Melbourne 2024

When: Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th Feb 2024

The 25th annual Population Approach Group in Australia and New Zealand (PAGANZ) meeting was held in Melbourne, Australia from Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th February.


Registrations and abstract submission has now closed.

PAGANZ student members may be eligible to apply for financial support to attend this meeting. See prizes-and-scholarships for more detail.

Please note that Taylor Swift will be performing in Melbourne from Friday 16th February – we suggest you arrange your accommodation and flights early to avoid missing out.

Population analysis workshops (PAWs):

The workshops will consist of lectures and hands-on exercises at a computer. During the hands-on exercises, tutors will be available for consultation and assistance.

The Beginners workshop for NONMEM and the Intermediate workshop will be conducted as parallel sessions. The Beginners workshop will introduce the theory and practice of population modelling with NONMEM. Attendance at the Intermediate workshop requires experience with the conduct of at least one population approach analysis.

The 2024 Intermediate Workshop will involve 1 full day on population modelling using Pumas (coordinated by Mohamed Tarek, Pumas-AI). This will be followed by a ½ day on PyDarwin/NONMEM modelling (coordinated by Mark Sale, Chandramouli Radhakrishnan and Keith Nieforth, Certara). PyDarwin is a machine learning-based automated pharmacometrics model development tool available as an open-source python package.

Please note: We will be running both of the PAWS as BYO device. You will require your own working installation of NONMEM and R. Meeting attendees will be able to download a NONMEM installation and a temporary license associated with the meeting closer to the time. We recommend you use R Studio with your R installation, which is available through most Universities and is discounted for researchers. More information on this to follow.

Who should attend?

The PAGANZ meeting is the Australasian forum for scientists with a research and professional interest in the use of the population approach in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. A strong focus of this meeting is the application of population modelling and simulation techniques in the experimental, clinical and regulatory settings of drug development.

This meeting is designed for scientists and clinicians working in basic or clinical pharmacology research, pharmaceutical industry, regulatory bodies and postgraduate students. The meeting combines a hands on workshop given by leaders in the field and a scientific meeting giving researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their own work. This is an informal meeting and in the past has been very productive in helping and guiding researchers in this important area of pharmacology and drug development.

ISoP Keynote Speaker

Professor Joga Gobburu, PhD, MBA

Dr. Gobburu is Professor and Director of the Center for Translational Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy since 2011, and CEO of Pumas-AI since 2019. He is a world-renowned scientific leader in the area of quantitative disease models and their applications to decisions. He is best known for transforming the field of pharmacometrics into a decision-supporting science. His experience as a senior biomedical research scientist and Director of Pharmacometrics at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 1998-2011) gives him unique insight into the technical, regulatory, and decision-making aspects in all phases of drug development. He obtained his BPharm and MSc in chemistry from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from North Dakota State University, and his MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Location:

Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Please note, this meeting will be held at the Parkville campus, Monash University, not the Clayton Campus (which is 25 km away).

Parkville Campus is located roughly 20 min from the Melbourne CBD by #19 tram which runs frequently between approximately 5:30 am and midnight. More information on tram routes is available here.


Accommodation:

Suggested accommodation for the conference includes:

The Parkmore Hotel (formerly Carlton Hotel) (2 min walk)

Naughtons Hotel (9 min on #19 tram)

Jasper Hotel (11 min on #19 tram)

Mercure – Therry Street (11 minutes on #19 tram)

Ibis – Therry Street (12 minutes on #19 tram)

The Park Hotel Melbourne (16 minutes on #19 tram)
There are a multitude of accommodation options in the Melbourne CBD, which is a 20 min tram ride from the conference venue. There are serviced apartment options in Elizabeth Street, which is on the #19 tram route to the Parkville campus from the city, or on Lygon St, which is a short walk (10-20 min) away.

Social Evening

The Social evening will be held at a venue close to the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the Thursday evening (15th February).

Getting there

Melbourne Airport is about 20 km northwest of the Monash University Parkville Campus. The fare from the airport to the city by taxi is about $60-70 (but depends on the time of day and traffic). There are airport buses (Skybus) that will transport you from the airport to Southern Cross Station for about $22. From there you can either catch a tram, train, taxi or walk to your accommodation.

Communications

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Thank you to our sponsors!

Local Organising Committee

A/Prof Cornelia Landersdorfer
Associate Professor
Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics
Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University

Alice Terrill
PhD Student
Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics
Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University

Siobhonne Breen
PhD Student
Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics
Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University