Digital PCR specialist course 2022

13-15 September 2022

The fifth edition of the specialist course on digital PCR (dPCR) will teach you the basics of dPCR, including assay design, dPCR optimization, data analysis and good experimental practice. We will start with a basic intruduction of dPCR and explain possible applications using case studies in the field of cancer research and virology.

The course will be taught by experts in the field of dPCR from Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. Hands on training on dPCR devices will be provided by Bio-Rad (QX200), Stilla Technologies (Naica system) and Qiagen (QIAcuity).

The course is open for academic and non academic researchers, see registration for pricing.

Course program


Date and location

The course will take place on 13, 14 and 15 September 2022 at the faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Ghent University.

Day 1

08:30-10:00 Introduction to digital PCR
Ward De Spiegelaere
10:00-10:20 Coffee break
10:20-12:20
dPCR applications, genotyping, mutation detection HIV, oncologyWard De Spiegelaere, Wim Trypsteen & Jo Vandesompele
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:50-14:20 Assay design including hands on training
Jo Vandesompele
14:00-14:45 dPCR applications in oncology
Patrick Pauwels
14:45-15:00 Coffee break
15:00-16:30 Hands on introduction to dPCR platforms
Stilla Technologies, Bio-Rad, Qiagen, Roche, ThermoFisher

Day 2

08:30-10:00 Software solutions for dPCR analysis
Stilla Technologies, Bio-Rad, Qiagen, Roche, ThermoFisher
10:00-10:20 Coffee break
10:20-12:20 dPCR assay optimalization
Antoon Lievens
12:20-13:00 Lunch
13:00-15:00 Partition calling methods
Olivier Thas
15:00-14:20 Coffee break
15:20-16:30 Power analysis and quality control of dPCR assays and platforms
Olivier Thas

Day 3

08:30-10:00 Interpreting dPCR data
Wim Trypsteen & Ward De Spiegelaere
10:00-10:20 Coffee break
10:20-12:20 Exercises on partition categorization methods
Wim Trypsteen
12:20-13:00 Lunch
13:00-14:30 Minimal reporting guidelines, ISO quality standards for dPCR experiments
Ward De Spiegelaere
14:30-15:00 Coffee break
14:40-17:00 RNA quantification, normalization and single cell digital PCR
Ward De Spiegelaere

Our teachers

Ward De Spiegelaere
Ghent University
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine


Ward De Spiegelaere

Ward heads the dPCR facility at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He works on higher order multiplexing and partition clustering for various dPCR applications, including pathogen detection, mutation analysis and quality control of RNA and DNA by dPCR.


Ward.DeSpiegelaere@UGent.be

Wim Trypsteen
Ghent University
Faculty of Medicine and Health Science


Wim Trypsteen

Research on treshold setting, applications of dPCR in absolute HIV DNA and RNA quantification and analysis of HIV intactness


Wim.Trypsteen@UGent.be

Olivier Thas
Steering committee
Faculty of Science


Olivier Thas

Olivier's research focusses on the development and application of flexible statistical methods for the analysis of biomolecular quantitation experiments.


Olivier.Thas@UGent.be

Jo Vandesompele
Ghent University
Faculty of Medicine and Health Science


Jo Vandesompele

Jo has a long-standing track record in method development for PCR based quantification of nucleic acids. The lab focuses on PCR primer design, the study of pre-analytical variables, and data-analysis. Applications are being developed in the context of oncology and liquid biopsies.


Jo.Vandesompele@UGent.be

Yao Chen
Ghent University
Faculty of Science


Yao Chen

Yao's research focuses on the statistical analysis of higher-order multiplexing dPCR data. She also develops visualization tools to make dPCR data exploratorion easier.


Yao.Chen@UGent.be

David Gleerup
Ghent University
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine


David Gleerup

David’s work is focused on designing and validating new higher order multiplex assays for digital PCR within the fields of both veterinary and human medicine.


DavidGrandjean.Gleerup@UGent.be

Antoon Lievens
Ghent University
Visiting Scientist


Antoon Lievens

Molecular biologist & statistician with a career in method qPCR & dPCR development in the fields of GMO, Food Fraud, and plant breeding. Focus on research and development of (d)dPCR analysis tools.


antoon.lievens.basf@gmail.com

Patrick Pauwels
University of Antwerp
Faculty of Medicine and Health Science


Patrick Pauwels

Patrick is head of the laboratory of molecular pathology and co-director of the Center of Oncology Research (CORE) of the Antwerp University. His principal interest is biomarker research in oncology, with a particular focus on liquid biopsy in cancer.

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Registration

-> Ghent University doctoral school participants:
Free registration, but as places are limited you have to apply by mailing an application form to ward.despiegelaere@ugent.

-> Academic researchers(UGent Postdocs, ZAP, ATP or non-UGent PhD students): 100€, the course is fully booked, but you can mail Ward De Spiegelaere to add your name to the waiting list

-> Non-academic researchers: 450€, the course is fully booked, but you can mail Ward De Spiegelaere to add your name to the waiting list

How to get there

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Salisburylaan 133
Auditorium D, entrance 19
find on google maps

Contact us?

ward.despiegelaere@ugent.be