Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Presents Current Research

New insights on the pathogenesis of COVID-19

7:00–7:30 pm PDT

Presented By: Olaf Rötzschke, PhD

The SIgN Mass Cytometry Platform (MCP) was originally established by Evan Newell, PhD, one of the pioneers of this technology. It is now part of the SIgN Immunomonitoring Platform and has recently established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) with Fluidigm. As a dedicated technology platform for mass cytometry, it is supported by highly trained personnel and has been supporting research within SIgN, across the A*STAR research entities and in public and private R&D communities. While it provides service to academic and commercial customers, it also played a crucial role in the immune monitoring of the recent COVID-19 outbreak. SARS-CoV-2 affected Singapore at an early stage of the pandemic. Blood samples of hundreds of COVID-19 patients had been processed and analyzed by the various technology platforms at SIgN, including the MCP. In this presentation a brief overview on the SIgN Immunomonitoring Platform and an update on the key findings of profiling of PBMC and plasma samples of COVID-19 patients in Singapore will be shared.

Imaging Mass Cytometry Tumor Microenvironment Applications

7:30–8:00 pm PDT

Presented By: Akhila Balachander, PhD

Understanding spatial localization of immune cells in the context of complex tumor microenvironment is key to characterizing disease progress and monitoring response to immunotherapy. Distribution of host immune cells in solid tumors determines their interaction in situ with tumor cells and with other components of the microenvironment to elicit appropriate immune responses. Analysis of the multicomponent tumor ecosystem therefore requires deep spatial phenotyping capabilities made possible by IMC technology. As recent adopters of spatial-omics, the talk will touch upon our preliminary efforts towards setting up the IMC technology at SIgN in the context of our broader approach to analyzing the tumor microenvironment.