Plucked Hair Biomarker Platform Webinar – Part 2 Gene expression.

Date and Time: July 24th 2024 1pm BST.

Following on from our June webinar, which demonstrated how plucked hair follicles can be used as a pharmacodynamic biomarker tissue using immunohistochemistry techniques, Dr. Cath Booth further explores the use of this biomarker tissue using differential gene expression as the readout.

Click here to Register

For more information go to Plucked hair webinar

If you missed our previous webinar, you can view it here: Plucked hair webinar – Part 1

Epistem’s Plucked Hair Biomarker Platform stands out as a breakthrough in biomarker discovery, offering a non-invasive and easily accessible source for valuable biological information. Our platform empowers researchers and clinicians to glean crucial insights into disease mechanisms, treatment responses, and individual patient profiles through the analysis of plucked hair samples.

The hair biomarker platform can assist drug development programs in monitoring pharmacodynamic response to treatment, duration of drug effect, dose response, confirmation of mechanism of action and patient stratification.

We perform all hair biomarker studies in our GCLP-compliant histology and pharmacogenomics labs. Epistem has conducted GCLP-accredited clinical studies in support of drug development pipelines for a number of major pharmaceutical customers.

Biomarker FAQs

What are Pharmacodynamic Biomarkers?

Biomarkers in pharmacodynamics evaluate the biological reaction to a treatment procedure. They indicate whether a drug has engaged its intended target, provide evidence of the anticipated mechanism of action, help establish dose-response relationships, and allow monitoring of treatment efficacy over time.

What is the Biomarker Discovery phase?

The biomarker discovery phase refers to the initial stages of research aimed at identifying potential biomarkers that can be used for diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic purposes. and characterizing new potential biomarkers for a particular disease or biological process. The aim is to create strong initial data that shows the link between specific molecules and a disease or biological process. The most promising candidates then advance to further validation and clinical testing phases before potential regulatory approval as a biomarker.

What tissues are biomarkers typically sourced from?

The decision depends on several factors. These factors include the disease being studied, how the biomarker will be used, and how invasive the sampling procedure is.

• Blood carries biomarkers from different parts of the body, making it a common source for testing. Serum and plasma biomarkers can provide systemic information.
• Tissue biopsies allow direct insight of disease-specific biomarkers from the affected organ or tumour.
• CSF is valuable for neurological diseases, as it provides a window into the central nervous system.

These tissues require invasive procedures to collect, whereas the Plucked Hair Biomarker Platform may provide less invasive options.