CYTO Annual Congress 2022

Welcome and introduction

Chair: Travis Jennings, PhD
New Chemistry Technologies, Chemical Biology R&D, Miltenyi Biotec

Speaker information
Initially from the USA, Travis relocated to Germany to lead and define existing R&D groups into a new division, New Chemistry Technologies, within the Chemical Biology Department. With over 13 years of industrial biotechnology experience spanning from R&D product development to people development and leading teams, Travis has worked collaboratively across disciplines to develop and launch product portfolios with high-impact in the multi-parameter cell analysis space for eBioscience, (Thermo Fisher), and now proudly Miltenyi Biotec.  Dr. Jennings holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Florida State University and the University of California Santa Barbara, where he focused on applied synthetic bio-nanotechnology systems. Following his PhD, Travis completed a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto, integrating nanotechnology with POC handheld devices for disease diagnostics. 

Understanding the tumor microenvironment with spatial context to further immunotherapy

Speaker: Amy Jablonski, PhD
Technology and Applications Specialist, Miltenyi Biotec, Inc. 

Abstract
The tumor microenvironment is a complex mixture of cell types, including tumor and immune cells. The interplay of these cells with the cellular landscape can often affect tumor progression, prognosis, and possibly treatment response in many cancer types. MICS technology, with its ability to analyze hundreds of markers on a single piece of tissue, allows for the phenotypical identification of cells and their functional diversities. Combined with the spatial localization within the tissue, this enables a powerful tool to examine the tumor microenvironment and identify possible immunotherapy targets.

Speaker information
Amy is a Technology and Applications Specialist at Miltenyi Biotec, Inc., whose primary focus is ultrahigh-content imaging applications on the MACSima™ Imaging Platform.  Prior to joining Miltenyi Biotec, Amy was both a field application and sales specialist at GE Healthcare Life Sciences (now Cytiva), where she was responsible for supporting the company’s DeltaVision and IN Cell Analyzer platforms, some of the earliest high resolution and high content imaging platforms on the market.  Amy couples this experience with a strong biological imaging background, having received her doctorate degree in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology for her studies of the use of fluorescent proteins in novel imaging methods.

Applications of MACSQuant® Analyzer in CAR T Cell Therapy

Speaker: Xiaoxuan Fan, PhD
Director of Flow Cytometry Shared Service, University of Maryland

Abstract
In this tutorial, we will discuss best practices when using the MACSQuant® Analyzer 10 in a flow core facility to guide CAR T cell production. The production workflow includes: T cell enrichment, T cell activation/expansion, viral transduction, and CAR T cell expansion. Aliquots of cells are analyzed for immune cell composition and transduction efficiency using the CAR T Cell Express Mode Package. We will go over sample preparation and factors that can affect the results. Staining can be simplified by using a StainExpress tube, which contains dried pre-formulated antibody cocktail. It represents a great option for reducing operator error and generating reproducible data. To characterize the CAR T cells, exhaustion, stem memory T cells, and persistence panels are performed. Finally, we use the MACSQuant Analyzer 10 to analyze vaccine-induced T cells against SARS-CoV-2 and its Omicron variant in B cell-depleted lymphoma patients after CAR T therapy.

Speaker information
Xiaoxuan’s interest in flow cytometry dates back to his PhD at Penn State University, where he used the technique extensively to find novel bridging molecules between phagocytes and apoptotic cells in the process of phagocytosis.  Following his graduation in 2006, he began working at the Flow Cytometry Resource Center at Rockefeller University, covering a broad range of applications in cutting-edge biomedical research, such as cell sorting of skin stem cells and immunophenotyping of dendritic cells.  Joining Temple University School of Medicine in 2009 to set up a new flow cytometry core facility, he helped investigators with experimental design, instrument operation, and data analysis, as well as publications and grant applications.  In 2016, Xiaoxuan took on the position of Director of Flow Cytometry Shared Service at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where  he continues to provide flow cytometry expertise to the university and keep researchers updated with new technology and instrumentation.