How can we encourage more women to take leading positions in science?

Meet Sandra Wilson, Head of Innovation & New Technology Development at Sophion Bioscience. We asked her; How can we encourage more women to take leading positions in science? We asked her to give us her story of when she became interested in science and how she has made it all the way to a leading position at Sophion Bioscience.

First, can you tell us a little about yourself, Sandra?

I’m Scottish and Canadian and I have lived internationally since I was 11, so I would say I have a pretty global context for life. I’m an extremely curious person and always learning, poking away at things, and trying new things out. This includes a lot of travel and meeting people.

When did you first know you wanted to work in science? 

In high school, I did an O-level in Design & Technology and one of my favorite things was to work with metal, especially casting – I found it mesmerizing, and I have always been curious about processes and how things have been made. It wasn’t clear that I wanted a scientific career until I was considering what to study and realized that I wanted something practical that also involved languages because I already spoke fluent French. I was accepted to study IT, French & Spanish but took a gap year and returned to Canada to work and watch the Winter Olympics in Calgary, loved the mountains and decided to stay. It was during that time I pivoted direction to study materials because it includes a lot of the core sciences, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and maths, and its endlessly complex, especially when I added biology at a later stage.

How has your journey been to where you are today?

When I look back on my career so far what stands out are the variety of companies, projects, and teams I have worked with internationally. Each country has had its own distinct flavor and way of approaching challenges and there are plenty of gifts in that. I’m also really proud that I studied and worked simultaneously. Work experience really helped me to get clear on what kind of impact I wanted to have next and my ongoing studies have helped support me to focus on achieving that impact. Further education doesn’t have to be done all in one continuous shot and I certainly highly recommend getting work experience along the way. Having an international career also builds a certain kind of resilience and most definitely a great network. I’m really pleased that my ongoing development as an engineer, then scientist then scientific manager has allowed me the opportunity for working in such a huge range of sectors from telecom, space to health.

Women are underrepresented in leading positions in science. Do you think that is a problem?

I think women are still underrepresented in leadership positions in science, and I see the need for focus to improve it. For example, through programs such as the WiLD program (Women in Life Science Denmark, www.womeninlifescience.dk) and mentoring programs such as CyberMentor (www.cybermentor.ca).

In general, in science, whether academic or commercial – women bring a huge amount of value and knowledge to the table and the kind of collaborative skills that pull teams together and help generate results in a very efficient way. Science can be a tough field to work in. Wins are by no means guaranteed and there are always unknowns that you are figuring out.  I think there still exists this misperception that aggression and confidence is equated with brilliance in the science world. I don’t believe it’s sustainable. It can alienate some exceptional scientists that are more shy or less confident – good science can be done with kindness and inclusion.

Can you describe your role in Sophion Bioscience?

I really enjoy my role at Sophion. It’s such a great team of people to work with and a diverse range of skills from the software development team to hardware, consumables, production, technical support, and of course the extensive range of biology knowledge the team has. Plus all of the fantastic collaborations with academia and research institutions and companies. I can’t really speak a lot about the work I do, because it’s future-focused, but Sophion is growing a lot and that tells you we have some exciting things happening and new products coming. Essentially, I focus on technology development and scientific collaborations that support the strategic goals of Sophion Bioscience as a company and everything that entails.

You collaborate with external institutions like universities and research centers. Why?

Collaborations with Danish and international universities and research institutions are key, not only because they are customers but because academics are really the experts in their fields. They ask important questions, are developing really cool and exciting methods, and bring ideas and skills. They are targeting extremely complex health science issues, so there are some great synergies for us here at Sophion. These collaborations bring excitement to the team, and they challenge us to make better and new products – making great science tools that ultimately help understand and treat disease. I think that’s a fantastic focus for a career.

You find it important to mentor women and men in their early careers. Why?

It’s been important to me to mentor throughout my career, whether it be leadership with the scouts, through Cybermentor, a Canadian program to mentor girls in high school interested in careers in engineering and science or informally with people that I cross paths with. It’s also important to be mentored, and that has also been a part of my journey – feedback, mirroring, and gentle challenging from trusted advisors have really helped me get clear about what I want to achieve and to help me map out pathways to get there.

Most recently I joined the Spark program, which started at Stanford but is a new program in Denmark (https://sparkdenmark.ku.dk/) that provides some funding and more importantly tailored mentoring to support academic scientists to take their brilliant inventions further toward commercialization. So, giving and receiving mentoring, in whatever form, I think is a crucial part of living up to your potential and it can be deeply enjoyable.

How do you explain the lack of women pursuing leading science positions?

I see many more women in STEAM careers now than when my career started, so that’s a good thing, but there is still a gap to getting to those leadership positions, and we need to elevate that focus and be active about resolving it. I don’t think that women are not pursuing leadership positions, I think they would jump given the chance and proper support – but leadership also has the responsibility to actively create opportunities for women to have a voice and seat at the table.

Sandra, thank you for sharing your story and helping us bring gender equality in science to the forefront today.

Early career scientists can apply for research and travel grants from Sophion Bioscience

Scientists in the early stages of their careers are eligible for grants offered by Sophion Bioscience. Don’t miss the February opportunity to apply for our research and travels grants!

We are looking for students (MSc or PhD) or early career scientists (within 5 years of BSc/MSc/PhD award). You are working in ion channels or related fields, and you would like to present your work at Sophion’s Ion Channel Modulation Symposium. You could also have QPatch II or Qube384 data and want to tell your story at any international conference. Take this opportunity to make an application for our travel grant.

Alternatively, your postgraduate studies or early career lab research could be rocketed into the stratosphere by applying for our research grant. This will give you access to our platforms and experts in our labs across the world. Sophion’s research grant might be your ticket to completing a key finding for your thesis or strengthening your lab’s latest funding application.

For more info & application forms click here.

Developing iPSC ion channel recordings with automated patch clamp

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) techniques have been developing over the last few years, improving cell differentiation and maturation. In combination with improved culturing and handling, iPSC ion channel recordings via automated patch clamp (APC) have made these model ‘adult’ differentiated cells extremely useful in biomedical research, more translatable in defining human physiology and disease, whilst reducing the need and use of animal tissue.

Over 2022, Sophion scientists, collaborators, and users of our platforms have been at the forefront of this iPSC and APC revolution. Our collaborative research is captured here:

Webinars

Mike Hendrickson (BrainXell) & Daniel Sauter on iPSC-motor neurons:

Liz Buttermore (Human Neuron Core, Boston Children’s Hospital) & Kadla Rosholm on iPSC-cortical neurons:

Will Seibertz (University Medical Center Göttingen) & Kadla Rosholm on iPSC-cardiomyocytes:

Review paper

Adventures and Advances in Time Travel With Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Automated Patch Clamp. Rosholm et al., Frontiers Mol. Neurosci., 2022: view

Are you interested in learning more about the research performed on Sophion automated patch clamp platforms and stem cells? We have gathered a list of relevant publications here

New video tutorials to help you get the best start with QPatch Compact

For our new users of QPatch Compact, we have produced five new video tutorials to help you get started with planar patch clamp experiments on QPatch Compact. Besides the new video tutorials, on the new QPatch Compact Support Site, you have access to safety instructions, user manual incl. test protocols, and troubleshooting guides.

QPatch II secured the best infrastructure for Linköping University’s new academic core facility

Our high-throughput QPatch II automated patch clamp instrument enabled Linköping University to accelerate its research into a new epilepsy drug – and get the green light to build a national core facility for ion channel research.

Linköping University’s Division of Neurobiology immediately saw the full potential of its new QPatch II patch clamp instrument. The team had been accustomed to testing one compound on one ion channel per day using conventional manual equipment in their electrophysiology laboratory. The arrival of the automated QPatch II from Sophion Bioscience changed that at a stroke.

For Linköping University, the focus now is on using the QPatch II to make further progress towards a drug for epilepsy. At the same time, the team has high hopes for their new core facility to attract clinicians, electrophysicists, and pharmacologists from all over Sweden, who want to expand their range of automated patch clamp experiments.

Click to download the full story here

Sussex Drug Discovery Centre and Sophion Bioscience announce new strategic partnership

Sophion Bioscience has partnered closely with Sussex Drug Discovery Centre (SDDC), based at the University of Sussex, for many years. We are now looking forward to extending our partnership, providing SDDC with wider access to our automated patch clamp technology and knowledge.

For SDDC, this partnership will strengthen their potential for research collaborations with both academic and industrial partners. Their existing structural biology, drug discovery and ion channel expertise, together with core facilities such as Cryo-EM also available at the University, mean SDDC is now ideally placed to become a centre of excellence for ion channel research.

We want to support SDDC in training, education, and inspiring the next generation of ion channel drug discovery experts. Additionally, for Sophion Bioscience, the strategic partnership will allow us to expand our field support operations in the UK by welcoming our customers to the SDDC laboratory for application development and demonstrations.

We look forward to providing even better and faster customer service to our UK automated patch clamp users, working dedicated to accelerating and pioneering ion channel research.

Would you like to book a meeting with our application specialist at SDDC?

Please contact Sarah Lilley directly or you can book a demonstration in one of our laboratories in Copenhagen, Denmark, Boston, US, and Tokyo, Japan here: https://sophion.com/about/contact-info/

Sophions third webinar on APC and iPSC. Did you miss it?

The discovery that it is possible to restore pluripotency to adult somatic human cells has revolutionized the field of biological science and regenerative medicine.

With Sophion’s automated patch technology, we have been able to record cardiac voltage-gated ion channel currents (INa, ICa, IKr, IK1) in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM), with up to 50% success rates and paced action potentials in up to 20% of recorded cells.

Last week, guest speaker Fitzwilliam Seibertz from University Medical Center Göttingen and Kadla Røskva Rosholm from Sophion Bioscience gave a joint presentation on their latest research in manual and automated patch clamp measurements of IK1 currents in hiPSC-CM, a current that is often lacking in ‘immature’ hiPSC-CM.

You find the recording here:

Sign up for our next webinar

You can now sign up for our next webinar on Automated Patch Clamp and iPSC. In this webinar, we will be focusing on manual and automated patch clamp measurements of IK1 currents in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

Guest speaker Fitzwilliam Seibertz from the University Center Göttingen will join us to give a presentation on ‘Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes with a focus on maturity-induced IK1 development’.

This is followed by Sophion’s iPSC expert, Kadla Røskva Rosholm, who will take us through recent Sophion data on the electrophysiological characterization of hiPSC-derived CMs, including voltage-gated IK1 currents and action potential measurements, using automated patch clamp.

Read more and register for the webinar here

Sophion Bioscience offers research and travel grants for early career scientists

Don’t miss the September opportunity to apply!

We are looking for students (MSc or PhD) or early career scientists (within 5 years of BSc/MSc/PhD award). You are working in ion channels or related fields and you would like to present your work at Sophion’s Ion Channel Modulation Symposium. You could also have QPatch II or Qube384 data and want to tell your story at any international conference. Take this opportunity to make an application for our travel grant.

Alternatively, your postgraduate studies or early career lab research could be rocketed into the stratosphere by applying for our research grant. This will give you access to our platforms and experts in our labs across the world. Sophion’s research grant might be your ticket to completing a key finding for your thesis or strengthening your lab’s latest funding application.

For more info & application forms click here.

Sophion-authored paper addresses the challenge of safety pharmacology in the elderly

Despite the looming problems that a growing elderly population causes drug discovery, limited, concrete solutions have been offered to address medicinal developments for the elderly. This threatens to engulf societies across the world.

In a thought-provoking review, ex-Pfizer safety pharmacology expert Bernard Fermini and Sophion scientist Damian Bell have called on the drug discovery community to open discussions and act to develop and implement adequate, robust, and safe testing of medicines for the ageing demographic.

We have made the review open access (no paywall); read the paper here.

Successful hERG recordings at 22°C and 35°C on QPatch II

When conducting your ion channel experiments a key environmental factor to consider is temperature. In this latest application report, the conductance, kinetics and pharmacology of the hERG ion channel current, a critical component of the cardiac action potential, were recorded at 22°C and 35°C.

Like nearly all physiological processes, the activity and pharmacology of ion channels are highly dependent on temperature. Whether making ion channel recordings at mammalian body temperature (~35°C) or simply a consistent room temperature (RT), it is imperative to accurately control the temperature of your recordings. Even ‘simply’ ensuring all your recordings are not subject to the particular vagaries of the lab’s diurnal/seasonal micro-climate can be challenging. With temperature control, by setting the recording site to RT means accurately recording and reporting at 22°C, not the 18-27°C that we all know can be the real world lab RT.

If you want to learn more about temperature control on Sophion’s platforms, read more here

Did you miss our second webinar on APC and iPSC from last week?

Research in iPSC holds huge promise for drug discovery. With Sophion’s automated patch technology, we can begin to understand the functional changes taking place in neurons with loss of CDKL5 function.

Last week, guest speaker Elizabeth Buttermore, from Boston Children’s Hospital and Kadla Røskva Rosholm, from Sophion Bioscience presented in collaboration their latest research on cellular, molecular and electrophysiological characterization of CDKL5 deficiency disorder iPSC-derived neurons.

From all over the world, we were happy to see so many engaged and interested participants.

You can see the recorded webinar below:

Collaborative paper on antibodies neutralizing cobratoxin published by the University of Toronto, Technical University of Denmark and Sophion Bioscience

Snakebite affects some of the poorest populations across the globe and was designated a neglected tropical disease (World Health Organisation, 2017).

In further seminal developments, Sophion has helped to develop and characterize the next generation of monoclonal antibodies to neutralize a key alpha-cobratoxin in the venom of the monocled cobra. The antibodies were discovered and developed via phage display by collaborators at the University of Toronto and the Technical University of Denmark. Their in vitro functional, neutralizing effect on the nicotinic acetyl choline receptor (nAChR) ion channel was determined on QPatch II.

Find the paper published in Protein Science here

Assessment of the in vitro neutralization potency of the top two IgGs was performed via electrophysiological measurements using whole cell patch-clamp. The blockade of ACh-dependent currents by purified α-CTx was reversed by pre-incubation of the toxin with serial dilutions of blocking IgG. Signals were normalized to full response (in the absence of α-CTx and IgG).

Large Molecules: New application report focus on Wnt signaling pathway activation

In a new application report, written together with Dr. Aamir Ahmed from Kings College London, UK, we obtained automated patch clamp (APC) recordings using the fragile and scarce Wnt proteins. Wnt 9B, 5A and 10B, were all shown to activate ion channel currents in PC3 cells.

Wingless-related integration site (Wnt) comprises a diverse family of secreted signaling proteins (350–400 amino acids, 35-45 kDa), which act as close-range signaling molecules. Wnt signal activation initiates a complex downstream signal cascade in eukaryotic cells and is critical in the development of many diseases, including cancer.

It was possible to obtain both manual and automated patch clamp recordings of fragile and scarce Wnt proteins after a thorough optimization of the protein handling.

We highlight aspects of the handling of Wnt proteins optimized for APC testing, which could also be applied to other large molecules (e.g. peptide toxins, nanobodies, antibodies).

You can find all relevant Wnt signaling (and other large molecules) publications and posters here

Large molecule characterization using automated patch clamp

Automated patch clamp solutions have been used for years to routinely research ion channels on large molecules. Being able to screen and characterizing large molecules on automated patch clamp is the key to ensure an efficient drug discovery process.

Today, more than 90% of all approved drugs are coming from research on small molecules, but large molecules research is rapidly rising in prominence. The importance of drug discovery already constitute the lion’s share of the top 10 selling drugs worldwide.

Large molecules have gained more attention due to their mode of action, often achieving greater target specificity and potency than small molecule drugs.

Learn more about the various classes of large molecules and ion channel research on our Qube and QPatch solutions here

Ion Channels and Cancer

Ion channels are critical signaling proteins in all of the main hallmarks of cancer – see image above. Indeed, Prof. Saverio Gentile of the University of Illinois, Chicago, has pithily defined this inextricable connection as ‘a channelopathy called cancer’.

Sophion are at the forefront of ion channel research supporting and collaborating with world-leading oncochannelopathy labs, including hosting presentations on their findings at our Ion Channel Modulation Symposia, User Meetings & webinars.

Links to recordings of these lectures are given below.

Ion Channels and Cancer

Prof. Annarosa Archangeli, ICMS 2017, ‘hERG Channels: From anti-targets to novel targets for cancer therapy’

Dr Luis Pardo, ICMS 2017, ‘Kv10.1 and the cell cycle: A two-way road’

Prof. Mustafa Djamgoz, ICMS 2019, ‘In vivo evidence for expression of voltage-gated sodium channels in cancer and potentiation of metastasis’

Prof. Saverio Gentile, User Meeting 2021, ‘Targeting potassium channels in cancer from cell signaling to precision medicine

Drug Discovery for Ion Channels XXII – virtual satellite Meeting

Sophion Bioscience are happy again to co-sponsor the annual satellite meeting: Drug Discovery for Ion Channels but this year in a virtual version.

Together with the other organisers Metrion Biosciences, Fluxion, SB Drug Discovery and Nanion, we look forward to bidding you welcome.

We have an exciting speaker line up including Irina Vetter from the University of Queensland, Andrew Jenkins – Emory University, Julie Klint – Lundbeck, John Atack – Cardiff University, Steven Griffin – University of Leeds, David Baez-Nieto – Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

BPS2021 65th Biophysical Annual Meeting

Biophysics 2021 will be virtual. Sophion will be attending as usual but with a virtual booth.

Read more about the meeting here. More information about the annual satellite meeting: Drug Discovery in Ion Channels will follow shortly, so stay posted.

SfN Global Connectome – a virtual event

Neuroscience, which was planned for late October 2020, was cancelled due to the global pandemic situation.

SfN has now organised the SfN Global Connectome virtual event instead and Sophion will be part of this event with a virtual booth. At our booth you can meet with Daniel Sauter, Scientific Sales Manager and Gus Fish, Sales Account Manager, both from Sophion Bioscience, North America.

Dr Weifeng Yu, Senior Application Scientist with Sophion Bioscience, North America will be presenting a poster titled:

“Evaluation of positive allosteric modulators of SK2 channels using QPatch”

Abstract:

Small-conductance Ca²⁺-activated K+ (SK) channels mediate afterhyperpolarization in neurons and dampen the firing frequency of action potentials. Calmodulin is constitutively associated with the SK2 channels and serves as the Ca²⁺ sensor for the SK-calmodulin complex. The SK2 channel subtype plays a key role in the regulation of excitability of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. Given their importance in Purkinje cells, SK2 channels are a promising drug target for ataxia, a movement disorder.

Automated patch clamp (APC) machines, such as QPatch, have been used in the pharmaceutical industry to study drug interaction with varieties of ion channels. Over the past decade, the technology has contributed significantly to pharmaceutical research and drug discovery. Here, we report to use QPatch as a tool for testing and evaluating the positive allosteric modulators of SK2 channels. A stable cell line of the rat SK2 channel tagged with GFP was established through transfection of HEK293 cells followed by puromycin selection and enrichment using repeated GFP fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

Positive allosteric modulators were tested under whole-cell voltage-clamp configuration with automated QPatch. The compounds that positively modulate the SK2 channels in the automated QPatch was further tested with the inside-out patch manual recordings. The results from automated whole-cell recordings and inside-out patch manual recordings were consistent.

QPlate, a unique design enabling high performance automated patch clamp

The unique design of our QPlates provides many advantages. Among others 100% liquid exchange, giga-seals in physiological solutions and no need for electrode maintenance.

In this application report, we tell about the design and advantages of using microflow-based consumables for Automated Patch Clamp.

Learn how the QPlate materials make it possible to create giga-ohm seals with physiological solutions. See data demonstrating that 100% solution exchange can be achieved with 20 µL of solution.

Learn about the QPlate design and its performance here.

User Meeting (virtual) – hosted by Sophion NA

The event will be from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm on the 22nd of September, 2020.

The agenda will be as follows:

11:00: Sophion Latest News – Mads Korsgaard, Global Product Manager, Sophion Bioscience

11:30: Jonathan Mann, Group Leader Biology Discovery, Charles River Laboratories

12:00: Alexander Komarov, Senior Research Investigator, Knopp Biosciences

12:30: Dang Dao, Research Director, Astellas Institute of Regenerative Medicine

01:00: Mark Estacion, Research Scientist, Yale University

01:30: Sam Goodchild, Senior Research Scientist, Xenon Pharmaceuticals

02:00: Jim Ellis, Chief Scientific Officer, Nocion Therapeutics

02:30: QPatch II with Temperature Control Demonstration – Sung Hoon Park, Application Scientist, Sophion Bioscience

The titles of the presentations will be announced shortly.

The meeting will be held as a webinar and if you want to join, please send an email to Schuyler King.

We are looking forward to having a successful virtual user meeting.

ICMS 2019, Boston, MA

We are thrilled to announce the dates for the very first US-based Ion Channel Modulation Symposium and look forward to seeing many ion channel professionals in October in Cambridge, MA (USA). Sophion has joined forces with Amgen and together we will host a two-day event packed with great talks and excellent networking opportunities.

The meeting will be held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA.

See much more information about this meeting here.

Sophion Seminar in Japan

Friday 19th October we hosted the annual Sophion Seminar in Tokyo. More than 40 interested visitors were there to hear interesting talks and see the QPatch II for the first time in Japan.

QPatch II was presented to the audience and among others, Prof. Koichi Nakajo gave an educational lecture on “Stochiometry and function of potassium channel auxiliary subunits”.

Also, Juha Kammonen from Charles Rivers, UK gave a talk on how they at Charles River have successfully implemented the Qube into their ion channel drug discovery screening cascade, and he presented example data from both a high throughput screening campaign and a hit-to-lead project.

CMIC Pharma Science was hosting the meeting – the settings were fantastic for the reception party that followed the meeting.

ICMS2018 – thank you very much

We would like to thank you for participating at the 3rd Sophion Ion Channel Modulation Symposium in Cambridge last week. We truly appreciate that you took the time to attend and we hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. A special thanks to our sponsors; Roche, MaxCyte, SB Drug Discovery, B’SYS, Charles River and Metrion for being part of ICMS2018. And last but not least a huge thanks to the speakers and the advisory board whom all contributed making the event a success. See you on 19th and 20th June next year.

Safety Pharmacology Society Annual Meeting 2018

We look forward to seeing you in Washington D.C. for the annual SPS meeting.

Venue:

Marriott Wardman Park
2660 Woodley Rd NW,
Washington, DC 20008

Come and see us for an ion channel talk at booth #113. Read more about the event here.

Japanese Safety Pharmacology Society 9th Annual Meeting

We look forward to JSPS 9^th annual meeting at The University of Tokyo, Yayoi Auditorium. You can find the entire program here.

You can meet with our ion channel experts at our booth #I at the Yayoi Auditorium. We are participating in the stamp rally.

Poster Presentation

On Saturday, 10th February between 11.30 AM and 12.30 PM, Dr. Kazuya Tsurudome will present a poster titled:

Voltage and current clamp recordings from human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes on 384-channel automated patch-clamp system

Poster board no. 16

A list of all poster presented at JSPS can be found here.

See some of the great talks from ICMS 2017 in Cambridge

We have the pleasure of sharing with you some of the great talks from the Sophion Ion Channel Modulation Symposium which took place in Cambridge in June.

See the talks here.

Enjoy

Sophion Bioscience is acquired by Sophion CEO, management and investors

Sophion Bioscience has been acquired by Sophion CEO Thais T. Johansen, its management and a group of experienced investors.

Sophion was founded in 2000 as a spinoff from Neurosearch and have since the beginning been pioneering ion channel research and drug discovery. In 2004 Sophion launched the QPatch automated patch clamp solution, which still today is benchmark for advanced electrophysiology and cardiac safety in drug discovery. In 2013 Sophion Qube was launched taking automated patch clamp to the HTS space and taking automated patch clamping to a whole new level of usability. In between Sophion has continuously improved performance and capabilities and launched pioneering new features such as automated Rs compensation, automated current clamp, integrated cell preparation, etc.

Sophion was in 2011 acquired by Biolin Scientific Holding AB, a company owned by Swedish private equity firm Ratos AB.

Sophion CEO Thais Johansen states “Our new ownership structure and financial partners bring a long-term orientation and expertise in building a high-growth life science business. With this involvement, we are well-positioned to continue investing in innovation, technologies and people”.

Thais also said, “we will continue to build on the Sophion legacy with focus on quality, innovation and customer satisfaction” and continues “I am looking forward to talk to our partners over the next weeks to discuss these changes as well as discuss the many great news we have in pipeline”.

Sophion Bioscience employs approximately 60 people worldwide. It is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and has subsidiaries in Boston, Tokyo and Shanghai, as well as distributors in Japan, India and Korea. Sophion has an install base of 100+ automated patch clamp systems and presence in more than 75% of the TOP20 largest Pharma companies in the world.

Sophion Bioscience, Inc. is in the building

ICMS2017 – thanks everyone for contributing

Another great Sophion Ion Channel Modulation Symposium meeting at the amazing Clare College. Knowledge sharing, socializing and presentations of new discoveries in our field from the top notch researchers from academia and pharma industry. …. and good food and beer not to mention. Great way to spend a week. ICMS2018 already in pipeline.

Safety Pharmacology Society annual meeting

Hope to see you at the annual Safety Pharmacology Meeting 2017 in Berlin. Meet us at booth #113 and speak with our ion channel experts on site.

When:  24th to 27th September

Venue: Maritim Hotel Berlin

Poster presentation (Poster #022)
Temperature effect on hERG channel pharmacology measured by using the Qube automated patch clamp system.

Abstract:

The human ether-à-go-go related gene (hERG) function is important for cardiac repolarization and inhibition of the channel can prolong the cardiac action potential, which give increased risk for ventricular arrhythmias including torsade des points (TdP). Therefore, In vitro evaluations of the compound effects is performed on the hERG channel routinely in drug development projects to detect potential arrhythmic side-effects.

Usually these compound measurements are carried out at ambient temperatures. Previously it has been shown that the potency for many compounds have been underestimated when compared to near physiological temperature tests. Therefore, a temperature controlled measuring environment is beneficial when testing compounds for the aims as mentioned here.

Until recently, the only possibility to test compound potency under voltage control conditions has been the manual patch clamp technique. Now automated patch clamp instruments with temperature control have come available making it possible to perform up to 384 parallel recordings at controlled temperatures ranging from 18°C and above.

Here we used an automated patch clamp system, Qube, to study the effect of temperature on concentration response relationships on a panel of compounds known to block the hERG channel. Qube has a temperature controlled test environment and in these studies, we show that temperature merits being taken into consideration when evaluating for hERG potency.

Neuroscience

See you at Neuroscience 2017, the world’s largest neuroscience conference for scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. You can find us at booth #823 where we look forward to meet you for an ion channel talk.

Venue:  Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC