Title and Speaker Bio for Eurofins Discovery Chat: Connecting with Immuno-Oncology
BioMAP? Human Tumor Microenvironment Models to Support Immuno-Oncology Drug Discovery.
Alison O?Mahony, PhD. Vice President Translational Biology Eurofins Discovery
Abstract:
In the past decade, immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatment options for cancers resistant or recalcitrant to more conventional approaches. Approved immuno-oncology (IO) drugs that restore a patient?s capacity to mount an anti-cancer immune response have achieved compelling clinical successes. However, improved objective response rates (ORR) are limited to a minority of patients (10%-30%), depending on cancer type. Expanding IO efficacy has prompted intense efforts to develop new IO therapies and enhanced combination strategies. Early implementation of innovative and translationally relevant target validation plus IO qualification assays and services is critical to more fully deliver on the promise of IO strategies.
BioMAP? Oncology systems recapitulate the intricate stromal or vascular and immune-tumor microenvironments in fully human, co-culture model systems used to assess impact of compounds or combinations on clinically relevant protein biomarkers. Comparisons to a proprietary reference database power predictive analytics of this translational discovery platform. We will present BioMAP activity profiles for approved IO therapies targeting PD-1, anti-cancer drugs and the IDO inhibitor epacadostat, as well as their respective combinations, to qualify or deprioritize candidates based on their capacity to restore immune responses consistent with clinical IO efficacy.
BioMAP Phenotypic Profiling provides a validated translational approach to qualify preclinical IO compounds and combination strategies in vitro.
Biography: As VP, Translational Biology, Alison serves as a scientific lead on the application of Eurofins proprietary BioMAP? Phenotypic Platform to support drug discovery. Alison has considerable experience in building translational models relevant for autoimmunity, inflammation, oncology, fibrosis, immuno-oncology, cardiovascular, skin, and pulmonary diseases. Her expertise in integrating human complex biological datasets and innovative analytics enables her to provide unique and valuable insights to support drug discovery efforts. Prior to joining the BioMAP team, Alison was a Staff Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes at UCSF where her research focused on NF-?B signaling in both immune and neuronal cells. Alison holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from University College Cork, Ireland and was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Davis. Alison has 25+ years specializing in cell biology, signal transduction, biomarker expression and phenotypic disease models. She has published multiple papers and book chapters and has received international and national awards for her work.
