian Haynes, Ph.D., a Senior Scientist in Computational Biology at Asuragen. Dr. Latham leads assay development and sample prep technology activities for the Research division and the Translational Diagnostics group, and oversees the company’s Bioinformatics team. His accomplishments include the conception and development of Asuragen’s AmplideX® PCR technology for fragile X syndrome and autism, and multiple innovations in next-generation sequencing that are commercialized under the SuraSeq® brand. Dr. Latham is an author on >30 peer-reviewed publications, and an inventor on 9 issued and more than a dozen pending US and international patents.
Dr. Haynes received his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. His doctoral work focused on the integration of RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq technologies to model transcriptional networks that regulate carcinogenesis and microbial pathogenesis. As a Senior Scientist in the Computational Biology group at Asuragen, Dr. Haynes has spearheaded the work on whole transcriptome (WT) RNA-Seq from challenging clinical sample types such as FFPE, FNA and biofluids. He has applied WT RNA-Seq to discover novel diagnostic markers in thyroid cancer and identify patient response stratification signatures in late phase drug trials. Dr. Haynes has also led the effort of translating these discoveries into clinical assays using targeted RNA-Seq.
To learn more about this webinar and register free, click here.
About LabRoots:
LabRoots is the leading professional networking website designed to connect all science verticals. Founded in March 2008, LabRoot's vision was to connect the scientific world leveraging a myriad of unique features and tools, discovering meaningful collaborations across geographic boundaries and fields of expertise. LabRoots is the owner and producer of BioConference Live - which has grown into the world's largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.
About Asuragen:
Asuragen is a molecular diagnostics company using genomics to drive better patient management through best-in-class clinical testing solutions. With a pioneering position in miRNA, Asuragen has assembled cutting edge technologies to discover, develop and commercialize diagnostic products and clinical testing services. Our experienced team utilizes these capabilities to operate with efficiency and flexibility with our internal R&D programs as well as with our companion diagnostic partners. Building on the Company’s heritage, Asuragen has developed a reputation as a world class molecular diagnostics Company and has created a culture driven by nimble, innovative and determined teams of scientists and professionals inspired to improve patient management through molecular diagnostics.
Jennifer Ellis, LabRoots, Inc., http://www.LabRoots.com, 714-463-4673, [email protected]
SOURCE LabRoots, Inc.
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