Newsletter: Q4 2011

Company News

Hepatocyte Users Workshop Overview
In September, we hosted a Hepatocyte Users Workshop instructed by hepatic product specialists, Celsis In Vitro Technologies, at our laboratory in San Diego. The all-day workshop offered a thorough overview of using in vitro models for studying drug metabolism and transport. Such experiments with new chemical entities have saved the pharmaceutical industry a great amount of time and money by predicting which compounds in the drug development phase will have the greatest chances of making their way to market. In addition to the lectures, there were hands-on laboratory sessions in which participants learned the art of thawing cryopreserved hepatocytes for both studies in suspension and plated assays.

It was a pleasure to spend the day with the people of Celsis. Their expertise will undoubtedly be useful in the constant streamlining of our high-throughput DMPK services, such as metabolite profiling, assessing potential drug inhibition, induction, and reaction phenotyping for CYP450 and UGT enzymes, evaluating hepatotoxicity, and designing customized assays.

Annual Open House Event - Mai Tais at MicroConstants

On September 15th, we hosted our annual open house event where we invite local scientists and biotech professionals to MicroConstants for the opportunity to tour our labs and meet our team while also enjoying food and beverages. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's Mai Tais at MicroConstants event, helping to make it a great evening. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!

View photos from the event.
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Upcoming Events

North American Regional ISSX Meeting, October 16 - 20, 2011
MicroConstants will be in Atlanta next week exhibiting at the ISSX Meeting. If you're attending, be sure to visit Ron, David, and Mike at Booth 605. We'll be serving Southern-style sweet tea in our booth each day starting at 11:30, so join us to take part in one of the oldest Southern traditions. We hope to see you there.

AAPS Annual Meeting & Exposition, October 24 - 27, 2011
For those of you attending the AAPS Conference in Washington, D.C., visit us in Booth 1129 to Toast America with MicroConstants. While in the nation's capital, we'll be serving red, white, and blue beverages in our booth; the bar will be open each day starting at 3 PM. We're also going to be giving away MacBook Air to one lucky attendee, so come by to enter for your chance to win.

In addition to exhibiting, we'll be presenting 3 scientific posters on pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetics. Following the meeting, you'll be able to downloaded PDFs of the posters from our website.

Service Spotlight

Pharmacokinetic and Toxicokinetic Analysis
We specialize in performing pharmacokinetic (PK) and toxicokinetic (TK) data analysis for discovery, preclinical, clinical, and GLP toxicology studies using a validated WinNonlin system for model dependent (compartmental) or model independent (noncompartmental) analyses. Our PK scientists can calculate bioequivalence, drug exposure, and drug recovery data, and also provide assessments of PK/PD relationships.

Additionally, we generate pharmacokinetic simulations using existing PK data to predict the plasma concentration profile of a drug under various input conditions. This information will allow you to preview the potential effect of multiple dosing regimens and infusion schedules, and provide valuable insight into preclinical and clinical study design.

Employee Spotlight

Adrienne Griffith, Manager of Bioanalytical Chemistry
Adrienne joined the MicroConstants team in 2000 as a laboratory intern while completing classes for her bachelor's degree at the University of San Diego. Upon graduation, she accepted a full-time position as our fifth scientist, making her employee #12. More than 11 years later, Adrienne is now a Manager overseeing the Bioanalytical Chemistry and QC departments. She serves as a Principal Investigator for bioanalytical projects and is responsible for corresponding with clients, scheduling sample analysis, and reviewing raw data and reports.

At MicroConstants, we believe in the importance of empowering our employees through training and opportunity. In that respect, Adrienne has set a great example for all our scientists to follow. “She exemplifies the success achievable through hard work and dedication and we are very proud of her accomplishments,” says David Beyerlein, Vice President of Global Operations and Adrienne's supervisor.

Adrienne was born and raised right here in San Diego, California. Raising 2 boys (ages 3 and 5) keeps her and her husband busy; however, they do manage to find time to enjoy the beach and support the local Chargers football and Padres baseball teams.

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