Confirmed Speakers Include:

Prof Carl Wittwer

• Carl Wittwer is a Professor of Pathology at the University of Utah Medical School and adjunct professor of BioMedical Engineering at the University of Utah.  He received a Ph.D. from Utah State University, a M.D. from the University of Michigan. 
• He has published more than 200 research articles and book chapters focusing on technique and instrument development in molecular diagnostics.  In the early 1990s he developed rapid-cycle PCR techniques for DNA amplification in 10-15 min.  In the mid-1990s, he adapted flow cytometry optics to thermal cycling for real-time monitoring of PCR.  He introduced SYBR Green I,  fluorescent hybridization probes, melting analysis, and high-resolution melting (HRM) to real-time PCR, techniques that are widely used today. 
• He has been on the Clinical Chemistry Board of Editors since 2000 and an Associate Editor since 2002. 
• Recently, his research has modified the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for efficient amplification in less than 1 minute, opening up new possibilities for immediate nucleic acid diagnostics. 
• Academic recognition includes the AACC award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry in 2004, the IFCC Award for Significant Contributions to Molecular Diagnostics in 2005, the AMP Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics in 2008, the University of Utah Award for Impact and Innovation in 2011, the AACC Edwin F. Ullman Award in 2013.

 More info

Dr Jan M Ruijter

• Dr. Jan M. Ruijter trained as a medical biologist and worked in endocrinology, neurobiology, ophthalmology and embryology. He recently retired from his position as principle investigator in the department of Medical Biology (Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) where he was heading a research group studying the relation between gene expression and the development of the heart with molecular, image analysis and 3D-reconstruction techniques.
• The statistical analysis of research data resulted in the development of LinRegPCR, a program for the analysis of quantitative PCR data based on PCR efficiency values derived from amplification curves, and Factor-qPCR, a program to remove between-plate variation in a multi-plate qPCR experiment (http://LinRegPCR.nl). A survey of amplification curve analysis programs showed that LinRegPCR is among the most sensitive and reproducible methods. LinRegPCR imports raw fluorescence data, performs baseline correction and reports efficiency-corrected target quantities based on the mean PCR efficiency per target; its compatibility with Excel and RDML places the program in a pipeline between the qPCR apparatus and final statistical analysis.
• Jan is still involved in advanced qPCR courses and currently working on papers on PCR artefacts and data analysis. 

More info

Prof Michael Pfaffl

• Life Science Center Weihenstephan, Technical University, Munich, Germany.
• ​Michael W. Pfaffl started 1986 to study ‘Agriculture - Animal Science’ and ‘Biotechnology’ at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In 1997 he obtained his PhD in ‘Molecular Physiology’ in the field of molecular muscle and growth physiology at the Chair of Physiology.
• In June 2003 he completed his Venia Legendi (Dr. habil.) at the Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan with the title ‘Livestock transcriptomics -- Quantitative mRNA analytics in molecular endocrinology and mammary gland physiology’.​
• In Early 2010 he became Professor of ‘Molecular Physiology’ at the TUM School of Life Sciences. Today he has reached the ‘Principal Investigator’ status at the Institute of Animal Physiology & Immunology and is one of the leading scientists in the field of Gene Quantification, RT-qPCR technology.

​Prof Pfaffl will be presenting on:
1)  Transcriptional Biomarkers in Liquid Biopsy – applying small-RNA Seq and RT-qPCR to identify valid ‘Biomarker Signatures’ in blood and circulating extracellular vesicles.
2)  A MIQE compliant efficiency corrected relative quantification model (REST) for gene expression profiling.​
​
More info

Professor Jo Vandesompele

• Professor at Ghent University, Belgium, and chief scientific officer at Biogazelle.
• Jo Vandesompele obtained a Master of Science in Bioscience Engineering (1997) and a PhD in Medical Genetics (2002). Since 2007, he is professor in Functional Cancer Genomics and Applied Bioinformatics at Ghent University
• He is author of more than 250 scientific articles in international journals, including some pioneering publications in the domain of RNA quantification and non-coding RNA, and the MIQE guidelines on quantitative PCR and digital PCR. His H-index is 80, with 52 000 citations (Google Scholar, February 2020).
• Developer of the geNorm and qBase method for qPCR data-analysis
• Jo is also co-founder of Biogazelle and pxlence, 2 Ghent University spin-off companies, and co-founder of the Cancer Research Institute Ghent (CRIG)

Prof Vandesompele will be presenting on:
1) From reference genes to global mean normalization – how to improve the accuracy of your qPCR results
 2) The MIQE guidelines: minimum information for accurate quantitative PCR results

More info

Professor Stephen Bustin

• Professor Stephen Andrew Bustin (born 1954) is a British scientist, former professor of molecular sciences at Queen Mary University of London from 2004 to 2012, as well as visiting professor at Middlesex University, beginning in 2006. In 2012 he was appointed Professor of Allied Health and Medicine at Anglia Ruskin University. He is known for his research into polymerase chain reaction, and has written a book on the topic, entitled A-Z of Quantitative PCR. This book has been called "the bible of qPCR."
• His research group’s general areas of interest are the small and large bowel, as well as colorectal cancer with particular emphasis on investigating the process of invasion and metastasis. An important aim is to translate molecular techniques into clinical practice by including molecular parameters into clinical tumor staging. To this end, Bustin has published many papers on PCR techniques, in particular reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, the subject of his most cited paper, published in 2000.
• He also developed the MIQE guidelines in a 2009 paper published in Clinical Chemistry, the goal of which is to create guidelines for how PCR should be performed to ensure that PCR results are being reliably conducted and interpreted, as well as to make replication of experiments easier. This paper is the fifth most cited one ever to be published in Clinical Chemistry, with over 1700 citations on Google Scholar as of September 2013.

​Associate Professor Alexander Dobrovic

• Leads the Translational Genomics and Epigenomics Laboratory at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
• In his previous lab, he developed high resolution melting assays for DNA methylation and for the detection of KRAS, BRAF and TP53 mutations that entered routine diagnostics. His current lab continues the focus on personalized medicine including developing clinically relevant innovative diagnostic methodologies. His lab has recently been accredited for DNA methylation assays (BRCA1, MLH1 and MGMT) and liquid biopsy assays for BRAF and EGFR mutations using droplet digital PCR. His major research interests are in the emerging fields including circulating tumour DNA, and constitutional BRCA1 methylation in breast and ovarian cancer predisposition. He is a chief investigator of several consortia funded by the Victorian Cancer Agency, Cancer Australia and the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation Collaborative Research Program.

More info
​
​

Dr Ian Marsh

• Research Officer, Animal Health, NSW Department of Industry, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute.
• Ian is an animal health research officer focusing on microbiological diseases in production animals. He specialises in molecular biology-based research and the development of improved diagnostic tests of pathogens that affect terrestrial and aquatic species.
• Ian is currently collaborating with the University of Sydney to investigate improved and enhanced direct diagnosis tests of pathogens that affect terrestrial and aquatic species and the University of the Sunshine Coast focusing on Chlamydiosis in production animals.
• The majority of Ian's research has focused on Johne’s disease but other areas his has been active in include; viral diseases of finfish, parasitic diseases of oysters and epidemiological modelling on the effects of exotic disease outbreaks which has resulted in many peer-reviewed journal articles in journals such as Molecular and Cellular Probes, Journal of Clinical Microbiology and the Journal of Bacteriology. Ian has worked closely with colleagues on the development of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Diagnostic Procedures for Johnes Disease and has made significant contributions to the World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) chapters on Johne’s disease and Epizootic haematopoietic necrosis virus.​

 More info
​

​John Mackay
John is the technical director of New Zealand company, dnature diagnostics & research Ltd. The laboratory side of dnature (= DNA in a range of nature) develops molecular diagnostic assays mainly in the primary industry area.

• Since dnature started in 2010, John has developed a number of tests, such as the first test to differentiate strains of a devastating kiwifruit disease using high resolution melting analysis, before launching a duplex qPCR to detect the virulent strain of PsaV  - a test that is still the industry standard in New Zealand, Chile and other countries.
• Since then he has developed tests for shellfish diseases and more recently, new tests to discover bee pathogens. The latest test is a triplex qPCR to specifically detect and differentiate the highly valuable manuka honey from other floral sources.
• John has written a number of papers and book chapters on qPCR and high resolution melting, given training lectures for companies, talks at conferences and is a currently a member of the Apiculture NZ Research group​

More info

Dr Joy Kang
Joy is currently the APAC regional marketing manager in LGC, Biosearch Technologies based out of their Singapore office. Prior to LGC, Joy has held roles as Field Applications Scientist with Fluidigm and ACEA Biosciences (now part of Agilent) supporting single cell & high throughput genomics, cell based analysis instrumentation and flow cytometry customers across Asia Pacific. Joy’s academic background is on cancer biology where she obtained her PhD and post-doctoral training in Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

Dr Kang will be presenting on:
BHQplex™ CoPrimers™ - Redefining Multiplex PCR.
​
More info
​ ​