2025 Meeting at CUNY

​​The MetroFlow: NY/NJ Flow Cytometry Users Group invites you to attend our annual meeting on

October 23th, 2025.

We are planning a full day of scientific presentations and are excited to be hosted by

The Graduate Center at CUNY at 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016.

Talks will run from 9am-5pm, with ample time over breaks to meet with our corporate sponsors.

The meeting will conclude with a wine & cheese reception with excellent opportunities for networking.

The venue is located a block from the Empire State Building and is easily accessible via public transportation.

​Agenda

Thursday, October 23rd

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Registration & Breakfast

9:00 AM - 9:10 AM

Introduction

Thomas Miller, Director of Scientific Operations, Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health at Weill Cornell Medicine

9:10 AM - 9:55 AM

"Immune Monitoring for Biomarker Discovery: Establishing and Optimizing a Translational Program"

Kinga Hosszu, PhD, Lab Co-Director, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Department of Pediatrics, Immune Discovery & Modeling Service

9:55 AM - 10:25 AM

"Quantitative flow cytometry to guide calibrated CAR targeting strategies"

Sascha Haubner, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia Initiative in Cell Engineering and Therapy, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

10:25 AM - 11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

"Understanding, Quantifying, Predicting and Mitigating Spread in Unmixed Flow Cytometry Data"

David Novo, PhD, De Novo Research

12:00 PM - 12:30 PM

"FCRC at The Rockefeller University: Over Two Decades of the SRL Journey. What Comes Next?"

Svetlana Mazel, PhD, Director, Flow Cytometry Resource Center, Rockefeller University

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

Lunch

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM

"Small Particle Flow Cytometry - A workflow from instrument optimization to data calibration"

Vera Tang, PhD, Facility Manager & Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa

2:45 PM - 3:15 PM

"Leveraging Flow Cytometry and Imaging Flow Cytometry in Biotherapeutic Drug Development"

Polina Goihberg, PhD, Senior Principal Scientist, Discipline Lead, Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, and Metabolism (PDM) Department, Preclinical and Translational Sciences, Pfizer Research and Development

3:15 PM - 3:50 PM

Break

3:50 PM - 4:20 PM

"Can We Do Something About Major Stumbling Blocks Clinical Flow Cytometry Assays Supporting Global Clinical Trials: Sample Stability and Human Error in Assay Setup?"

Nathan Hedrick, PhD, Senior Scientific Director of Clinical Flow Cytometry, BMS

4:20 PM - 4:50 PM

"High-throughput Sample Testing Standarization in Clinical Trials Using Spectral Flow Cytometry"

Veronica Nash, PhD, Director, Flow Cytometry Cellular Biomarkers, GSK

4:50 PM - 5:00 PM

Closing Remarks

Thomas Miller, Director of Scientific Operations, Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health at Weill Cornell Medicine

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Wine & Cheese

Abstracts

Presenter Name: Kinga Hosszu

Title: Immune Monitoring for Biomarker Discovery: Establishing and Optimizing a Translational Program

Abstract: This talk presents the implementation of a comprehensive immune monitoring program within the Bone Marrow Transplantation Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, aimed at identifying biomarkers that predict patient outcomes. Key elements of the program, including infrastructure, assay development, and data management, will be discussed. Particular emphasis will be placed on high-dimensional spectral flow cytometry, highlighting the design and optimization of antibody panels and the strategies employed to overcome technical challenges in data acquisition and analysis. The presentation will also explore how immune monitoring data are integrated with clinical outcomes to uncover predictive biomarkers, translating immune profiling into actionable clinical insights. Through these examples, the talk provides practical guidance and strategic considerations for implementing and optimizing immune monitoring programs, offering researchers a framework to link cellular and molecular immune features with patient outcomes.

Presenter Name: Sascha Haubner

Title: Quantitative flow cytometry to guide calibrated CAR targeting strategies

Abstract: Surface target antigen expression is a major determinant of clinical efficacy and safety of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies. CAR T therapeutic failures frequently occur due to loss of antigen expression in target cells or due to on-target toxicity in normal tissues expressing CAR target antigens. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an exemplar indication where disease eradication via single antigen targeting appears challenging due to its heterogeneity and similarity to normal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).

We present here the use of quantitative flow cytometry methods to inform therapeutic windows for calibrated and combinatorial CAR designs to target antigen patterns enriched in AML and absent in vital normal tissues. We developed a target density-adapted CAR that cooperatively engages two antigens with distinct chimeric receptor formats: CAR sensitivity against antigen A (ADGRE2) is conditional on a second, chimeric costimulatory receptor (CCR) targeting antigen B (CLEC12A). This cooperative CAR therapy termed ADCLEC.syn1 pre-clinically eliminated AML including variants with antigen downregulation, without depleting normal HSPCs in humanized mice. ADCLEC.syn1 is currently undergoing clinical evaluation (NCT05748197) and early correlative results of flow cytometrically determined antigen thresholds will be presented. 

We highlight both the value and current technical limitations of fluorescence quantitation for determination of antigen densities to guide pre-clinical CAR T cell development and clinical interpretation of responses to next-generation CAR formats.

Presenter Name: David Novo

Title: Understanding, Quantifying, Predicting and Mitigating Spread in Unmixed Flow Cytometry Data

Abstract: Spectral spillover and compensation related artificial variance increases (aka “spead”) in flow cytometry datasets represent persistent analytical challenges that have been inadequately addressed despite decades of discussion. Widespread misconceptions regarding these phenomena continue to impair data quality and interpretation across the field. This presentation will establish a rigorous mathematical framework for spectral unmixing grounded in established statistical theory, rather than relying on field-specific terminology that often obscures underlying principles.

We will examine appropriate methodologies for quantifying and predicting compensation-induced variance, highlighting the limitations of commonly employed ad hoc metrics that lack statistical rigor. The discussion will critically evaluate current practices within the cytometry community and demonstrate how established statistical approaches can provide more robust solutions.

Additionally, we will explore emerging unmixing strategies that may substantially reduce compensation-induced variance, offering potential improvements to current analytical workflows. These approaches will be presented within the broader context of signal processing and statistical inference, providing attendees with both theoretical foundations and practical implementation considerations.

Presenter Name: Vera Tang

Title: Small Particle Flow Cytometry - A workflow from instrument optimization to data calibration 

Abstract: What are small particles? How do we know that is what is being detected? What beads should we use and should we use beads?? This talk will address the challenges and considerations for single-particle detection of small particles by flow cytometry. We will walk through a published workflow that goes from instrument optimization, sample acquisition, to data calibration and also provide some suggestions as to how this service can be supported in a shared resource lab (SRL) setting. 

Presenter Name: Polina Goihberg

Title: Leveraging Flow Cytometry and Imaging Flow Cytometry in Biotherapeutic Drug Development

Abstract: Flow cytometry, imaging flow cytometry, and mass cytometry are powerful bioanalytical platforms widely implemented in drug discovery and development. This presentation will discuss case studies illustrating pre-clinical applications of cytometry techniques for advancing biotherapeutic modalities. First, methodologies for characterizing membrane target distribution and abundance, alongside considerations involved in building multiplex quantitative assays to measure membrane protein expression, using conventional flow cytometry and mass cytometry, will be described. Next, the application of a multiparameter phospho-flow approach for establishing pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) relationships and evaluating the immunomodulatory effects of rapamycin (an mTOR kinase inhibitor) in the immune response to AAV capsids, will be shown. Finally, imaging flow cytometry practices for determining the rate of drug/target complex internalization from the cell membrane (membrane half-life), as well as intracellular trafficking and proximal signaling of biotherapeutics, will be presented. Collectively, these examples demonstrate a key role the flow cytometry techniques play in obtaining quantitative insight in support of translational modeling strategies for biotherapeutics.

Presenter Name: Veronica Nash

Title: High-throughput Sample Testing Standardization in Clinical Trials Using Spectral Flow Cytometry

Abstract: Deep immunophenotyping using spectral flow cytometry has become a pivotal tool in drug development, enabling highly detailed immune profiling to support patient stratification in therapeutic responses. As clinical trial designs become increasingly complex, the demand for scalable and standardized workflows has reached a critical level.

To address these challenges, GSK’s Cellular Biomarker Flow Cytometry group has implemented robust workflows and procedures across various studies and locations, which include: the creation and adoption of high-parameter harmonized panels, which enhance the consistency of immune profiling; harmonized spectral flow cytometry instruments that ensures data collected across different sites remain comparable and reliable; the implementation of automation strategies for sample processing and cocktail preparation, that not only increase efficiency but also reduce the potential for manual errors, supporting high-throughput sample testing.

This harmonized and automated workflow enables the efficient processing of thousands of patient-derived samples annually, while ensuring that analyses are reliable and reproducible, with data comparability maintained across all studies involved.

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