INTERACTIVE BREAKOUT DISCUSSIONS
These group discussions are a chance for everyone to see and hear each other if they choose to turn on their cameras and microphones. Each group will have a moderator to ensure focused conversations around key issues within the conference's scope. These
will be 'now or never' sessions; they will not be recorded or available On Demand.
Women in Chemistry Breakout Discussion
CHI supports and promotes diversity in the life sciences. The inequities that prevent women from fully participating in this field may also deter men from participating more fully in life outside
of their careers. We dedicate this session for all drug discovery community members to engage in conversation with one another around personal and professional journeys and challenges related to gender.
The Gender Divide in Life Science Careers
Moderator: Mary Harner, PhD, Senior Manager, Oncology CI, Bristol Myers Squibb Co.
Ubiquitin-Induced Targeted Protein Degradation
Topic: Designing and Optimizing Chemistry and Drug-Like Properties of Protein Degraders
Moderators: Christopher Nasveschuk, PhD, Vice President, Chemistry, C4 Therapeutics, Inc.
Upendra Dahal, PhD, Principal Scientist, Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism, Amgen, Inc.
- Design of protein degraders, linkers
- Kinetics of binding and degradation
- Issues surrounding PK/PD, biotransformation and bioavailability
Fragment-Based Drug Discovery
Topic: New Horizons in FBDD
Moderator: Daniel A. Erlanson, PhD, Vice President, Chemistry, Frontier Medicines Corp.
- Covalent fragments
- FBDD without structural information
- Integrating FBDD with HTS, DEL, and other approaches
RNA-Targeting Small Molecule Drugs
Topic: Opportunities and Challenges Using Small Molecules to Target RNA
Moderators: Amanda E. Hargrove, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Duke University
Amanda Garner, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan
Thomas Hermann, PhD, Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California San Diego
- Emerging techniques to study RNA structure and function
- Designing and evaluating small molecules that bind RNA
- Assays to determine if RNA binding/modulation leads to biological consequences
Macrocyclics & Constrained Peptides
Topic: Macrocycle Innovations
Moderator: Cameron Pye, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder, Unnatural Products
- New hit-finding technologies
- Properties of a good macrocycle screening hit
- Strategies for early prioritization
Protein-Protein Interactions
Topic: Lead Generation Against PPI Targets
Moderator: Ben J Davis, PhD, Research Fellow, Biology, Vernalis R&D Ltd
- Enabling tools for targeting PPI: hit ID, validation & elaboration
- Targeted protein degradation and related MOAs
- Stabilizing protein interfaces
- Are there any “undruggable” interactions anymore?
Artificial Intelligence for Early Drug Discovery
Topic: Applications of AI-Driven Drug Discovery
Moderators: Arvind Rao, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan
Anthony Bradley, PhD, Director of Design Development, Exscientia Ltd.
Ewa Lis, PhD, Founder & CTO, Koliber Biosciences
- Types of AI models predicting individual target activities of small molecules
- Machine-learning and structure-based approaches for ADME-Tox predictions
- Current trends for the application of AI towards pre-clinical drug discovery
- Understanding the caveats of AI-driven predictions
Small Molecules for Immunology, Oncology & COVID
Topic: New Small Molecule IO Targets
Moderator: Murali Ramachandra, PhD, CEO, Aurigene Discovery Technologies, Ltd.
- Small Molecule IO Progress -- single agents and combos
- TPD strategies for IO
- New anti-COVID agents: will it be too late?
Encoded Libraries for Small Molecule Discovery
Topic: DNA-Encoded Library Technologies
Moderator: Svetlana Belyanskaya, PhD, Vice President, Biology, Anagenex
- Speeding-up Hit Validation
- Screening Strategies
- Addressing Bottlenecks