Ed LeCluyse, PhD, Chief Scientist of LifeNet Health’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine describes the importance of using data to identify the right hepatocyte lots for your specific applications.

• Learn which characterization data is important for your application
• Discover application-based characterization strategies
• Explore emerging trends in hepatocyte characterization
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, Chief Scientist of LifeNet Health’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine reveals the convenient all-human hepatocyte Tri-Culture Model, highlighting improvements in hepatocyte performance compared to traditional monoculture.

• Learn about current hepatocyte cultures and their respective challenges
• Discover the features and advantages of this novel Tri-Culture system
• Explore potential applications and future directions
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, Chief Scientist of LifeNet Health’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine discusses the important role of liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) for both in vivo and in vitro environments.

• Learn about each of the major NPCs of the liver and functionality
• Discover the important role that NPCs play in liver pathology and toxicology
• Explore how NPCs are becoming new tools to address challenges in drug development
   

Jeff Thomas, Program Director of LifeNet Health LifeSciences, and Gary Walters, Sr. Director and GM of LifeNet Health’s Research Tissue Franchise explain how only LifeNet Health controls every step of every tissue’s journey from donor to lab while serving researchers needs from early-stage discovery to pre-clinical drug-safety evaluation.

• Learn about the importance of using human biospecimens in research
• Discover how to obtain high-quality biospecimens for your research and available options
• Explore case studies where researchers successfully partnered with LifeNet Health to meet their biospecimen needs
   

Chris Willey, PhD, of University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Departments of Radiation Oncology shares how 3D human microtumors are being established as a human-based diagnostic screening method to optimize chemotherapeutic regimens.

• Learn why 3D microtumors may be the closes resemblance to human tumors ex vivo
• Discover how this model offers a quick, seven-day assay to evaluate potential chemotherapeutic drugs
• Explore how these 3D human models can be used for further investigations, including gene and protein analysis
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, Chief Scientist of LifeNet Health’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine presents on the criticality of utilizing primary human hepatocytes in pre-clinical drug development.

• Learn how human hepatocytes can fast forward your target identification
• Discover how human hepatocytes can be applied in drug metabolism studies and pharmacokinetics
• Explore fit-for-purpose specifications of various human hepatocyte applications
   

Mary Jane Cunningham, PhD, LifeNet Health LifeSciences Director for Clinical Applications and Services explains how the genotyping of primary human hepatocytes may be essential to your experimental design and how knowing the donor’s genotype could help with stratifying hepatocyte lots used in drug discovery and development assays.

• Learn the basics of genotyping and pharmacogenetics
• Discover how genotypes relate to the metabolism of Cytochrome P450 isozymes and Phase II molecules
• Explore how the genotypes for these enzymes can be used in experimental design planning
   

Alan Grodzinsky, ScD, Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Biological, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, shares exciting details on a human, in vitro model being co-developed by MIT, the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This model is being developed to study the effects of microgravity and radiation on the International Space Station.

• Learn about osteoarthritis, post-traumatic osteoarthritis, and how this model resulted from extensive studies on Earth
• Discover how this Human Cartilage-Osteo-Microphysiological System may hold the keys to the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis caused by traumatic joint injuries
• Explore how this in vitro model is being used for drug discovery and disease modeling
   

Laura Siminoff, PhD, Dean at the College of Public Health at Temple University discusses best practices for communicating and obtaining consent from donor families based on experience from the Genotyping-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx). Dr. Siminoff was a key contributor to the project, launched in 2010 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which characterized genetic associations across 49 tissues from over 800 postmortem donors.

• Learn why communication is essential when obtaining authorization from donor families
• Discovery what is required vs. recommended when authorizing tissue donation
• Explore how the tissue donation and research consent was used for the GTEx project
   

Jessica Weaver, PhD, Research and Product Development Scientist at LifeNet Health reveals the latest development with our all-human, hepatic Tri-Culture system.

• Learn how this model resembles native, human liver architecture
• Discover how hepatocyte phenotype and functionality are maintained for at least 2 weeks
• Explore how the new 96-well compatible design is amenable to high-throughput screening and robotics applications
   

Eda Rogers, PhD, Research and Development Scientist at LifeNet Health shares details of how she and other LifeNet Health scientists have isolated, cryopreserved, and characterized primary human thyrocytes.

• Learn the basics of endocrine disruption and unmet needs for reliably identifying endocrine disruptors
• Discover how primary human thyrocytes could represent a valuable tool for evaluating thyroid disruption
• Explore how the cells consistently form 3D thyroid microtissues and retain thyroid specific protein expression
   

Scott Jewel, PhD, and Galen Hostetter, PhD, both of the Van Andel Research Institute, share their best practices for the management and use of biospecimens, specifically around the identification of variables on biospecimen quality and processing that can directly impact research results. 

• Learn how specimens are managed to maintain biospecimen integrity and quality
• Discover how tumor and non-tumor regions can be isolated and analyzed
• Explore alternative procedures used to enrich for target nucleic acid isolation
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, describes how liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs), including stellate, Kupffer, and liver endothelial cells, play a role in the progression of liver toxicity and disease. 

• Learn how high-quality and well-characterized human NPCs are necessary to have an accurate in vitro picture of cell-cell interactions
• Discover how these human NPCs "role play" with human hepatocytes in the onset and progression of NASH and liver fibrosis
• Explore how NPCs "act" in liver toxicity and Drug-Induced Liver Injury (DILI)
   

Daniel Perl, PhD, Director of the Brain Tissue Repository at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Department of Defense in Bethesda, Maryland, presents his research aimed at understanding the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among military personnel.

• Learn the different types of TBI and how they differ in their physics and nature of the damaged produced in the brain
• Discover how little is known about the long-term effects of TBI on the brain and the outcomes among military service members
• Explore how the DoD/USU Brain Tissue Repository, with its 258 donated brain specimens, may hold the key to understanding these effects
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, explains how LifeNet Health LifeSciences' unique, vertically integrated process has raised the bar for quality standards and enables access to high-quality human tissues and cells for research.

• Learn how LifeSciences' recovery program can improve the success of your target identification decision-making process
• Discovery how human primary cells from our advanced tissue processing and cell isolation techniques will enhance your test results for drug metabolism, enzyme induction and hepatotoxicity assays
• Explore how our refined cell culture techniques and novel platforms can provide more accurate and predictive data for candidate selection
   

Donald Tweedie, PhD, and Edward LeCluyse, PhD, of LifeNet Health’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine draw from their combined 70 years’ experience in drug development and research on alternative drug metabolism and toxicological methods to host a moderated, interactive Q&A session interspersed with questions from attendees.

• Learn the importance of using primary human hepatocytes that retain their native in vivo functions
• Discover how incorporating non-parenchymal cells in hepatocyte cultures creates a more in vivo-like liver environment
• Explore the investigative correlation between healthy and diseased liver cells and their incorporation into models for research
   

Thomas Hartung, MD, PhD, Director of the Centers for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, and at the University of Konstanz, Germany shares his expertise in the application of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs).

• Learn what microphysiological systems (MPS) are and how they are replicating human tissues in vitro 
• Discover how MPS can be used as alternative methods to animal models
• Explore how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to analyze and interpret data from MPS
   

Jeffrey Thomas, MT (ASCP), Program Director of LifeSciences at LifeNet Health, has been involved in human tissue transplantation and research biospecimen collection for over 35 years. Jeff has been instrumental in mapping the processes for human biospecimen recovery, preservation, transportation, and researcher access. His expertise has been critical in designing industry-leading recovery protocols specific to individual tissue types and for improving the donor family consent process while adhering to national guidelines. In this webinar:

• Learn what types of human cells and tissues can be recovered and accessed through LifeNet Health; the world’s leader in biospecimen recovery
• Discover how our specialized recovery protocols have been designed to ensure the highest tissue quality and integrity are maintained
• Explore how optimized protocols were used to support the nationally funded Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project
   

Chandan Guha, M.B.B.S., PhD, Vice Chairman and Director of Translational Research of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY presents his research which focuses on the adverse effects of irradiation on normal tissue.

• Learn how radiation injury can be abated with cell therapy
• Discover how radiation-based preparative regimens can be used in liver cell transplantation
• Explore how imaging tools can be used to monitor cell engraftment and repopulation in the liver

Jessica Weaver, PhD, Research and Product Development Scientist at LifeNet Health reviews data from our new hepatic cell-based co-culture model which is comprised of primary human hepatocytes with human feeder cells, all derived 100% from donated human tissue.

• Learn how the LifeNet Health LifeSciences Hepatic Tri-Culture cells self-assemble into hepatocyte colonies representative of native tissue
• Discover how this multicellular system accurately and consistently mimic key metabolic functionality and cell-to-cell interactions over time
• Explore how this hepatic Tri-Culture is pre-qualified to remove variability, enabling a broad range of investigations for drug discovery and development

Mary Jane Cunningham, PhD, LifeNet Health LifeSciences Director for Clinical Applications and Services will discuss how the genotype for primary human hepatocytes may be essential to your research and testing. Knowing the donor's genotype can help with stratifying primary human hepatocyte lots used in drug discovery and development assays. 

• Learn the basics of genotyping and pharmacogenetics
• Discover how genotypes relate to the metabolism of Cytochrome P450 isozymes and Phase II molecules
• Explore how the genotypes for these enzymes can be used in experimental design planning
   

Donald Tweedie, PhD and Ed LeCluyse, PhD continue their former discussion with another interactive Q&A session on the current challenges and opportunities with using primary human hepatocytes in drug development. 

Drs. Tweedie and LeCluyse have a combined 70 years' experience in drug development and research involving alternative drug metabolism and toxicological methods. For this session:

• Learn the importance of using primary human hepatocytes which retain their native in vivo functions
• Discover how incorporating non-parenchymal cells in hepatocyte cultures creates a more in vivo-like liver environment
• Explore the investigative correlation between healthy and diseased liver cells and their incorporation into models for research
   

Ed LeCluyse, PhD, and Paul Gallant, BA, both with LifeNet Health will provide an inside look at a novel all-human hepatic triculture system developed by LifeNet Health LifeSciences. Find out how this new system addresses the need for a convenient and human-relevant long-term hepatic culture. Key topics include:

• An overview of how the new all-human hepatic triculture mimics native liver tissue architecture and key hepatocellular functions over several weeks
• How hepatocytes are pre-qualified to reduce variability for a broad range of pharmacological and toxicological applications
• The flexibility of this system and how it allows researchers to choose from a selection of hepatocyte lots, enabling a broad population diversity
• The advantages of this system - which offers the simplicity of a 2D model, with the robust levels of data typical of 3D models - compared to existing models
   

Learn about the latest efforts to gain insight into human diseases using microphysiological systems during our interactive webinar on June 30. Tissue engineering pioneer Linda Griffith, PhD, will share insight into:

• An overview of MPS devices — and how they work
• How mini-organ systems are helping shed new light on the most challenging chronic inflammatory diseases, including endometriosis and adenomyosis
• The development of optimized synthetic scaffolds for tissue morphogenesis
   

Eda Rogers, PhD, R&D Scientists a LifeNet Health discusses a new approach method being co-developed with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Primary human thyrocytes are the foundation of the 3D human thyroid microtissue, an in vitro model being developed as a tool to screen for thyroid disruptive chemicals. Currently, there are no human thyroid model systems as part of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program. The EDSP was set up to screen chemicals for activity that disrupts the normal human reproductive and development systems. Key topics include:

• Description of this unique human 3D thyroid microtissue model.
• Importance of maintaining in vivo function and structures within this model.
• Use of this system to screen for thyroid disruptive chemicals.
   

Microphysiology systems offer promising new alternatives for disease investigations and safety testing. Learn more about this leading-edge technology in our webinar featuring Lawrence Vernetti, PhD. Key topics include:

• How primary human liver cells can be structurally organized in a microphysiology systems (MPS) format for superior ADMET and liver disease studies.
• A unique human liver MPS that can be progressed from a normal to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease model.
• How the liver disease MPS model recapitulates many features of clinical disease initiation and progression.