Dr. Ivar Meyvantsson will give a presentation about Microtechnology in the life sciences Thursday December 5th, 12 o´clock in room 343 at Læknagarður, University of Iceland.  

Titill: Örtækni í lífvísindum / Microtechnology in the life sciences

Útdráttur: Örtækni hefur verið hagnýtt á marga mismunandi vegu í lífvísindum - allt frá raðgreiningartækni til smásjármyndatöku heilla lífvera. Hér verður farið lauslega yfir nokkur dæmi um slík not og síðan skýrt frá þróun örstreymistóls (e. microfluidic device) til svipgerðarskimunar lyfjakandídata. Þetta tól gerir kleift að skoða útlit fruma á meðan frumufar stendur yfir og var notað til greiningar á tveimur þekktum lífvirkum sameindum.

Abstract: Microtechnology has been put to use in the life sciences in a wide variety of ways - ranging from sequencing instrumentation to imaging of model organisms. This presentation will provide a brief overview of these applications and a detailed description of a micro-fluidic device developed for phenotypic screening of drug candidates. This device enabled the analysis of cell shape during chemotaxis and was used to characterize two bioactive compounds.

The presentation will be in English.

Dr. Ívar Meyvantsson obtained a BS and MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iceland in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. His work has focused on utilization of microtechnology to construct in vitro models of disease processes. Since finishing his PhD, Dr. Meyvantsson has worked at several start-up companies in the USA. He is currently head of technology at Invenra, Inc., a small biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer drug discovery.