Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Inaugural
Drug Discovery Technologies
Enabling Disruptive Innovation
June 3-4, 2020
High costs and long timelines in biopharma R&D emphasize the need for novel technologies that enable new therapeutic platforms and a better understanding of disease. CHI’s Inaugural Drug Discovery Technologies conference is designed as a comprehensive
overview of current and emerging technologies and their providers. Each speaker will address a certain technology and its scientific implications in drug discovery and development programs.
Final Agenda
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Wednesday, June 3
7:30 am Registration Open and Morning Coffee
10:15 Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
10:55 Chairperson Remarks
11:00 Applications of Organoid Technology
Sina Mohammadi, PhD, Associate Principal Scientist, Merck & Co., Inc.
11:15 Drug Discovery Using iPSC-Derived Cells and Phenotypic Screening
Hiroaki Nagai, PhD, Principal Scientist, Phenotypic Reverse Translation Labs, Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Japan
Phenotypic screening approach has recently received much attention in the context of drug discovery as in conjunction with human iPSC-based cellular models, it could reveal a previously unknown drug target and human disease mechanism(s). At Takeda, we
have implemented such an approach in drug discovery programs especially at early stages. I will present our efforts to establish cell-based assays that recapitulate mitochondrial dysfunction or visualize synaptic plasticity in rodent cells and human
iPSC-derived cells, develop such assays into high-content and high-throughput ones, and perform phenotypic screenings to find small molecules that modulate the cellular functions. This approach would offer a drug discovery platform that leads to a
truly innovative drug.
11:30 3D Models of Brain Cancer for Precision Medicine Therapeutic Profiling
Virneliz Fernández-Vega, Scientific Associate, Molecular Medicine, Scripps Florida
11:45 Human Heart Slices as a Reliable Platform for Predicting Cardiotoxicity
Tamer Mohamed, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Institute of Molecular Cardiology, University of Louisville
12:00 pm Animal Models of Cancer
Viswanathan Muthusamy, PhD, Research Scientist; Executive Director, Center for Precision Cancer Modeling, Yale School of Medicine
12:20 Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)
12:35 Enjoy Lunch on Your Own
1:45 - 3:15
Lgr5 Stem Cell-Based Organoids in Human Disease
Hans Clevers, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator of Hubrecht Institute and Princess Máxima Center, CSO of HUB Organoids Technology
Organoid technology opens a range of applications in fields such as physiology, study of disease, drug development and personalized medicine. Human organoids represent excellent disease models, be it infectious, hereditary or malignant Eventually,
cultured mini-organs may be used to replace transplant organs from donors. I will describe how we originally created ‘mini-guts’ via 3D culture systems of stem cells of the small intestine and colon, and then expanded the technology
to virtually all human organs.
Systematically Drugging Ras
Stephen Fesik, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Chemistry, Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
K-Ras is a small GTPase that is mutated in pancreatic (90%), colon (50%), and lung (30%) carcinomas. Downregulation of activated Ras reverses the transformed phenotype of cells and results in the dramatic regression of tumors in murine xenograft models.
Thus, K-Ras inhibition represents an attractive therapeutic strategy for many cancers. In this presentation, I will discuss our efforts to directly target Ras at two sites and target SOS, a molecular partner of Ras, with activators and inhibitors.
3:15 Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
4:00 Chairperson Remarks
4:10 Selected Poster Presentations; 10 minutes each
4:40 Voting and Best Poster Award
5:05 Find your Table, Meet your Moderator
5:10 Roundtable Breakout Discussions - View Details
5:45 Reception in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
6:00 Innovation Station
6:45 Close of Day
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Thursday, June 4
8:00 am Registration Open
8:30 - 9:40 pm
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery – Separating Hype from Utility
Patrick Walters, PhD, Senior Vice President, Computation, Relay Therapeutics
Over the last few years, there has been tremendous interest in the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery. Ultimately, the success of any predictive model comes down to three factors: data, representation,
and algorithms. This presentation will provide an overview of these factors and how they are critical to the successful implementation and deployment of AI methods.
9:40 Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
10:25 Chairperson’s Remarks
10:30 Ultra-High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography in Pharmaceutical Analysis: Benefits and Impact
Michael Dong, PhD, Principal Consultant, MWD Consulting
10:45 Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)
11:00 Accelerating Drug Discovery and Development with an Emerging, Customizable Mode of Microfluidics
Anita Rogacs, PhD, Head of Life Sciences Strategy and R&D, HP Labs
11:15 DNA-Encoded Library Technology for Target-based Screening
Svetlana Belyanskaya, PhD, Encoded Library Technologies, R&D Platform Technology & Science, GSK Boston
11:30 Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)
11:45 The State of the Art in Highly Multiplexed Multi in situ OMICs
Richie Kohman, PhD, Senior Research Scientist and Lead, Synthetic Biology Platform, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
12:00 pm Women in Pharma Luncheon Panel Discussion (Sponsorship Opportunity Available)
1:00 Dessert and Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
1:45 End of Drug Discovery Technologies Track
Day 1 | Day 2 | Download Brochure