Online Activities

Connect & Knowledge-share with your Peers

Our regular Online Activities keep you connected to the conversation, through our Monthly Science Exchanges and Webinars from industry experts and cutting-edge solution providers.

Upcoming Activities

Advancing Biomarker Development: CfDNA and Immunology in Focus

Join us for an exclusive thought leadership interview with Dominic Rothwell, Deputy Director of Manchester Cancer Biomarker Centre, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), as he provides insights on the latest advancements in cfDNA, tumour biomarkers, and immunology in oncology. Then, listen to a leading panel of experts from Astrazeneca, Cornell University and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute as they discuss the latest advancements in biomarker-driven innovation and the influence of collaborations partnerships.

Wednesday 15 October 2025
1:30pm - 2:30pm GMT (UTC +0)
Virtual Thought Leadership Session held on Zoom

AGENDA OVERVIEW

1.30pm Thought Leader Interview with Dominic Rothwell

2.00pm Panel Discussion: Advancing Biomarker-Driven Innovation- Collaborations & Partnerships 

  • Where is collaboration driving real-world impact today?

  • How are cfDNA and tumour biomarkers enabling earlier, more accurate interventions?

  • Building strong research–clinical–industry data partnerships

  • Data sharing and standardisation

  • Real-time tissue/cfDNA sampling and repositories

  • Joint protocol design for biomarker-driven trials

  • Multi-centre and public–private consortia (e.g., UK Biobank, CRUK partnerships)

THOUGHT LEADER & MODERATOR
Dominic Rothwell, Deputy Director at CR-UK National Biomarker Centre

Biography:

Dr Dominic G. Rothwell is Deputy Director of the CRUK National Biomarker Centre and Rare Cells Team Lead at the University of Manchester. His research centres on liquid biomarkers for precision oncology, using plasma proteins, circulating free DNA, and tumour cells to characterise cancers. His work aims to drive advances in early detection, diagnosis, minimal residual disease, and resistance mechanisms.

PANELLISTS

  • Nathalie Dhomen, MCRC Commercialisation and Innovation Lead, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute
  • Dr. Taha Merghoub, Deputy Director, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center; Margaret & Herman Sokol Professor of Oncology Research; Professor of Pharmacology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine

Mapping the Invisible to Insight with Spatial Metabolome with MALDI Imaging

Wednesday 22 October 2025
16.00 BST | 11.00 EST
Sponsor Webinar held on Zoom

Presented by Ramon C. Sun

Understanding how metabolites, lipids, and glycans shape physiology requires spatially resolved analysis across molecular classes. We developed a single-tissue workflow for spatial mass spectrometry imaging that captures the metabolome, lipidome, and glycome in parallel. This pipeline is powered by the Spatial Augmented Multiomics Interface (SAMI), a computational platform for multiomics integration, high-dimensional clustering, spatial annotation, and pathway enrichment. Using SAMI, we mapped metabolic diversity across brain regions and revealed distinct alterations in the Ps19 Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. To extend spatial biology beyond two dimensions, we created MetaVision3D, an AI-guided pipeline that transforms serial 2D MALDI-MS sections into high-resolution 3D spatial metabolomes. By aligning, normalizing, and interpolating tissue sections, MetaVision3D reconstructs tissue-wide metabolite distributions at submesoscale resolution. As proof of principle, we generated a 3D atlas of brain metabolism in normal and diseased mice, available as an interactive online resource. Together, these technologies provide a framework to explore spatial metabolic networks and illuminate biochemical complexity in health and disease.
SPEAKER BIO
Ramon C. Sun

Ramon C. Sun

Ramon Sun is a biochemist and molecular biologist specializing in metabolism and spatial biology. He earned his Ph.D. from the Australian National University and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He is currently the Anne and Oscar Lackner Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He also founded and directs the UF Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research (CASBR), a nationally leading facility dedicated to high-resolution spatial metabolomics and imaging mass spectrometry. Dr. Sun’s research focuses on how metabolic pathways influence physiology, signaling, and disease progression, particularly in the brain and cancer. His lab integrates spatial metabolomics with AI-driven analysis to uncover cell- and tissue-specific mechanisms underlying neurological, neoplastic, and age-related disorders.

You can catch up on our past Precision Medicine webinar recordings on our Resources page.