Transformative Technologies

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide with over 14 million new cases diagnosed and over 8 million cancer related deaths each year, and these numbers are only expected to increase. But while the incidence of cancer cases increases there is reason for hope; advances in technologies such as next generation sequencing, bioinformatics and gene editing have led to the development of treatments that are extending patient lives. In particular, the development of effective immunotherapies for a range of cancers has been an area of great interest in recent years.

Checkpoint inhibitors have emerged as a promising class of immunotherapy— these therapies work alongside a patient's immune system by targeting molecules that are involved in activating (or inactivating) the immune response and thus allowing the immune system to attack cancerous cells. In this video series, learn about the current and future state of checkpoint inhibitor research and the cutting-edge tools and techniques scientists are using to research them.

ACEA Biosciences, Inc. ACEA Biosciences, a part of Agilent Technologies, is a pioneer in the development and commercialization of high performance cell analysis platforms for life science research. ACEA’s xCELLigence® Real-Time Cell Analysis instruments and NovoCyte® Quanteon flow cytometers are used in pre-clinical drug discovery and development, toxicology, safety pharmacology, and basic academic research. More than 2,500 instruments have been placed globally, and have been used in more than 1,800 peer-reviewed publications. For more information visit www.aceabio.com.

Articles

People Interviewed

  • Yama Abassi, Ph.D.

    Yama Abassi, Ph.D.
    Vice President, ACEA Biosciences, Inc

    Yama A. Abassi joined ACEA Biosciences in 2003 to help develop a new technology for studying cells using microelectronics. His efforts in this field have earned him numerous publications and patents and have led to the successful development and commercialization of the xCELLigence Real-Time Cell Analysis (RTCA) instrument globally.


    Dr. Abassi continues to pursue his research interests in developing technologies and applications for in vitro cell-based assays in different fields, including cancer immunotherapy. He also oversees several collaborations with the US EPA that focus on assessing the impact of toxic environmental compounds (in particular, compounds which may interfere with estrogen signaling pathways).

    He received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry with honors from the State University of New York/Stony Brook in 1992, and a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1999. Dr. Abassi joined the Burnham Institute for Cancer Research as an NIH post-doctoral fellow in 1999 and spent the next few years studying oncogene signaling pathways and their role in cancer biology.
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  • Robert Prins

    Robert Prins, Ph.D.
    Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

    Robert M. Prins is a tumor immunologist with joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. Dr. Prins earned his B.S. in Kinesiology and his M.S. in Physiological Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.


    He earned his Ph.D. in Anatomy and Immunology from the Medical College of Virginia. He completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Cedars-Sinai Neurosurgical Institute and the UCLA Division of Neurosurgery before joining the faculty at UCLA in 2006. Dr. Prins is a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Brain Research Institute, and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Dr. Prins is currently the Director of the I3T Seminar Series, the Brain Tumor Immunology Research Lab and for many clinical trials of immunotherapy. His research centers on understanding the immunology of malignant brain tumors and devising new immune-based therapies to treat these deadly tumors.
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