Advances in Cell-based Screening in Drug Discovery 2026 – ELRIG
📍 Gothenburg, Sweden | 📅 May 6–7, 2026
pixlbio attends — and presents at — Advances in Cell-based Screening 2026, a flagship ELRIG conference uniting scientists from pharma, biotech, academia, and the supplier ecosystem to address the future of human-first drug discovery.
Hosted at AstraZeneca's R&D site in Gothenburg, the event centres on a defining question for the field: what is needed to engineer the post-animal drug discovery pipeline? Through structured sessions and open dialogue, attendees explore how relevant human biology, scalable cell-based experimentation, and AI-ready data can together reshape early-stage discovery.
About the Event
Advances in Cell-based Screening 2026 is the 6th edition of ELRIG's dedicated cell-based screening conference, free to attend and designed to foster collaboration across the drug discovery continuum.
Keynote speakers include:
- Prof Hazel Screen (Queen Mary University of London) — presenting on predictive in vitro models and the challenges and opportunities in pre-clinical testing
- Dr Dave Powell (Relation Therapeutics) — presenting on transforming target discovery through a DNA Foundation Model and multi-omics approach
Key Highlights
- Four structured sessions covering:
- Relevant biology at scale — innovations in complex in vitro models
- Redesign of assay and data pipelines — handling multi-dimensional cell-based readouts
- AI and ML in cell-based screening — deep learning for image-based phenotyping and multi-omics integration
- AI and prediction — data integrity, FAIR workflows, and operationalising AI-driven approaches
- Free-to-attend, open to pharma, biotech, academia, and suppliers
- Early Career Professional Poster Award
- AstraZeneca site tour
- Exhibition hall and networking across the cell-based discovery continuum
pixlbio at ELRIG Cell-based Screening 2026
pixlbio will be represented by two members of its scientific leadership team at this year's conference.
Prof Ola Spjuth, co-founder of pixlbio and Professor of Pharmaceutical Bioinformatics at Uppsala University, will deliver a presentation at the conference, contributing pixlbio's perspective on AI-driven phenomics and scalable data analysis in drug discovery.
Dr Jordi Carreras-Puigvert, co-founder of pixlbio and researcher at Uppsala University, will attend the conference, engaging with the broader community on the intersection of high-content imaging, computational biology, and human-relevant cell models.
The conference's focus on post-animal testing paradigms, scalable human-first biology, and AI-driven data pipelines closely reflects pixlbio's integrated platform — combining iPSC-derived cell models with automated Cell Painting phenomics and predictive modelling.
Event Details
- 📍 Location: AstraZeneca R&D site, Gothenburg, Sweden
- 🗓 Dates: May 6–7, 2026
Learn More
- 🔗 Official event website: https://elrig.org/portfolio/advances-in-cell-based-screening-in-drug-discovery-2026/
Topics & Themes
Cell-based Screening · In Vitro Models · AI in Drug Discovery · Image-based Phenotyping · High-Content Imaging · Multi-omics · Post-animal Testing · Human-first Biology · Drug Discovery · Machine Learning · iPSC Models · Phenomics
