Imagine if every lab had an expert engineer to design microfluidic chips tailored to research specifications. Using rapid prototyping and machine learning to simplify the systematic design of droplet microfluidic platforms, the idea becomes a reality for one lab thanks to support from the 2021 SLAS Graduate Education Fellowship Grant.
After decades of cancer research, 80 percent of the proteome, including disease-relevant targets such as the K-Ras protein, remain out of reach for therapeutic drug development, according to Georg Winter, Ph.D. He relates the frustration of the situation as standing before a tall tree loaded with tempting fruit. "You know that all of these apples would taste delicious, but you're incapable of climbing the tree," he says.
Siyu (Sisi) Chen, Ph.D., developed a computational framework for analyzing data across hundreds of samples to better understand heterogeneous cell populations in a wide range of therapeutic and disease conditions. To describe how her team pursues disease progression, she borrows a hockey analogy from Wayne Gretzky: Don't go where the puck is now, go where it will be next.
Three talented and hard-working leaders join the SLAS Board of Directors at SLAS2021 Digital International Conference and Exhibition. Please meet Manuela Beil-Peter, Jan Lichtenberg, Ph.D., and Jonathan O’Connell, Ph.D., in this question-and-answer e-zine article. Along with six current SLAS Board members, Beil-Peter, Lichtenberg and O’Connell are prepared to invest their energy, ideas and efforts to keep SLAS moving forward in its quest to advance scientific innovation by providing education, information and professional development within the life sciences arena.
