In the afternoon, on the forum event stage in Düsseldorf, there will be an introduction of methods which are already closer to being ready for the market, but still subject to heavy discussion. This is where, for example, we will hear about detecting genetic aberrations of the embryo in the maternal blood (NIPT) or immune response assays on the cellular level, which are of importance right now when assessing the status of immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his lecture "LDTs in the light of the IVDR – still an option for standard care?", Dr. Maximilian Kittel of the Institute for Clinical Chemistry at the University Medical Centre and Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University will ask the critical question whether and under which conditions lab-developed testing procedures will still be usable for routine diagnostics once the new IVD guidelines are wholly in place. Here one focus lies on the conflict inherent between personalized medicine and hospital performance records. The day will end with contributions to the evaluation of data through expert systems and proprietary laboratory developments (LDT = lab-developed tests), which need to pass the new IVDR regulations in order to become routine procedures.

Day 4: Innovative developments in the life sciences


On November 17, Dr. Peter Quick, head of the Life Science Research work group at VDGH e.V., the German association of the diagnostics industry, will bring researchers and developers on stage whose work on RNA technologies, highly important for the development of vaccines, has gained widespread recognition.

Dr. Christian Dohmen, Ethris GmbH, Senior Director Formulation & Aerosol Research, will present the mRNA Therapeutics for Lung Diseases project, one of the RNA technologies discussed. The project advocates for a novel class of mRNA products to be used as therapeutics in the treatment of respiratory and infectious diseases. The Ethris technology platform will pave the way for a protein replacement therapy for rare lung diseases and for antiviral therapies.

In her lecture, Dr. Janine Altmüller, MDC for molecular medicine and head of the Genomics Core Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité, will look beyond to even more advanced, revolutionary research technologies in life sciences: single-cell and spatial omics. As all living processes in organs and organisms rely on the functions of their basic building blocks, single cells and their interactions, these methods are of immense value for research into the physiology of health and disease. Dr. Altmüller will offer a broad introduction of technological concepts for single-cell and spatial analysis, present advantages and limitations, and illustrate their effects by presenting several highly impressive case studies.

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