Short Courses
Monday, April 20
Morning Course | 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
SC1: Trends in Physical Properties of Drugs
Instructors:
Terry Stouch, Ph.D., President, R&D, Science for Solutions, LLC
Robert Fraczkiewicz, Ph.D., Team Leader, Simulations Plus, Inc.
John Comer, Ph.D., CSO, Sirius Analytical Ltd.
- Properties important for enhanced efficacy, delivery, and formulation
- pKa, tautomerism, crystallization, others
- Computational prediction: What works - what doesn’t
- Experimental best practices
Afternoon Courses | 2:30 – 5:30 PM
SC2: GPCR Structure-Based Drug Discovery
Instructors:
Aaron Thompson, Ph.D., Scientist II, Department of Structural Biology, Dart Neuroscience; former Postdoctoral Fellow, Ray Stevens’ Laboratory, The Scripps Research Institute
Matthew Eddy, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Fellow, Ray Stevens Laboratory, University of Southern California
- Review of recent structures and their lessons
- Dealing with conformational states
- Approaches for crystallization of GPCRs
- Analytical methods for crystal-based structure determination
SC3: Ligand-Receptor Molecular Interactions in Drug Design
Instructor: Maricel Torrent, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, AbbVie
- Drug design principles generally applicable to all medicinal chemistry programs
- Interpretation of atomic-level protein X-ray and modeled structures of binding modes
- Understanding the relative amounts of potency gain from different interactions
- Case studies illustrate all of the design strategies
Dinner Courses | 6:00 - 9:00 pm
SC5: Analyzing and Rationalizing Protein-Peptide Interactions for Designing Peptide and Peptidomimetic Therapeutics
Instructor: Rocky Goldsmith, Ph.D., Applications Scientist, Chemical Computing Group
- Computer-aided methods using the MOE platform for protein-peptide analysis, virtual peptide design and screening
- Active site visualization, protein-peptide 3D contact analysis and 2D interaction diagrams
- Calculating molecular surfaces, electrostatic hot-spots and protein properties to help guide peptide optimization
- Modifying peptides in the active site
- Applying ‘Residue Scan’ of non-natural amino acids for peptidomimetic design
SC6: Immunology Basics for Chemists
Instructors:
Seng-Lai “Thomas” Tan, Ph.D., Head, Cellular and Translational Immunology, EMD Serono Research and Development Institute, Inc.
Songqing Na, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Biotechnology & Autoimmunity Res-AME, Eli Lilly and Company
- Review of immune system’s cellular players
- Review of inflammatory process
- Autoimmune & inflammation-related diseases
- Current treatment landscape and promising drug targets
Wednesday, April 22
Dinner Courses | 6:30 – 9:00 PM
SC7: Macrocycles in Drug Discovery: Opportunities, Challenges and Strategies
Instructors:
Mark L. Peterson, Ph.D., COO, Cyclenium Pharma, Inc.
Eric Marsault, Ph.D., Professor, Pharmacology, University of Sherbrooke
- Unique characteristics of macrocycles
- Factors affecting cell permeability and PK/ADME properties
- Synthetic strategies for macrocyclic compounds and libraries & challenges inherent to macrocyclization
- Drug discovery and development examples
- Perspectives on the future for macrocyclic molecules
SC8: Advancing Tools and Technologies for Fragment-Based Design
Instructors: Daniel A. Erlanson, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Carmot Therapeutics, Inc.
Edward R. Zartler, Ph.D., President & CSO, Quantum Tessera Consulting
- Why fragments – pros and cons
- What makes a good fragment
- What to do with a fragment – growing, linking, and more
- Design of fragment libraries
- Importance of using orthogonal/multiple screening method
SC9: Introduction to Targeted Covalent Inhibitors
Instructors: Mark Schnute, Ph.D., Associate Research Fellow, Biotherapeutics Chemistry & Immunoscience Research, Pfizer Global R&D
Christoph Zapf, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, Worldwide Medicinal Chemistry, Pfizer Research Labs
- Overview of covalent drugs, irreversible and reversible inhibitors including recent clinical examples
- Biochemical analysis of covalent inhibitors
- Design considerations for targeted covalent inhibitors
- De-risking covalent inhibitors
- Mechanism of drug resistance
- Panel discussion/Q&A