Overview:
This Spotlight Panel discussion hosted by Bioanalysis Zone brings together leading experts to explore the transformative advancements shaping the future of bioanalytical flow cytometry. As a cornerstone technology in clinical research, flow cytometry is evolving rapidly, driven by innovations in instrumentation, data analytics and workflow harmonization.
This session will delve into key trends, challenges and emerging opportunities in the field, addressing topics such as high-parameter and spectral platforms, AI-driven data analysis tools, and challenges when implementing flow cytometry in global clinical trials. Attendees will gain insights into overcoming challenges like instrument variability, data harmonization, and outsourcing complexities, while also exploring emerging technologies such as automated rare event detection, imaging flow cytometry and cloud-based collaborative platforms. By emphasizing innovation, standardization and collaboration, this discussion aims to highlight the drivers shaping the future of bioanalytical flow cytometry and its impact on assay development, validation and clinical trial execution.
The conversation is shaped by survey data gathered by Bioanalysis Zone, with several experts sharing their insights.
Thanh-Long Nguyen
Thanh-Long Nguyen is a Manager of Bioanalytical Science at ICON. He holds a Doctorate degree in the field of Immunology from Saint Louis University School of Medicine (MO, USA). Long’s field of expertise includes flow cytometry and biomarkers and his role currently includes leading the flow cytometry method development team in Lenexa, Kansas, as well as providing scientific support to the business development and operational teams.
Virginia Litwin
Virginia Litwin is a thought-leader in validation and standardization focusing on “Cytometry from Bench-to-Bedside”. She is currently the President-Elect of the International Society of the Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC; DC, USA). In 2023, she received the International Clinical Cytometry Society (ICCS) Wallace H Coulter Award in recognition of her contributions to Clinical Cytometry. She is a member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Flow Cytometry Standards Consortium and has been an invited speaker at FDA/NIST several times.
Ryan Brinkman
Dr Brinkman’s research focuses on developing and applying flow cytometry bioinformatics approaches to advance understanding of human health and disease through the analysis of big data. He led foundational work creating free, open-source computational infrastructure for high-throughput analysis, including core programming functionality in R, MIFlowCyt, FlowRepository, and recent versions of the FCS standard. He founded and led Cytapex Bioinformatics Inc. (Burnaby, Canada) through its acquisition, applying these tools to both basic research and clinical investigations.
Gelo dela Cruz
Gelo dela Cruz is the manager of the Full Spectrum and Imaging Flow Cytometry Platform at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine – reNEW at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Educated and trained in molecular biology in the Philippines and the United States, he started his flow cytometry career as an operator at the New York University Cancer Institute Flow Cytometry Core Facility (USA) in 2006. In 2010, he moved to Heidelberg to work at the flow cytometry core facility of the German Cancer Research Center. He was recruited to establish and start up the core facility at the Danish Stem Cell Center in Copenhagen in 2012. He is a 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) Shared Resource Laboratory Emerging Leader and founder of CPH FLOW, the Copenhagen-area flow cytometry user group.