SLAS Europe 2025
May 20 - 22, 2025
20355, Hamburg
Germany
Share this event
About the Event
The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government researchers as well as developers and providers of laboratory automation and screening technology.
Integrating & Automating Your Lab, One Workflow at a Time
We look forward to hearing about the discoveries you’ve made in the lab over the past year. We’ve been hard at work, too, and are excited to introduce you to solutions that can help you:
- Reduce assay volumes and consumables use
- Use massive datasets to design/screen complex plasmid constructs
- Enhance and accelerate cell line development culture and clone ranking
- Reduce gene assembly cost
A Sneak Peek at What Will be on Display
along with:
- Amplius VisualALP
- DropGenie
This year’s programming is centered on three key educational strengths of SLAS:
- Advances in Drug Discovery
- Advances in Laboratory Automation
- Screening Applications
We look forward to sharing the stage with a number of insightful guest speakers during our tutorial and spotlight sessions.
Talks:
Wednesday, May 21
Ruben Tormo, PhD.
Associate Area Head Chemistry,
Foundacion MEDINA
Refining Acoustic Droplet Ejection for Complex Samples in Advanced Cellular Models: Applications in High-Throughput Screening for Antitumoral Drug Discovery
15:30 – 15:50 | Exhibition Theater
Advancements in cell models are driving rapid changes in chemical and biological research, requiring significant updates to liquid handling and sample preparation methods. Acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) has emerged as a superior liquid handling approach, offering enhanced precision, reproducibility, cost savings, reduced manual labour, and minimized waste. As a result, ADE has increasingly replaced traditional aspiration-and-dispense liquid-handling robots, particularly when applied to High-Throughput Screenings. However, embracing new technologies presents significant challenges, particularly when dealing with complex samples like Natural Products (NPs) and their application in sophisticated cellular models. NP extracts present significant complexity due to their highly variable physical properties, including differences in viscosity and surface tension. This, coupled with the limited sample volume available, makes it essential to optimize transfer parameters well by well. Historically, NPs have played a crucial role in clinical treatments across almost every therapeutic area, and even today, they remain one of the most valuable sources for drug discovery. High-Throughput Screening (HTS) with advanced cellular models demands procedural adjustments to accommodate miniaturization and automation, with sample dispensing presenting one of the most formidable hurdles. Employing minute volumes directly on cell cultures, including 3D cultures, calls for substantial modifications to traditional acoustic dispensing systems. In this presentation, we share insights and strategies to tackle these challenges, highlighting solutions driven by innovations in drug discovery.
Thursday, May 22
Luke Flatt, PhD.
Translational Genomics, Centre for Genomics Research, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D,
AstraZeneca, Gothenburg
Development of an automated, 3D cystogenesis assay for phenotypic screening in Polycystic Kidney Disease
11:35 – 11:55 | Exhibition Theater
Luke Flatt and the team at AstraZeneca Gothenburg Sweden developed an automated 3D cystogenesis assay using IMCD3 spheroids to advance polycystic kidney disease (PKD) research. PKD, a prevalent genetic disorder, progresses to renal failure, highlighting the need for innovative therapies. The IMCD3 cell line, derived from mouse inner medullary collecting duct, serves as a robust model for studying cystogenesis. By culturing these cells as spheroids in a miniaturized 384-well format, they achieved enhanced physiological relevance and assay throughput. Automation with the Biomek i7 liquid handler ensured precision and consistency. Using Design of Experiments (DoE) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM), they optimized assay conditions efficiently. Integrated imaging and PhenoSpace deep learning tools provided detailed phenotypic screening. Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology, they conducted high-throughput genetic screens, identifying genes affecting cyst growth. This approach offers insights into molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets, advancing PKD drug discovery.
Poster Presentations:
Wednesday, May 21
Amir Ayazbayev
Automation Research Assistant
London Biofoundry
SynBio workflow automation with the Biomek i7 liquid handler platform
Dr. René Gödde
Senior Market Development Manager
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
A Fully Automated, Walkaway Flow Cytometry Workflow for Immune Cell Subset Identification;
Miniaturized, fully automated NEBNext Direct® Genotyping Solution using the Biomek i7 Hybrid Automated Workstation in conjunction with the Echo 525 Acoustic Liquid Handler for marker-assisted breeding;
Automation-Integrated Microfluidics to Empower Discovery at the Single Donor Resolution.
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with colleagues and discover how our solutions can enhance your research.
We look forward to seeing you at SLAS Europe 2025!
ECHO is a trademark or registered trademark of Labcyte Inc. in the United States and other countries. Labcyte Inc. is a Beckman Coulter Company.
