Functional assays are in the truest sense precision medicine; matching a patient to a drug by directly testing their live tissue. The hypothesis is simple, yet in a personalized healthcare approach dominated by population scale genomics, the utilization of functional assays is limited. There exists a great opportunity to expand precision medicine beyond genomics, ultimately bringing better treatment options and the potential for greater outcomes to patients in need.
Bringing together a unique mix of pharmaceutical, academic and technology leaders, the series is must attend for those interested in the use of assaying technology to further biomarker discovery, drug R&D and personalized healthcare outcomes.
Through guest speakers, interactive panel discussions and Q&A sessions, the series will focus on these key topics:
- Demonstrating the clinical utility of functional precision medicine testing
- Implementing functional testing in precision medicine clinical trials
- Accelerating the application of functional testing
- Addressing stakeholder, educational and investment challenges for functional precision medicine
The SFPM arose out of recognition of the unmet need in matching cancer patients to the therapies best suited for them. Through the use of functional assays, we hope to bridge the gap between patients and the treatments best suited for their cancer. This is possible through research, communication, and collaboration amongst our members and with outreach to the cancer therapy community as a whole. Become a Member today!
Members in good standing have access to our back catalog of seminar recordings.
Upcoming Speakers
March 12, 2025
Zinaida Perova, PhD
European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)
Leveraging CancerModels.Org: enhancing precision oncology through collaborative cancer model resources
April 9, 2025
Tony Ng, FMEDSCI, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPath, PhD
GSK
Integrative imaging-multiomic classifier based on organoid-immune interactions for stratifying cancer treatment
May 14, 2025
Shannon Mumenthaler
Ellison Medical Institute
Integration of systems biology approaches and complex in vitro models for advancing functional precision medicine
June 11, 2025
Barna Gal
CompagOs
3D bioprinted organotypic bone models: A tool for early detection of bone metastases and assessing drug sensitivity in bone disorders.
July 9, 2025
Rita Fior, PhD
Champalimaud Center for the Unkown
September 10, 2025
Alex Dahmani
Exvivo Labs
Compressed Drug Panels for Ex Vivo Drug Sensitivity Testing
October 8, 2025
Kushtrim Kryeziu
Oslo University Hospital
Functional Precision Oncology for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
November 12, 2025
Kelly Gordon
Boudicca DX
Navigating EU and US Clinical Trial Regulations for Functional Precision Medicine Tests to Bring More Therapeutic Options to Cancer Patients
Past Speakers
Bree Aldridge, PhD
Tufts University
Design of multidrug therapies for M. tuberculosis
Diana Azzam, PhD
Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
Clinical Utility of Functional Precision Medicine in the Management of Relapsed/Refractory Childhood Cancers
Santhosh Balasubramanian
Notable Labs
Designing precision oncology trials to develop and validate drug sensitivity assays
David A. Barbie, MD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
RNA Sequencing Analysis of Immunotherapy Response in Organotypic Tumor Spheroids
Jared Barrott
Brigham Young University
Patrick Bhola, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Rapid ex vivo testing using high content dynamic BH3 profiling may identify active therapies in solid tumors
Lawrence Boise, PhD
Emory University
Functional and phenotypic analysis of venetoclax sensitivity in multiple myeloma
Sara Cherry, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Functional Precision Medicine in AML
Edward K. Chow, PhD
National University of Singapore
QPOP: Application towards Personalized Combinatorial Cancer Therapy
Jean-Philippe Coppé, PhD
UC San Francisco
Transformative kinase-activity mapping system to illuminate the phospho-catalytic dependencies and actionable vulnerabilities of therapy-resistant tumors
Kristine R. Crews, Pharm D., FCCP, BCPS
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Pharmacotype of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, from Discovery to Implementation
Kristine R. Crews, Pharm D., FCCP, BCPS
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Regulatory Roadblocks: Overcoming Challenges in Bringing Functional Precision Medicine Assays to Clinical Practice
Dr. Evan F. Cromwell
Protein Fluidics
Cancer Modeling, High-Content Imaging & Functional 3D Cell-Based Assays using novel Microfluidics Technology
Sheela Damle, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Tumor slice cultures as a window into the human TME
Ken Dixon
SpeciCare
Olivier Elemento
Weill Cornell Medicine
From reading genomes to patient avatars - the future of personalized medicine
Albert Folch, BSc, PhD
University of Washington
High-Throughput, High-Fidelity Cancer Drug Testing Using Intact Tumor Biopsies
Carla Grandori, MD, PhD
SEngine Precision Medicine
Real World Data on the Impact of Functional testing on Patient's Outcome for Solid Tumors: Wins and Challenges
Caroline Heckman, PhD
Institute for Molecular Medicine
Predicting drug combination efficacy in hematological malignancies by multi-parametric functional analysis
Sarah J. Hill, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Studying the anti-tumor immune response in novel patient-derived high grade serous ovarian cancer organoid co-cultures
Peter J Houghton, PhD
UT Health, San Antonio
Single Mouse Testing (SMT) Approaches to Encompass Clinical Heterogeneity of Pediatric Cancers
Don Ingber, MD, PhD
Harvard University
Human Organ Chips for Disease Modeling, Drug Development, and Personalized Medicine
Russell Jenkens, MD, PhD
Mass General Research Institute
Evaluating Novel Cancer Therapeutic Strategies Using Living Tumor Biopsies
Dr. Lars Henrik Jensen
University Hospital Vejle, Denmark
Tumoroid-guidance in prospective interventional clinical trial in metastatic colorectal cancer (TICC)
Anand D. Jeyasekharan
National University Hospital of Singapore
Challenges and opportunities with clinical application of ex-vivo combination drug testing; lessons from lymphoma
Oliver Jonas, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Implantable microdevices to measure multiple drug responses and guide treatment decisions in cancer patients
Olli Kallioniemi
Karolinska Institute
Functional precision cancer medicine: molecular insights and clinical implementation in AML and beyond
Rich Klinghoffer, PhD
Presage
Intratumoral microdosing: Bridging the translational gap in cancer drug development and future potential as a functional diagnostic
Mika Kontro, MD, PhD
University of Helsinki
Predictive value of ex vivo sensitivity testing of venetoclax in AML
Razelle Kurzrock, MD
UC San Diego
Precision Medicine: Implementing N-of-1 combination therapies in the clinic
Heikki Kuusanmaki, PhD
University of Helsinki
Predictive value of ex vivo sensitivity testing of venetoclax in AML
Ines Lohse, PhD
University of Miami
Drug Sensitivity Testing for the Treatment Stratification of Cancer Patients
Long-Sheng Lu, PhD
Taipei Medical Universtiy Hospital
Genophenotyping Challenging Tumors with Liquid Biopsy
Scott Manalis, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Single-cell mass as a clinical tool for guiding treatment decisions
Astrid Margossian, MD, PhD
SEngine Precision Medicine
Predictive Clinical Value of a CLIA-Approved Organoid Based Drug Sensitivity Test
Gordon Mills, MD, PhD
Oregon Health & Science University
Novel approaches to identifying and targeting adaptive responses in cancer: PARP inhibitors as an example.
Constantine Mitsiades
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Systematic characterization of lineage-related dependencies with preferential roles in individual types of malignancies
Alejandro R. Molinelli, PhD
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Regulatory Roadblocks: Overcoming Challenges in Bringing Functional Precision Medicine Assays to Clinical Practice
Joan Montero, PhD
University of Barcelona
Targeting the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis: an opportunity for functional precision medicine
Ina Oehme, PhD
Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center
Drug sensitivity profiling of 3D tumor tissue cultures in the precision oncology programs MASTER & INFORM
Päivi Östling, PhD
SciLifeLab, Karolinska Institutet
New host targets for fighting SARS-Cov2 infection
Venu G. Pillarisetty, MD
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Tumor slice cultures as a window into the human TME
Michael Pishvaian
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Precision Medicine in Pancreatic Cancer
Vinayak Prasad, MD, MPH
University of California, San Francisco
The Limits of Genome Oncology
Christian Regnebrecht
ASC Oncology GmbH
Functional precision oncology beyond genomics: the future is already here but not evenly distributed
Clifford Reid
Travera, Inc.
A New Technology for Rapid Cancer Therapy Guidance
Analiz Rodriguez MD, PhD, FAANS
University of Arkansas Medical Sciences
Molecular Biobanking for Brain Tumor Precision Medicine
Julio Saez-Rodriquez, PhD
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Patient‐specific network models from screenings on biopsies for personalized medicine
Dr Ameen Salahudeen
Tempus Lab, Inc.
A pan-cancer organoid platform for precision medicine
Andrew Satterlee, PhD
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Overcoming systemic barriers to functional precision medicine using a versatile ex vivo model of patient brain tumors
Rosalie Sears, PhD
Oregon Health & Science University
Patient derived modeling to inform personalized therapeutics in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Jason Sicklick, MD, FACS
UC Sandiego Health
Moving from Drug-Centric to Patient-Centric Precision Oncology: Lessons Learned from the I-PREDICT Study
Sandy Simon
The Rockefeller University
Functional Precision Medicine for Effective Therapeutics for Cancer: Lessons from Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Sigrid Skanland
Oslo University Hospital
Functional precision medicine in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Berend Snijder, PhD
ETH Zürich
Pharmacoscopy: real-time drug response testing for blood cancers and solid tumors.
Philipp Staber, MD PhD
Medical University of Vienna
Functional Precision Medicine for Patients with Hematologic Malignancies
Louis M. Staudt, MD, PhD
National Institues of Health
The Use of Targeted Agents to Cure Lymphoma: Precision Medicine to Achieve Effective Medicine for All
Gujral, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Harnessing the Power of Polypharmacology to Uncover New Biology
Dr. Ole Thastrup
2cureX, Denmark
Tumoroid-guidance in prospective interventional clinical trial in metastatic colorectal cancer (TICC)
Hervé Tiriac, PhD
UCSD Moores Cancer Center
Pancreatic Cancer Patient-Derived Organoids as a Tool for Personalized Medicine
Gregory Vladimer, PhD, CSO
Allcyte
High content microscopy of primary patient material and AI in translational research and precision medicine
Alana L. Welm, PhD
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Functional precision medicine for metastatic breast cancer
Jun J. Yang, PhD
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Pharmacotype of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, from Discovery to Implementation
Jun J. Yang, PhD
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Regulatory Roadblocks: Overcoming Challenges in Bringing Functional Precision Medicine Assays to Clinical Practice
Bruce Yeager
KIYATEC Inc
Positive, Negative or Neutral – What is current medical coverage policy landscape for Functional Precision Medicine (FPM) assays
Kyuson Yun, PhD
Houston Methodist
E-slice: TME-intact 3D culture platform for functional precision medicine and immunotherapy evaluation
Thorsten Zenz, MD
University of Zurich
Drug-perturbation-based stratification of blood cancer
Claudia R. Ball, PhD
National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden and German Cancer Research Center
Drug sensitivity profiling of 3D tumor tissue cultures in the precision oncology programs MASTER & INFORM
Patricia Pérez-Galán, PhD
IDIBAPS - Hospital Clínic de Barcelona
Patient-derived non-Hodgkin lymphoma tumoroids: A tool to recapitulate tumor microenvironment, study disease biology and perform drug screening
