Practical Uses for Flow Cytometry in Toxicology Studies Within a GLP Environment

Flow cytometry is a valuable tool used to gain information pertinent to the immunotoxicity of pharmaceuticals. These assays can be integrated into preclinical toxicology studies and used on all standard toxicology species including mice, rats, dogs, nonhuman primates, and pigs. Flow cytometry assays have also the ability to monitor rare cellular subsets for drug discovery purposes and evaluate custom biomarkers for pharmacodynamic evaluations.

In order to utilize flow cytometry assays in a Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) environment, they must be validated. In other words, these assays must meet stringent benchmarks in assay precision, reproducibility, and stability.

Currently there are ongoing discussions and widely varying practices in the design of flow cytometry validation studies. This is due to a combination of challenges such as heterogeneous cell populations, lack of reference material for accuracy evaluation, and instrumentation complexity. This presentation will explore optimization and validation strategies for flow cytometry assays, as well as highlight assays used at MPI Research on GLP toxicology and drug discovery studies.

Event Learning Objectives

• Considerations for the inclusion of flow cytometry assays in toxicology studies
• Current best practices for developing and validating a flow cytometry assay for use in GLP studies
• Overview of flow cytometry assays used by MPI Research for immunotoxicology evaluation and drug discovery applications

Speaker

Brandon Zeigler, PhD, Research Scientist, MPI Research

Brandon Zeigler, PhD, is a research scientist in the cellular and molecular biology department at MPI Research. As a scientist, he is responsible for the development and optimization of novel flow cytometry technologies, mentoring junior personnel, and providing scientific insight for internal studies. He obtained his PhD in biochemistry from Dartmouth College in 2008 and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Pfizer. During his time at Pfizer, he contributed to early stage drug discovery research in anemia and inflammation therapeutic areas.

Dr. Zeigler has extensive experience in immunotoxicology, hematology, and cell biology as noted by recognition in peer-reviewed publications such as Nature, Development, and Disease Models and Mechanisms. Dr. Zeigler is also an Adjunct Professor at Western Michigan University where he teaches graduate-level coursework in neuropsychopharmacology. He is an active member of AAPS and GLIIFCA Societies.

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