Joerg Bantin
Bio-Rad
Germany
Overview
Course Overview
Liquid biopsies have the advantage of being largely non-invasive and providing a vast amount of information for the detection and monitoring of diseases such as cancer. This course will provide an overview in the several techniques to detect and analyse circulating tumour cells (CTCs), cell free tumor DNA (ctDNA), miRNA in liquid biopsies, cell free tumour RNA (ctRNA) and proteins. Participants will be introduced to all aspects ranging from proper sampling through error free sequencing to data analysis. Additional lectures will cover extracellular vesicles and clinical aspects using liquid biopsies, especially in the field of cancer diagnostics.
Please note that all participants are expected to engage in all sessions.
Audience
This course targets early-career scientists entering the field of liquid biopsy analysis and wanting to learn about the benefits and limitations of different approaches.
Modules/Resources
- Ultra-sensitive mutation detection using sequencing
- Single-cell analysis in liquid biopsies
- Digital PCR applications in the liquid biopsy workflow
- Protein analysis in liquid biopsies
- miRNA analysis in liquid biopsies
- Hands-on data analysis and interpretations
Learning Outcomes
Participants will receive an overview of various workflows in liquid biopsies, from sample preparation to data analysis. The course provides and overview of the current methods. Whereby a strong focus will be on experimental design, best practices, pitfalls as well as dos and don’ts. After the course, participants should be able to assess the best methods for their application as well as design their experiment.
Participant Commitment
- The virtual course will start on Monday 27 September, with an onboarding session and access to the pre-recorded lectures and pre-course study materials (exercises, assignments, etc.). It will continue on Friday 8 October with the regular programme.
- The course will start on Friday 8 October, and after a break over the weekend, will continue on Monday 11 October with the regular programme.
- The virtual course includes recorded lectures, interactive discussion sessions, online practicals, hands-on exercises, student presentations and networking.
- Full-time attendance is required for the course duration.
- Selected participants will have access to the recorded talks 2 weeks before the start of the event. Please note that watching the recordings prior to the start of the course is required and will take approximately 15 hours.
- Information on the live stream and access to the virtual course platform will be provided shortly before the start of the event.
- Access to the recorded talks and the virtual course platform will be available for 2 weeks after the end of the event.
What past participants say about the course:
“The Liquid Biopsy course gave me plenty of new insights for different applications of the technique in cancer. I learned new techniques, discussed my project with top peers and met a lot of highly motivated young professionals. I incorporated the learned applications in my research and this really improved my current project.” Aleksei Tikhonov, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, RAS, Russian Federation.
Speakers and Trainers
Anders Edsjö
Skåne University Hospital
Sweden
Stefan Filges
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Amin Forootan
MultiD Analyses AB
Sweden
Tony E. Godfrey
Boston University School of Medicine
USA
An Hendrix
Ghent University
Belgium
Andrea Huxhold
QIAGEN
Germany
Romy Kirsten
National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg
Germany
Mikael Kubista
Institute of Biotechnology and TATAA Biocenter
Czech Republic
Ulf Landegren
Uppsala University
Sweden
Manuel Marceliano Luna Santa-María
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Tobias Österlund
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Michael Pfaffl
Technical University of Munich
Germany
Beata Ramasz
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Pia Scheu
Bio-Rad
Germany
Anders Ståhlberg
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Scientific Organisers
Vladimir Benes
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Anders Ståhlberg
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Course Organisers
Maria Mercedes Bacadare Goitia
Course and Conference Manager
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Irena Provaznikova
Training Lab Technician
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Nathalie Sneider
Course and Conference Officer
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Programme
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- The virtual course will start on Monday 27 September with an onboarding session and access to the pre-recorded talks from invited speakers and trainers. The course will continue on Friday 8 October with the regular programme.
- Participants will be required to view the pre-recorded talks (15 h) prior to the main start of the course on Friday 8 October. During the five-day course duration, full-time attendance is required.
All times in the programme below are shown as the time in Europe/Berlin.
To find out the equivalent time zone in your location, enter Berlin, the programme time and date along with your city into the Time Zone Converter.
Day 0 – Monday 27 September 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 13:00-15:00 | Onboarding |
| 15:00 | End of Day 0 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 1 – Friday 8 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Pre-analytical day | |
| 13:00-13:15 | Welcome, house notes and course overview |
| 13:15-14:30 | Icebreaker activity (flash talks) |
| 14:30-14:45 | Break |
| 14:45-15:30 | Interactive Lecture: Background lecture Q &A session based on pre-recorded talk Anders Ståhlberg – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 15:30-15:45 | Break |
| 15:45-16:30 | Live Q&A session Based on pre-recorded talks Romy Kirsten – National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Germany Anders Ståhlberg – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden Andrea Huxhold – QIAGEN, Germany |
| 16:30-16:45 | Break |
| 16:45-17:45 | Student presentations |
| 17:45-18:00 | Break |
| 18:00-18:30 | Speed Networking |
| 18:30 | End of Day 1 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 2 – Monday 11 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Session: Single Cell day | |
| 12:45-13:00 | Overview of the day |
| 13:00-13:30 | Group discussion from Pre-analytical day |
| 13:30-14:30 | Live Q&A session based on pre-recorded talks: Single Cell analysis Beata Ramasz – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany Anders Ståhlberg – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 14:30-14:45 | Break |
| 14:45-15:45 | Interactive practical session: Single cell workflow Beata Ramasz – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany |
| 15:45-16:00 | Break |
| 16.00-17:00 | Student presentations |
| 17:00-17:15 | Break |
| 17:15-17:45 | Networking activity: Online Pictionary |
| 17:45 | End of Day 2 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 3 – Tuesday 12 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Session: ddPCR and miRNA day | |
| 12:45-13:00 | Overview of the day |
| 13:00-13:30 | Group discussion from Single Cell day |
| 13:30-14:30 | Live Q&A session to pre-recorded talk + practicals session: Digital PCR Pia Scheu – Bio-Rad, Germany Marco Bianchi – Bio-Rad, Germany Eddy van Collenburg – Bio-Rad, Germany |
| 14:30-14:45 | Break |
| 14:45-15:45 | Interactive practical session: miRNA workflow Manuel Marceliano Luna Santa-María – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 15:45-16:15 | Networking break |
| 16:15-17:15 | Interactive practical session: miRNA analysis Mikael Kubista – Institute of Biotechnology and TATAA Biocenter, Czech Republic |
| 17:15-17:30 | Break |
| 17:30-18:30 | Student presentations |
| 18:30 | End of Day 3 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 4 – Wednesday 13 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Session: Sequencing day | |
| 12:45-13:00 | Overview of the day |
| 13:00-13:30 | Group discussion from ddPCR and miRNA day |
| 13:30-14:30 | Live Q&A session to pre-recorded talks An Hendrix – Ghent University, Belgium Tony E. Godfrey – Boston University School of Medicine, USA Michael Pfaffl – Technical University of Munich, Germany |
| 14:30-14:45 | Break |
| 14:45-16:45 | Interactive practical session: SIMSen-Seq Stefan Filges – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 16:45-17:00 | Break |
| 17:00-18:00 | Student presentations |
| 18:00 | End of Day 4 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 5 – Thursday 14 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| Session: Protein day | |
| 12:45-13:00 | Overview of the day |
| 13:00-13:30 | Group discussion from Sequencing day |
| 13:30-15:30 | Interactive practical session: Data Analysis of SIMSen- Seq data Stefan Filges – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden Manuel Marceliano Luna Santa-María – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden Tobias Österlund – Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden |
| 15:30-15:45 | Break |
| 15:45-16:30 | Live Q&A session based on pre-recorded talks Lei Chen – Uppsala University, Sweden Ulf Landegren – Uppsala University, Sweden |
| 16:30-16:45 | Break |
| 16:45-17:45 | Interactive practical session: PEA assay Lei Chen – Uppsala University, Sweden |
| 17:45-18:00 | Break |
| 18:00-18:30 | Networking activity: Bar mixer |
| 18:30 | End of Day 5 – Continued access to networking and discussion platform, pre-recorded lectures and course materials on eCampus |
Day 6 – Friday 15 October 2021
| Time | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 12:45-13:00 | Overview of the day |
| 13:00-13:30 | Group discussion from Data Analysis and Protein day |
| 13:30-14:30 | Live Q&A session based on pre-recorded talks Anders Edsjö – Skåne University Hospital, Sweden Valérie Taly – Paris Descartes University, France |
| 14:30-14:35 | Group picture |
| 14:35-14:50 | Break |
| 14:50-16:00 | Meet the experts |
| 16:00-16:30 | Closing remarks and farewell |
| 16:30 | End of the Course |
Practical Information
Registration Fees and Motivation Letter
The course is limited to 16 participants. For selection purposes, please note that your application will not be considered without a letter of motivation.
Registration
Registration Fees (include admission and all course materials):
| Academia | 295 Euro |
| PhD Student | 295 Euro |
| Industry | 520 Euro |
Confirmation and Payment
The registration fee should be paid only after acceptance to the course. The results will be announced approximately 2-3 weeks after the application deadline.
Motivation Letter Submission
After you have logged in and successfully registered, you will receive an email asking you to submit your motivation letter. Click on the link provided and enter your motivation letter in the text box provided. Alternatively you can submit your motivation letter by clicking on the link on the confirmation page directly after registering.
Instructions
- Include your relevant skills, experience and qualifications showing why you would be suitable for the course.
- Explain why you would like to attend, including what you can contribute and how you think you will benefit from the course.
Please note:
Motivation letter length: The maximum limit of 2000 characters (ca. 200 words) refers to manually typed text (spaces included).
Free field text length: The maximum characters for your answers in the free field text boxes is 255 (spaces included).Text only: If you copy-paste the text, hidden formatting might still be included and you will be informed that your text exceeds the character limit. We recommend either:
- saving your text as text only in your editor or Email programme, OR
- copy-pasting it into Notepad and then onto the website.
Symbols: If you have special symbols in your text make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised by the tool.
Further Details
For further information about registration and motivation letter submission please refer to the FAQ page.
Financial Assistance
Financial Assistance
Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO in the form of both registration fee waivers and travel grants. Availability is limited to events in Heidelberg and will be indicated during the abstract or motivation letter submission process. A list of external funding opportunities can be found here, and information on attending a conference as an event reporter here.
Onsite events: Your place in the meeting is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.
Virtual events: You are not required to pre-pay the registration fee to be selected for a fee waiver for a virtual meeting.
EMBO childcare grants are available for EMBO Practical Courses and Workshops at all EMBL sites.
Courses
Registration Fee Waiver
The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the course.
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grant
Applies to selected courses only. Availability will be indicated during the abstract or motivation letter submission process.
This grant covers costs related to your attendance to the course (registration, travel and accommodation costs). The grant is restricted to PhD students and postdocs who conduct basic biomedical research.
Whether you are eligible to apply for a travel grant, depends on when you received your university entrance qualification (e.g. Abitur, A-Levels, High School Diploma, Final State Examination):
– for PhD and MD students, as well as graduates, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 11 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
– for postdocs, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 13 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
Further details
For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.
Technical Requirements
Technical Requirements
Below you will find the software and technical requirements for this course. You will need admin rights to be able to install the software on your computer and we recommend you try this before the course. If you do not have admin rights, please contact your technical support team in advance to make sure the software can be installed.
Additional Software
The EMBL eCampus learning platform will be used to collaborate, communicate and network with all of the course participants. All participants will receive information on how to join shortly before the course. We recommend using Chrome, Safari or Mozilla Firefox browsers for eCampus.
Zoom will be used for the live talks and Q&A sessions. More information will be provided closer to the start of the course.
Other Information
While using the software during the course, please make sure you have nothing else using your bandwidth. We recommend using a wired connection.
Sponsors
Media Partner
Sponsorship Opportunities
We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.de for further information.
If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.
Date: 8 - 15 Oct 2021
Location: Virtual
Deadline(s):
Application: Closed
Organisers:
-
Vladimir Benes
EMBL Heidelberg, Germany -
Anders Ståhlberg
Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden -
Contact: Maria Bacadare
