Released on: March 28, 2008, 4:57 pm

Press Release Author: GTCbio

Industry: Biotech

Press Release Summary: Dr. Clay Scott, Associate Director of the Lead Generation
Department at AstraZeneca will present at GTCbio's 3rd Assay Development & Screening
Technologies Conference on June 5-6, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Clay will speak
on experiences in lead generation focusing on cellular dielectric spectroscopy as a
platform technology for GPCR screening.


Press Release Body: Dr. Clay Scott, Associate Director of the Lead Generation
Department at AstraZeneca will present at GTCbio's 3rd Assay Development & Screening
Technologies Conference on June 5-6, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. Dr. Clay will speak
on experiences in lead generation focusing on cellular dielectric spectroscopy as a
platform technology for GPCR screening.

Cellular dielectric spectroscopy (CDS) is a relatively new technology for detecting
whole-cell responses in a label-free manner. It is particularly sensitive to GPCR
activation and can both distinguish and quantify Gs, Gi/o and Gq signal transduction
events. Since GPCRs are capable of activating multiple signaling pathways depending
on the context of the cellular environment (i.e. the signaling proteins that are
accessible) and the conformation stabilized by the activating ligand (a concept
termed ligand-induced differential signaling), CDS has the potential to dissect
several aspects of GPCR pharmacology. Dr. Clay and his group have used CDS to
support their portfolio of GPCR projects, most notably within the lead generation
phase: their experiences and learning points from the past 2 years will be shared.

Discussions will include the principles of CDS as a label-free detection method for
cellular targets.
. How this technology compares to existing methods to quantify GPCR activity, how
CDS was used to support LG projects that pursued different pharmacological profiles
including agonists, antagonists, inverse agonists and allosteric modulators, and
ligand-induced differential signaling and how CDS can be used to study this emerging
pharmacological concept.

GTCbio\'s 3rd Assay Development and Screening Technologies conference will provide
attendees with critical information to utilize in the discovery and development of
assays, while keeping them informed about the latest screening technologies for both
high-throughput screening and high-content screening. Topics being covered include
cell based assays, high throughput screening, high content screening, in vitro
assays and screening, novel assay and screening technologies, and target validation.
For more information visit www.gtcbio.com.
ABOUT GTCbio
GTCbio organizes conferences specifically for the biomedical and biopharmaceutical
industries. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of biopharmaceutical and
biomedical intelligence between industry leaders, academic and government
organizations, and the financial community.
GTCbio is a subsidiary of Global Technology Community, LLC, a privately held company
founded in 2002.
Contact: GTCBIO (626) 256-6405, (626) 256-6460 fax, nina.tran@gtcbio.com


Web Site: http://www.gtcbio.com

Contact Details: Contact: GTCBIO (626) 256-6405, (626) 256-6460 fax,
nina.tran@gtcbio.com
434 W. Foothill Blvd
Monrovia, CA 91016