Academic Drug Discovery Agenda

Registration

Innovating In Drug Discovery And Development For Neglected Diseases
Robert Don, Discovery & Preclinical Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases, Switzerland

Preclinical Optimization Of Type 2 Serine Protease Inhibitors For The Treatment Of Influenza - An Academic Drug Discovery Example
Eric Marsault, Professor, University of Sherbrooke, Canada

Type II transmembrane Serine Proteases are emerging targets for host-based treatment of influenza. Serine trap inhibitors provide efficacious inhibition in vitro and in vivo Chemotype, mechanism of action and target confirm this is a promising host-based approach for the treatment of influenza.

Coffee & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Industry Academic Relationships in a New Era of Drug Discovery
Malcolm Skingle, Director, Academic Liaison, GlaxoSmithKline, United States of America

Pharma and biotech are increasingly looking to universities for new ideas and technology to underpin their internal research efforts. This increase in activity had led to competition between the companies for academic inputs and a plethora of innovative models have been developed.

New Chemical Probes to Explore Novel Approaches to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease and Cancer
Paul Fish, Head of Chemistry, Alzheimers Research UK, UCL Drug Discovery Institute, United Kingdom

This presentation will introduce the newly created Alzheimer’s Research UK Drug Discovery Institutes and then illustrate how new inhibitors of the bromodomain of the BRPF family are being used to explore the fundamental biology and possible disease association of these proteins.

Using Fragments To Activate, Inhibit And Probe
Roderick Hubbard, Professor/Senior Fellow, University of York, United Kingdom

I will demonstrate how fragment based discovery methods can identify chemical tools to activate enzyme activity, to identify sites for inhibiting biological processes and to probe the surface of proteins.

Lightning Talks

Lunch & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

Introducing the Medicines Discovery Catapult
Chris Molloy, CEO, Medicines Discovery Catapult

CEO Chris Molloy explains how the Medicines Discovery Catapult will support fast-to-patient drug discovery in the UK and invites discussion with the audience in this interactive session.

Dual Aromatase-Steroid Sulfatase Inhibitors for Translational Oncology
Barry Potter, Professor, University Of Oxford, United Kingdom

We have pioneered steroid sulfatase inhibition in the endocrine therapy of breast cancer. Clinical trials of Irosustat validate this approach and new data show efficacy in early breast cancer and that aromatase inhibitor combination adds clinical benefit. Single molecule dual aromatase-sulfatase inhibitors should facilitate multi-targeted intervention and address acquired resistance mechanisms.

Coffee & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Open for Collaboration – An Academic Platform for Drug Discovery & Development at SciLifeLab
Per Arvidsson, Director, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

SciLifeLab DDD is a newly established national Swedish infrastructure for academic drug discovery. I will describe the build-up, operation, and international collaboration of the platform, with the ambition to share learnings and best practice with academic drug discovery centers globally.

Inhibition Of An E2/E3 Protein-Protein Interaction As A Novel Strategy To Counteract Autoimmune Diseases
Kamyar Hadian, Group Leader, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany

This presentation will give insights into the discovery of a novel E2/E3 protein-protein interaction small molecule inhibitor that we were able to validate and characterize in a variety of biochemical as well as cell-based assays including primary cell models. More importantly, we can show that this first-in-class inhibitor is highly effective in a pre-clinical autoimmune mouse model for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

How Best to Discover Novel Bioactive Small Molecules?
Adam Nelson, Professor, Leeds University, United Kingdom

Synthetic approaches can drive the discovery of novel bioactive small molecules within controlled property space. The talk will culminate with a description of activity-directed synthesis in which bioactive small molecules emerge in parallel with an associated synthetic route.

Drinks Reception in Exhibition Hall

Conference Dinner in Hinxton Hall

End of Day 1

The Impact Of Chemical Probes On Academic Drug Discovery
Susanne Muller Knapp, Group Head Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), University Of Oxford, United Kingdom

Chemical probes, well-characterized, potent, selective and cell-active tool compounds, are essential tools in biology and target validation. Several chemical probe programs of the SGC will be presented.

Ten years of SPARKing Translational Research in Academia (SPARKmed.stanford.edu)
Nancy Federspiel, Associate Director Of The Spark Translational Research Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States of America

SPARK addresses the challenge of translational research in academia by bringing into the university dozens of industry expert volunteers as advisors. In its 10th year, and 60% success rate, the program is adopted in a dozen universities around the world.

Coffee & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Biogen’s Approach to Partnerships and Collaborations in Neurological Disorders and Beyond
Sonal Das, Senior Manager, Corporate Development and Strategy, Biogen, United States of America

Biogen understands that in order to move forward, it is key to identify not only the best science, but the best partners to accelerate drug discovery efforts. This talk will outline our company’s approach to partnering and provide examples of recent academic collaborations.

Beyond Checkpoint Inhibitors, New Opportunities In Immuno-Oncology
Stuart Farrow, Director of Biology, Cancer Research Technology, United Kingdom

This presentation will explore opportunities for the full potential of the immune system to be exploited to treat cancer, building on the recent transformational success with the current generation of T-cell targeted checkpoint antibodies, and suggest that immune tolerance will become a unifying concept with implications across a large range of disease areas.

Noncytotoxic Destruction of dsDNA Viral Episomes: Anti-HPV Agents for Prevention of Cervical Cancer, also Active Against Polyomaviruses, which Modulate the DNA Damage Response
James K Bashkin, Professor, University of Missouri–St. Louis, United States of America

Pyrrole-imidazole polyamides were developed by Dervan and others for their ability to bind selectively to DNA sequences. We discovered long hairpin polyamides with broad-spectrum antiviral activity against cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). Biophysics and chemistry of active compounds will be described.

Lightning Talks

Lunch & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

Technology Spotlight:
Advancing Drug Discovery with AdisInsight
Gemma Ryder, Product Marketing Manager, Adis Business Intelligence , Springer Nature

DDD107498: A Novel Preclinical Candidate For Malaria
Kevin Read, Head-DMPK, University of Dundee, United Kingdom

In this presentation, I will focus on the development of a potential new compound for the treatment of malaria that works by a novel mechanism of action.

3D Chemical Scaffold Mimics from Biologically Active Natural Products
Mark Moloney, Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

This lecture will illustrate the potential of natural products to guide drug discovery, and the role of synthetic organic chemistry in the construction of libraries which mimic these natural products using 3D scaffolds.

Coffee & Networking in Exhibition Hall

Structure Based Drug Design of Tryptophan Hydroxylase (TPH) Inhibitors Exploiting the Binding Pocket of the Co-Substrate Pterin
Edgar Specker, Head of Compound Management, Medicinal Chemistry Group, Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology, Germany

Here we present our joint collaborative research effort screening the FMP compound library in a high throughput campaign which led to the identification of initial hits.

The Discovery and Development of E209 - a Tetraoxane Based Rapidly Acting Antimalarial
Gemma Nixon, Lecturer, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

E209 is a superior next generation antimalarial endoperoxide with combined pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic features that overcome the liabilities of artemisinin derivatives. Here we present the drug discovery programme leading to the development of E209.

Close of Conference