Visikol is heading to the Westin Waterfront in Boston for this year’s Immuno-Oncology Summit from August 5^th-9^st. Come visit the Visikol team at booth #7 for discussions on the rapidly evolving field of immunology based cancer research and how 3D cell culture assays and bioimaging can be used to advance drug discovery for IO therapeutics. Visikol Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Thomas Villani and Director of In Vitro Services, Dr. Erin Edwards, will be highlighting recently developed tools for better evaluating histopathology slides from IO studies as well as novel 3D cell culture assays for assessing T-cell infiltration.

During the last few years significant advancements have been made in the clinical application of cancer immunotherapies; molecules directed against immune checkpoints and other agonists show great promise for the treatment of a variety of malignancies. Early evaluation of the effectiveness of candidate therapeutics and combination therapies can be conducted using in vitro assays with primary mouse or human immune cells; 3D cell models being an ever more important part of these small and large molecule drug discovery workflows. These models can be used to evaluate the functionality of check-point blockers, the effect of molecules on macrophages and myeloid derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells.

At Visikol, we have developed a portfolio of in vitro bioassays leveraging advanced 3D cell culture models as well as digital pathology assays to assess immune cell infiltration and the efficacy of candidate drugs. We specialize in multiplex labeling, imaging and analysis, allowing us to generate and process huge workflows of data. We see quantitative analysis as a more effective approach to determine the efficacy of these therapeutics and for use in stratifying patients from clinical studies, as these therapeutics tend to be patient specific and very expensive.

“We are now seeing a new class of immune based therapeutics come to market which show great promise for new applications and greater efficacy. At Visikol we are helping pharmaceutical companies to assess immunomodulatory antibodies, novel immune-oncology targets, combination immunotherapies through the development of novel assays and the application of AI machine learning techniques,” described Visikol CSO Dr. Tom Villani.

Visikol CEO Dr. Michael Johnson was quoted at a recent seminar on 3D cell culture models saying “Immuno-oncology is a very exciting field right now, researchers are making great strides in developing the next generation of tools to advance personalized cancer treatments. Evaluating immuno-oncology therapeutic treatments requires advanced imaging and analytic techniques which Visikol currently leads the way in.”

To discuss your next immune-oncology project that could benefit from advanced cell culture of digital pathology, stop by Visikol at booth #7 to learn all about the Visikol suite of cell culture assays and customizable drug discovery projects. We hope to see you there!