Presentation Title: Overcoming the challenges of live cell imaging of hiPSC-derived neurons using IN Carta Image Analysis Software
Mie Yamanaka, MD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Shinya Yamanaka Lab at the Gladstone Institutes. Her research focuses on iPSC-derived neuronal differentiation and mitochondrial biology. She earned her medical degree from Tohoku University in Japan, where she also conducted research in the Departments of Molecular Pathology and Biochemistry. During medical school, she completed a research internship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, gaining further experience in cancer biology. Outside the lab, she enjoys listening to jazz and classical music.
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Presentation Title: Advancing 3D in vitro CNS models: Imaging assay development for high-throughput screening
Sneha Rao, PhD, is a Senior Scientist at Arc Institute specializing in 3D in vitro models of the Central Nervous System (CNS) for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Her work focuses on scaling these models for high-throughput screening and developing robust, automated tools for model generation, tracking, and assay. She has led efforts to create reproducible models that recapitulate key disease phenotypes and to leverage these models in the discovery of therapeutic strategies. With experience spanning biotech startups and research institutes, Dr. Rao has frequently utilized imaging-based assays to assess neuronal and glial function in diverse neurodevelopmental and disease contexts.
Presentation Title: High-content imaging to elucidate killing kinetics for patients with familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (fHLH).
Allison Bien is a Research Technician at UC Berkeley in the Nguyen Lab at the Innovative Genomics Institute. She graduated from UC Berkeley in fall 2023 and has been working full time on this project since then. She is currently applying to MD/PhD programs and is interested in exploring how microscopy and high-throughput gene editing strategies can advance our understanding of human disease. Outside of the lab, Allison enjoys playing volleyball, participating in Dungeons & Dragons, and singing.
Presentation Title: Multiplexed analysis to explore and refine human pluripotent stem cells differentiation trajectories in vitro
Director of the Discovery department at Neurona Therapeutics, Dr. Yves Maury is specialized in human Pluripotent Stem Cells (hPSC) biology, lab automation and multiplexed analysis using high content screening or single-cell transcriptomic, to build complex in vitro models and approaches, applied to disease modeling, drug screening and regenerative medicine.
From his doctoral training at ISTEM in France, studying genetic causes of neuro-muscular disorders, to his role as a founding scientist at Neurona in 2015, he focused on elucidating hPSC differentiation trajectories and temporal patterning to reinforce differentiation methods efficiencies into specific neuronal subpopulations.
At Neurona Therapeutics, he played a central role in the development and evaluation of NRTX-1001, hPSC -derived cell therapy product evaluated in a first-in-human clinical trial for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (NCT05135091).
Presentation Title: Screening organoid and epithelial cells to read out maturity and functional states for drug development
Sarah Gierke has been with the Center for Advanced Light Microscopy and Electron Microscopy (CALM-EM) at Genentech since 2013, following her PhD in biomedical sciences from UCSF, where she worked in Torsten Wittman's lab. At CALM-EM, Sarah specializes in phenotypic screens, high-content microscopy, and live cell imaging, among other areas.
Presentation Title: Screening organoid and epithelial cells to read out maturity and functional states for drug development
Max Tauc-Adrian joined CALM-EM in 2021 after completing a postdoc in Casper Hoogenraad’s lab within Genentech’s neuroscience department and earning his PhD in cell biology in 2017 from Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Max specializes in phenotypic screens, high-content microscopy, and live cell imaging, among other areas, at CALM-EM.
