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News — Boston, MA (February 13, 2024) – Science and technology awards were announced during the SLAS2024 International Conference and Exhibition, the annual flagship event of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, which attracted a record-setting 7500 attendees and 400 exhibitors. Each year SLAS recognizes several exceptional presenters and exhibitors who represent the best of the Society’s programs and mission. The complete list of the 2024 award descriptions and winners follow:

SLAS Innovation Award

The most prestigious award of the conference, the SLAS Innovation Award, was presented to Jongwon Lim, Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his presentation “Rapid and Ultra-Sensitive Identification of Pathogenic DNA in Blood using a Novel Blood Drying Technique.” The SLAS Innovation Award recognizes one exceptional and innovative podium presentation during the conference. The winning presentation exceeds a benchmark or milestone in screening or the lead discovery process or demonstrates an advanced and integrated use of mature technologies. The award includes a $10,000 prize.

2024 New Product Award Winners

The New Product Award is given to companies showcasing new products that are commercially available within 90 days pre- and post-conference. Products are evaluated by a judging panel that looks at a variety of qualifications before and at the conference. Winning products are granted use of the New Product Award designation for a year, and the award is promoted through SLAS. This year’s winners were:

• BlueCatBio for the Blue^®Plate: Blue®Plate enables fully automated, high-throughput cell washes for flow cytometry with minimal cell loss or damage and highly effective background removal.
• CytoTronics for the Pixel™:  The Pixel system layers cutting-edge technology with live-cell biology and data science to deliver unique insights into cell functions at high throughput. The core of the system is a proprietary microplate embedded with custom-designed semiconductor microchips at the base, providing thousands of measurement and stimulation electrodes in each well.
• Liquimetrix GmbH for LUMINA:  LUMINA is a ground-breaking precision solution for low-volume liquid handling that provides volume verification in microtiter plates and microarrays. 

2024 SLAS Ignite Award

Depixus (Paris, France) was named the 2024 SLAS Ignite Award winner from among the 16 companies participating in Innovation AveNEW, a specially designated area on the exhibition floor highlighting start-ups and emerging companies. Judging is based on the overall marketing plan, market presence and potential, funding prospects, plan for growth and the existence of a balanced company leadership, and a brief presentation made at the conference. The award coincides with the first showing of Depixus’ ground-breaking MAGNA One™ instrument – a powerful new technology based on magnetic force spectroscopy – that reveals biomolecular interactions. MAGNA™ enables researchers to decode disease mechanisms and unlock a faster route to more effective therapies. For their win, Depixus receives a $5,000 cash prize.

SLAS2024 Student Poster Competition

The SLAS2024 Student Poster Award winners were chosen out of more than 400 poster abstract submissions and were judged on various content and design themes. The award recognizes innovative research by students, graduate students, post-doctoral associates and junior faculty (less than four years in their first academic appointment) who are chosen to present a poster during the SLAS International Conference and Exhibition. Each winner receives a $500 prize. This year’s winners are:

Brandon Vogt Ph.D. Student, University of California San Diego
Using a High-Throughput Drug Optimization Platform to Optimize Patient-Specific Drug Treatments for Aortic Valve Stenosis

Kui You, Ph.D. Student, National University of Singapore
Address Infections by Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria with Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Combination Therapies

Marissa E. Davies, Postbaccalaureate Trainee, National Institutes of Health
High-Throughput Characterization of Isozyme-Specific Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (LADH) Inhibitors

Tony B. Travel Awards

Finally, SLAS distributed 42 Tony B. Travel Awards to students, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and junior faculty from 10 countries chosen for their original scientific research. Winning submissions are selected by a panel of judges and evaluated on the relevance of the research to the conference program, statement of value of the conference and overall scientific merit. Each winner has a chance to present their research at the meeting through either a podium or poster presentation and receives roundtrip travel, hotel accommodations and full conference registration.

The SLAS International Conference and Exhibition is an annual event showcasing the world’s leading life sciences and technology products, services and education. This year, more than 7500 life sciences researchers, academicians, laboratory automation technology providers and business leaders from 44 countries attended the annual conference in Boston, MA, USA, for a cutting edge educational program focused on life sciences discovery and technology. The Exhibition featured nearly 400 providers of laboratory automation and related research tools from around the world.

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

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