PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS I MARCH 25, 2025
8:00 am Morning Refreshments & Check-In
09:00am Workshop A
Harnessing Biophysical Techniques Across Modalities from Small Molecules, to Peptides, to Biologics
Synopsis
This workshop will delve into the exciting realm of novel therapeutic modalities and the cuttingedge biophysical techniques that are driving their development. The workshop will bring together leading experts from academia and industry to discuss the latest advancements in the field, highlighting the crucial role of biophysics in understanding the mechanisms of action, optimizing formulations, and accelerating the translation of these innovative therapies into clinical practice. With a diverse range of modalities driving innovation in drug discovery, the biophysical approaches to characterizing each will be explored:
- Investigating emerging modalities and their therapeutic potential to investigate the most promising trends, with a focus on targeted protein degradation, PROTACs, covalent inhibitors, peptides and antibodies
- Utilising biophysical techniques for characterizing novel modalities to assess the properties required for drug development for each type of modality, including Mass Spectrometry (MS) and X-ray crystallography for small molecules to Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for larger molecules like nanoparticles
- Analyzing the biophysical approaches taken in the discovery of recent drugs through case study exploration
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00pm Workshop B
Delving into the Emerging Technological Advancements & Techniques For Characterizing Drugs for a More Holistic Approach to Discovery
Synopsis
This workshop will explore the cutting-edge techniques and methodologies employed in high-throughput screening (HTS), fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD), computational approaches, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and single-molecule techniques highlighting their transformative impact on biophysics-driven drug discovery. The workshop will bring together leading experts from academia and industry to discuss the latest advancements in these fields, showcasing their applications in identifying novel drug targets, characterizing drugtarget interactions, and optimizing lead compounds.
- HTS Technologies and Strategies: Understand high-throughput screening (HTS) technologies, miniaturization, automation, data analysis, and interpretation for drug discovery
- Fragment-Based Drug Discovery: Explore fragment-based drug discovery principles, hit-tolead approaches, computational methods, and their applications in drug development
- Biophysical Techniques for HTS and FBDD: Integrate biophysical techniques for HTS and fragment-based drug discovery, including label-free and fluorescence-based assays, thermodynamic and kinetic analysis
- Molecular Dynamics with NMR: Utilize solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy for studying protein dynamics, relaxation, HDX measurements, and NMR-based drug screening
- Single-Molecule Fluorescence Spectroscopy: Explore the potential of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, including FRET and single-molecule tracking, for studying cellular dynamics, drug binding sites, allosteric effects, drug uptake, distribution, and protein-protein interactions
- Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy: Investigate the use of single-molecule force spectroscopy, particularly AFM and Optical Tweezers, for identifying drug binding sites, characterizing drug-target interactions, and studying kinetics and thermodynamics of drug binding