Recorded September 24, 2015

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

TBIs are common in military personnel and civilians, placing these individuals at high risk for neurological deficits, as well as chronic traumatic encephalopathy as they progress in age. The reasons why some individuals are at higher risk for these symptoms and deficits remains largely unknown. We have used the Quanterix Simoa system to detect biomarkers that are linked to neurological compromise and cognitive decline including tau and amyloid beta 40/42 to the experience of TBI and chronic symptoms. In a variety of studies we find these biomarkers to be linked to negative outcomes following TBI, suggesting that chronic symptoms related to a similar pathology observed in Alzheimer’s disease. We will also talk about our experiences with the homebrew methods.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the clinical phenotypes of TBI in military and civilians
• Describe the links of tau and amyloid beta 40/42 and inflammatory biomarkers to chronic symptoms following TBI
• Provide a better understanding of the homebrew system compared to available kits

Who Should Attend:

• Biomarker specialists
• Clinical Chemists
• Research Scientists
• Assay Development Scientists

Speakers:

Jessica Gill, RN, Ph.D.

Tenure track investigator, NIH

Lasker Clinical Research Scholar

DR. Gill is a tenure track investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Gill has an established clinical and laboratory infrastructure to examine the biological mechanisms of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and related comorbidities including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-concussive disorder (PCD), depression and neurological deficits. Current projects include a project coordinated with Madigan Army Medical Center. Initial findings from this project include alterations in sleep regulatory proteins and the activity of genes that regulate sleep and PCD in military personnel. Dr. Gill plans to use both the insights and infrastructure from these projects to initiate this novel project to address the critical issue of insomnia in service members who sustain a TBI. Other projects include 2 approved NIH protocols to examine predictors of recovery following trauma including neurological and biological function. Dr. Gill is a Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, an award that provides the necessary support her intramural program of research at NIH to address this critical issue through novel treatment and investigational strategies. Dr. Gill has formed a comprehensive team of investigators from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, NIH, NiCOE and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, which is necessary to undertake biomarker projects.

David Duffy, Ph.D.

Vice President, Research and Chief Technology Officer

Quanterix

Dr. Duffy joined Quanterix in 2007 and leads the team of scientists developing its single molecule detection technology. Dr. Duffy was previously at Surface Logix, where he was the Director of Pharmacomer Technology. There he oversaw the development of a novel chemical technology for optimizing the PK/PD of small molecules that resulted in two drug candidates currently in Phase II clinical trials. Prior to that, Dr. Duffy was at Gamera Biosciences where he was a co-inventor of a centrifugal microfluidic device called the LabCD that was acquired and commercialized by Tecan. Dr. Duffy is an inventor on 12 U.S. patents and has more than 20 publications in the fields of surface chemistry, microfluidics, and bioanalysis. Dr. Duffy was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. He was the first Sir Alan Wilson Research Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Duffy obtained his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Natural Sciences from Selwyn College, University of Cambridge