More Than 400 Professionals Convene at 2015 SLAS Asia Conference and Exhibition

The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) welcomed 439 participants to 2015 SLAS Asia, the Fourth SLAS Asia Conference and Exhibition, at Crowne Plaza Century Park Shanghai, China, April 9-10, 2015. This two-day event brought together scientists, academics, business leaders and students coming from multinational and Chinese pharmaceutical companies, CRO, academic institutes, and technology providers.

 

The two-day scientific program featured the following topics: Small Molecules Drug Discovery, Natural Product Drug Discovery & Synthetic Biology, Scientific Frontier of Biological Discovery and ADC. More than 20 industry leaders and senior professors from academia presented leading research and innovation exploration to conference attendees.

 

 

(Dean Ho, Ph.D., President, SLAS)

 

 

(Ying Yang, Former Chair, SLAS Asia Council)

 

 

(Lixin Zhang, Ph.D., Chair, SLAS Asia Council: 2015-2016)

 

Dr. K. Barry Sharpless, Nobel Prize Laureate, W. M. Keck Professor of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, delivered the opening keynote on April 9. The other keynote was delivered by Dr. George Fu Gao, Director & Professor, Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Vice-President, Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Deputy Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC); Academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

(Keynote 1: K. Barry Sharpless, Ph.D.)



(Keynote2: George Fu Gao, Ph.D.)

In addition to the strong scientific program, 2015 SLAS Asia Conference and Exhibition also emphasized the collaboration and commercialization of scientific findings between academia and industry. In the exhibition area, more than 30 multinational technology providers showcased their latest laboratory technology and instruments. Four global companies provided scientific tutorials over the event.

 

The 2015 SLAS Asia Conference also represented the first time that SLAS collaborated with Biologics Innovation Group (BiG), whose first annual conference was co-located on April 10.

(Exhibition Area)

 

The 2015 SLAS Asia Conference and Exhibition coordinated by an elite group of 10 scientific and industry professionals, who comprised the Program Committee.    Members of the Committee included:

• Ying Yang, Chair     Founder & CEO, LBD Life Sciences Ltd; Former Chair, SLAS Asia Council
• Lixin Zhang, Ph.D., Vice Chair     Deputy Director of CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology & Immunology, Inaugural Director of Drug Discovery Center for Tuberculosis, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chair of SLAS Asia Council
• Jonathan Connick, Ph.D., Executive Director, Head External in Vitro Pharmacology. Site Head, EDDS and PCD China, Merck & Co Inc. Member of SLAS Asia Council
• Sheng Ding, Ph.D., Professor, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco
• Bin Li, Ph.D., R&D Director, AbbVie China R&D Center, Vice Chair of SLAS Asia Council
• Xueming Qian, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Mabspace Biosciences, Co., Ltd.
• Chengbin Wu, Ph.D., CSO & President of R&D, Shanghai CP Guojian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
• Guang Yang, Ph.D., Deputy Director, SIAIS, Shanghai Tech University
• Mike Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Sales Director, BD Biosciences; Member of SLAS Asia Council
• Zhenping Zhu, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Global Biopharmaceuticals, Kadmon Corporation (New York); President, Kadmon China

 

Four students who earned free travel, housing and registration through the SLAS Asia Student Travel Grant underwritten by Promega:

• Yanfei Qi, Tianjin University
• Yuan Xu, China Pharmaceutical University
• Lijun Wang, Fudan University
• He Huang, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences

 

41 posters related to Drug Discovery Science, Laboratory Technology and Biologics were submitted to SLAS Asia 2015. These posters were judged for scientific merit by a volunteer Poster Judging Committee, that included:

• Dr. Shuyi Si, Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, CAMS
• Dr. Bing Xie, Cisbio Bioassays
• Dr. Maria Webb, Merck
• Dr. Chengbin Wu, Shanghai CP Guojian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

 

The Judging Panel selected five posters as exceptional quality.    Among these finalists, two posters were selected as best of the event.    These poster authors will share the award prize of RMB 3,000:

 

TOP Posters:

1.    Versatile Multiexpression Technologies for Complex Protein Biologics

Primary Presenter: Yan Nie from MPI of Molecular Physiology

2.    Identification of A Novel Molecule with Potential Effect on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism

Primary Presenter: Yanni Xu from Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, CAMC&PUM

 

Other Poster Finalists:

1.    HIGHRES BIOSOLUTIONS NANOCELL: A Novel Robotic Platform for Multiple Use Laboratories

Primary Presenter: Bin Li, Tekon Biotech (Shanghai) ltd

2.    Anti-neuroinflammatory Ent-Abietane-type Diterpenoids from An Uninvestigated and Rare Chloranthus Plant

Primary Presenter: Lijun Wang, Fudan University

3.    PI4KIIα, A Novel Regulator for Tumor Growth

Primary Presenter: Jiangmei Li, Shanghai Institute of Advanced Immunochemical Studies, ShanghaiTech University

 

 

 

(Poster Area)

 

SLAS 2016 (SLAS Global Event):

 

SLAS2016, the Fifth Annual International Conference and Exhibition from SLAS, will take place Jan 23-27 at the San Diego Convention Center, in San Diego, California.    Keynote presenters for SLAS2016 includeMichael Gottesman, Chief, Laboratory of Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute and Adam Diedrich Steltzner, Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 

The Tony B. Academic Travel Award is currently accepting abstracts for consideration toward SLSAS2016. This annual scholarship program awards funding for travel, lodging and registration for the SLAS annual international Conference and Exhibition for students, graduate students, post-doctoral associates and junior faculty with less than four years in their first academic appointments. Awards are based on the quality of proposed presentation abstracts, relevance of the research to laboratory automation and screening, and a personal statement of the conference’s value. If accepted, the winners will receive complimentary travel and lodging in order to attend SLAS2016. For more information on the award and to access the application form for the Tony B. Travel Award, visithttp://www.slas2016.org/awards/academicTravelAwards.cfm.

 

For more information on SLAS2016, visit www.slas2016.org. 

 

For more information on SLAS, its mission and year-round programs, visit www.SLAS.org and www.asia-slas.org.