2021 Interactive Breakout Discussions

Join a virtual breakout discussion group. These are informal, moderated discussions with brainstorming and interactive problem solving, allowing participants from diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas and experiences and develop future collaborations around a focused topic. This year’s breakouts will take place on Thursday, June 17, 3:00 - 3:35 pm (EDT) AND Friday, June 18, 10:30 - 11:00 am (EDT).

THURSDAY, JUNE 17 | 3:00 - 3:35 PM

TABLE 1: Biodetection In the Real World
Chris Taitt, PhD, Research Biochemist, Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering, U.S. Naval Research Lab

Testing in advance of deployment - what is the best strategy?
Are abbreviated instructions sufficient to inform technicians and how do we account for mis-handling, untrained users?
How can we decrease costs associated with development, manufacturing, and testing so that tests are affordable by developing nations?
How can we account for underlying health issues encountered in developing nations?

TABLE 2: Detecting Infectious Disease Threats (IDTs) Where it is Needed
Willy Valdivia-Granda, Founder & CEO, Orion Integrated Biosciences, Inc.

Periodically previously unknown infectious diseases emerge to affect human, animals and plants; similarly, pathogens present in a population at low levels have re-emerged rapidly in incidence and geographic range with equally grave consequences.
Given the dynamics of environmental change, travel and the ability of different governments to detect IDTs is key to develop integrative policies to accurately detect infectious diseases.
The challenges that more 1500 IDTs pose to human, animal or plant health and how different technologies can be applied in diverse operational environments.
What are the practical requirements, regulatory issues and policy challenges.

TABLE 3: Epic Failures in Research And Development; Share Your Experience To Help Others Feel Better About Themselves
Dave Alburty, CEO, Engineering, InnovaPrep

What happened?
What was learned?
Would you try it again?
Did it lead to something else that was great?
Was there collateral damage or benefits?
How much did it cost?

FRIDAY, JUNE 18 | 10:30 - 11:00 AM

TABLE 1: How to Deal with Using Microbial Genomics to Identify Potential Bioterrorism Attacks
David Ussery, PhD, Director ArC GEM & Professor, Biomedical Informatics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

How do we address the issue with taxonomy, which has been rapidly changing
How do we classify potential pathogens “in the wild’, vs. ’terrorist GMOs’ vs. ‘environmental harmless bacteria’ is not as easy as it sounds

TABLE 2: Questions to Consider Before Positioning Your Technology for Adoption
Joany Jackman, PhD, Senior Scientist, Research & Exploratory Development, Johns Hopkins University

Do you have a clear idea of how your technology and the results provided be used?
Who will interpret the results of your test?
How will your test change the current patient treatment or management?
What does the current patient flow look like and will your test change this?

TABLE 3: Agnostic Biosensing - Removing the Situational and Syndromic Components of Biodetection and Diagnostics
Harshini Mukundan, PhD, Principal Investigator & Team Leader, Chemistry for Biomedical Applications, Los Alamos National Lab

What are the syndromic and situational information that influence diagnostics and detection
What is the cost of this bias - in terms of decisions on the choice of sample, method, assay, and time to result
Strategies to remove the bias from the diagnostics equation
Role of big data and analytics in this response