Hot Tips for SLAS2016 from This Year’s Show Program Chair

SelectScience® spoke to Dr Douglas Auld, Program Co-Chair of SLAS2016 to get his expert recommendations on what not to miss at this upcoming show

Every year, the Society of Laboratory Automation and Screening invites its membership of over 18,000 scientists to “Come Transform Research” at its yearly conferences, held across the USA. SelectScience® spoke to one of the Program Chairs of SLAS2016, Dr Douglas Auld, ahead of the conference in January, to find out his hot tips for the show, and what he is hoping to see.

Within the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Dr Douglas Auld, Senior Investigator in the Center for Proteomic Chemistry, “provides assay development, expertise, and resources for lead discovery to support drug development projects”, he explained. This ranges from target-based approaches to assays with much higher content readouts. “Some of this work is performed through academic collaborations, and as usual, there is a nice mix of academic and industrial scientists at SLAS, offering many opportunities to catch-up, and discuss possibly collaborations.”

Whether you’re looking to “hear original research, or learn about the latest technologies in drug discovery research, SLAS offers a unique mix of scientists and engineers from the life sciences”. Dr Auld pointed out the “great networking opportunities, posters sessions and vendor exhibitions” as highlights of the SLAS conferences.

New tracks for new challenges

This year, Dr Auld is particularly excited about a new track: “in addition to mainstream tracks covering laboratory automation and informatics, bioanalytical, and assay strategies, we have introduced a new track this year on cellular technologies”. If you are interested in “gene editing strategies and scaling of disease relevant cell models”, this will be the track for you.

With regards to his own research, Dr Auld and his team are developing assays “suitable for ultra-high throughput robotic systems where millions of samples can be screened”. However, he says, “new areas of investigation require novel work flows”, so he’ll be keeping his eye out for any innovations he can apply to his facility at Novartis.

Read Part Two of this interview with Program Co-Chair Dr Dino Di Carlo here.

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