ALFC 2025

Agenda

Exhibitor Set-Up

Exhibitors must be set up by 4:45 PM.

Welcome Reception

The Exhibitor Networking Reception is open to all ALFC attendees. Come mingle with the exhibitors before ALFC officially opens! Snacks and drinks will be served. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Breakfast

Join us for breakfast at Parterre Gardens, or for a technical “Breakfast and Learn” session in the ballroom, where a boxed breakfast option will be served. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Breakfast Technical Session: So You’re Attending Your First ALFC?

(Boxed Breakfast)

Shubhanga Scott, Senior Account Manager, DCN Dx

New to ALFC? Join Shubhanga for a fast, friendly crash course on how to make the most of your time. From navigating the schedule to meeting the right people and spotting the best sessions, this kickoff is your cheat sheet for a great experience.

Breakfast Technical Session: Breakfast Technical Session

(Boxed Breakfast)

Kristin Cederquist, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, DCN Dx

Welcome to ALFC 2025

Charles Mamrak, CEO, DCN Dx

LFA is Dead! Long Live LFA! What the Next 10 Years Will Really Look Like

Patrick Vaughan, Ph.D., COO, DCN Dx

Forget incremental change. Dr. Pat Vaughan kicks off ALFC 2025 with a sharp look at the forces reshaping lateral flow, from next-gen formats to end-user expectations, to marketing forces. What will it really take to compete? Expect sharp insight, strong opinions, and a blueprint for the decade to come.

Raising Right: Why Diagnostics Startups Fail to Fund and What the Smart Ones Do Instead

Giles Hamilton, Board Member and Investor

Diagnostics funding is difficult right now, but it doesn’t have to be. In this candid keynote, Giles Hamilton breaks down what capital actually flows in 2025 and 2026, why most teams miss the mark, and how the best raises now blend strategic, staged, and story-driven approaches.

Market First, Assay Second: Rethinking How We Build Diagnostic Products

Elizabeth Chabe, CEO, High Touch Group

Most lateral flow teams start with the science, but the science alone won’t get you funded, adopted, or scaled. This session flips the script. Drawing from real market data, investor behavior, and platform-level successes, this talk challenges diagnostics developers to design with market dynamics in mind from day one. What signals actually matter to investors and other funders? What defines commercial readiness in 2025? And how can teams avoid the “great science, no traction” trap that kills so many promising products? This session lays out a framework for commercial viability and is built for diagnostics teams who are serious about real-world success.

Break

Networking break in Exhibit Hall. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

The next generation of LFA -Multiplexing on Unisart StructSure® membranes

Judith Witte, Ph. D., Sartorius Stedim AG

In recent years, multiplex lateral flow assays have become increasingly popular in disease management because they can rapidly analyze multiple parameters or biomarkers simultaneously. Common lateral flow test formats incorporate multiple lines or capture zones on the same test strip, each designed to detect a specific target molecule. There are limitations to these types of in-line tests, including false negatives, cross-reactivities or high antibody consumption. In this white paper, a complete solution including assay development with structured membranes, cassette use, and advanced LFA readout is showcased in a multiplex lateral flow test for the detection of Sepsis biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP) and Procalcitonin (PCT). The miniaturization of lines to spots using the dot-based dispensing technology from SCIENION GmbH in combination with the separation on the unique structured Unisart StructSure® membrane from Sartorius resulted in improved assay performance and reliability compared to the use of conventional lateral flow tests in line.

Lunch (Dining Area)

Buffet lunch with seating in Parterre Gardens. Or join us in the ballroom for a technical Lunch and Learn session, where boxed lunches will be provided. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Lunch Technical Session: Considerations on the Development of Quantitative Lateral Flow Tests

Klaus Hochleitner, Ph.D., Cytiva

Boxed lunches provided. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations and exhibitor/sponsor attendees.

Lunch Technical Session: Conjugate Considerations for High Sensitivity LFAs: Turning Surface Chemistry into Signal

Kristin Cederquist, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, DCN Dx

Executive's Corner: Running Diagnostics Companies in the Age of Complexity

Moderator: James Zanewicz, JD, LLM, RTTP, CEO, Connect and EVP, Medicine and Research, Makyr

Panelists: Charlie Mamrak, CEO, DCN Dx; Thomas Plotts, CFO / COO, Gravidas Diagnostics, Inc.; Tony Serafini-Lamanna, President, Diagnostics, Meridian Bioscience; Tomás Toribio, Managing Director, OPERON, S.A.; Eirini Rapti, Co-founder and CEO, inne.

What does it really take to lead a diagnostics company right now? In this unfiltered conversation, CEOs from across the LFA ecosystem—from platform builders to CDMOs—sit down to talk about the hard calls behind the scenes. Expect a candid discussion on talent, capital, regulatory pressure, and how to stay sane while scaling teams, tech, and trust in a shifting diagnostics market.

Break

Networking break in Exhibit Hall. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Innovation Awards - Intro to the Sharks

Host: Mitzi Rettinger, Chief Revenue Officer, DCN Dx

Panelists: Owen Davis, Managing Partner, Martis Capital; Donna Hochberg, Ph.D., Partner and Managing Director, Head of Dx, PM, and LST & Services, Health Advances; Brian Weinstein, Managing Director, Medical Technology, Williams Blair; Pat Vaughan, Ph.D., COO, DCN Dx

See Innovation Award finalists pitch their diagnostic breakthroughs and get real-time feedback from the judge panel. Winner of the $10,000 cash prize is announced at the Closing Reception and Awards Ceremony on October 15.

Innovation Award - Pitch 1 - Eazebio

Eazebio is addressing one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges: the lack of rapid, affordable, and accessible diagnostics. Its platform integrates CRISPR, biosensors, and artificial intelligence to deliver results in under an hour at a cost of just $10–20 per test. Portable, intuitive, and adaptable across multiple diseases, the strip-based platform enables real-time answers and outbreak containment even in low-resource settings.

Innovation Award - Pitch 2 - Latde Diagnostics

Latde Diagnostics is reimagining how lateral flow assays (LFAs) are used. Its platform labels bacterial cell surfaces to enable rapid phenotypic growth detection, with the first application targeting antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) for urinary tract infections. Delivering results in 90 minutes without instrumentation, Latde’s AST aims to decentralize infectious disease testing, cut costs, and combat gender- and socioeconomic-based health inequities.

Innovation Award - Pitch 3 - Kompass Diagnostics

Kompass Diagnostics is developing an immunoassay platform that brings laboratory-quality, quantitative diagnostics into the home. Its Radical-Mediated Electrical Enzyme Assay (REEA) converts enzyme reactions into electrical signals, read by a handheld device. The platform delivers multiplexed results from a finger-prick blood sample in under ten minutes, with initial targets including estradiol, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone.

Poster and New Product Showcase

Posters and New Product Showcase open for viewing until 5:30 pm. Innovation Awards People’s Choice voting window. Enjoy pre-dinner snacks and an open bar!

Meet in hotel lobby for shuttles to offsite event

Evening Networking Reception

Join us offsite for an ocean-view reception at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Explore the galleries, connect with speakers, sponsors, and fellow attendees, and enjoy drinks and light bites as the sun sets over La Jolla. This event is included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor and student passes, with complimentary transportation provided. Dress code: smart casual; bring a light layer since it can be breezy by the water.

Breakfast

You are invited to a buffet-style breakfast in Parterre Gardens. All meals, sessions, and networking events are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

From Battlefield to Benchside: How Strategic AI is Reshaping Science Ops

Jeremy Elser, Ph.D., Head of Science Operations, Palantir

What can diagnostic developers learn from AI deployments in defense, global health, and supply chain command centers? In this keynote, Dr. Jeremy Elser shares how Palantir’s work in high-stakes environments is informing a new era of science operations—where strategic AI isn’t just about automation, but about enabling faster decisions, better data pipelines, and scalable infrastructure. This session offers a behind-the-scenes look at how diagnostics teams can adopt systems-level thinking to build smarter, more resilient development programs in an age of complexity and speed.

Designing Better Inputs: ML in Recombinant Protein Optimization

Carter Mitchell, Ph.D., CSO, Kemp Proteins

Recombinant proteins are the backbone of any diagnostic assay, but for many lateral flow teams, they remain one of the most unpredictable variables. In this session, Dr. Carter Mitchell shares how Kemp Proteins is applying computational tools‚ from structural modeling to process analytics‚ to improve expression system selection, optimize construct design, and reduce failure rates. Grounded in lessons from both pandemic preparedness and commercial assay programs, this talk offers a clear view of how smarter protein inputs can set the stage for better-performing, AI-optimized diagnostics.

Break

Networking break in Exhibit Hall. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Diagnostics at the AI Crossroads — Build for Models or Be Left Behind

Eirini Rapti, CEO and Founder, inne

Lunch (Dining Area)

You are invited to a buffet lunch with seating in Parterre Gardens. Or, join us for a technical “Lunch and Learn” session in the main ballroom, where boxed lunches will be provided. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Caution! Common Pitfalls on the Path to FDA Market Authorizations

Dan Simpson, RAC, Director of Regulatory Affairs, DCN Dx, and Emily Friedland, VP of Clinical Research Services, DCN Dx

Panel Session: Building Trust in AI for LFA Teams

Moderator: Chris Conner, CEO, Life Science Marketing Radio

Panelists: Carter Mitchell, Ph.D., Kemp Proteins; Pat Vaughan, Ph.D., COO, DCN Dx; Jeremy Elser, Ph.D., Head of Science Operations, Palantir; Eirini Rapti, CEO and Founder, inne

Panel Session: Ask Me Anything—Regulatory Edition

Moderator: Mitzi Rettinger, Chief Revenue Officer, DCN Dx

Panelists: Emily Friedland, VP of Clinical Research, DCN Dx; Eric Lai, Ph.D., Managing Officer, Pharma-Dx, and Scientific Lead and Clinical Trial Principal Investigator, NIH Independence Test Assessment Program (ITAP) Initiative; Kevin Gunning, Regulatory and Quality Systems Executive, Gunning Quality Systems LLC; Kristy Stoudt, Ph.D., RAC-D, Consultant, IVD Consulting LLC

Break

Networking break in Exhibit Hall. All meals, sessions, and networking event are included with all live registrations, including exhibitor/sponsor attendees and students.

Panel Session: Ask Me Anything—Funder Edition

Moderator: Elizabeth Chabe, CEO, High Touch Group

Panelists: Owen Davis, Managing Partner, Martis Capital; Giles Hamilton, Board Member and Investor; Keerthi Boddupally, Senior Program Officer, Global Diagnostic Assay Development, Gates Foundation; Brian Tse, Senior Vice President,

Closing

Charles Mamrak, CEO, DCN Dx

Closing Reception and Awards Ceremony

Celebrate with the ALFC community as we announce the ALFC Award winners, including the $10,000 cash prize awardee. Open to all attendees, the evening features music, toasts, and a lively dance floor. Guests often dress up for this event—cocktail attire is encouraged and dancing is very much welcomed.

Our speakers and panelists join us from the below organizations:

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