Chair(s):
Bastian Zimmer, Evotec, Germany
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Organized by: Evotec
Human diseases show remarkable variation across individuals. Genetic background, ancestry, sex, and developmental context all influence how disease pathways operate and how patients respond to therapy, yet traditional preclinical models rarely reflect this diversity. As a result, we often lack a deep understanding of disease biology and fail to prioritize the most relevant targets for specific patient populations.
Human pluripotent stem cells have the potential to transform drug discovery by embedding human diversity at the very beginning of the research pipeline. By generating physiologically relevant cell types from genetically diverse donors and across developmental states, hPSC based models make it possible to directly study how human genetic variation shapes disease biology, pathway activity, therapeutic response, and safety risk. When these models are extended to populations that have historically been underrepresented, including groups with high genomic diversity, they offer a more accurate and equitable view of human health.
Recent advances now allow interrogation of human variation at unprecedented scale. Pooled differentiation systems such as village in a dish, together with emerging stem cell based association approaches, enable functional genetic signals to be identified directly in hPSC derived models. This focused session will highlight how diverse hPSC resources, population scale modelling, and functional genomics are reshaping early drug discovery and laying the foundation for more precise and inclusive therapies.
08:30 AM - 08:40 AM
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| WELCOME REMARKS |
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| Janine Scholefield, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa |
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| Maneesha Inamdar, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), India |
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| Shuibing Chen, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA |
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| Todd Herron, Greenstone Biosciences, USA |