IMBB - WebCalendar

Time:

14:00

Description:

Paramet Summer School - Computational Sciences in Drug Discovery

Conor CAFFREY
Associate Professor
Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases
Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco

Title: "Drug discovery and development for global parasitic diseases at UCSF".

Tuesday, July 1st 2014 @ 14:00 (note that the lecture starts exactly at 14:00)
Seminar Room 1, FORTH's bldg

Information: Inga Siden-Kiamos (inga@imbb.forth.gr), Ioannis Tsamardinos (tsamard@ics.forth.gr)

Abstract:
Founded in 2001, the CDIPD at UCSF supports anti-parasitic drug discovery and development via target validation, hit identification and hit-to-lead optimization. Disease priorities include trypanosomatid and helminth diseases and I’ll provide context for some of the cross-disciplinary discovery and development projects ongoing. I’ll then focus on the paradigm that cysteine proteases are essential and ‘druggable’ parasite proteins for the development of new drugs. I’ll give an example of one cysteine protease inhibitor’s journey through pre-clinical development as potential drug therapy for Chagas’ disease. Finally, I’ll emphasize how this particular program has spawned similar projects for other parasitic diseases.

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Short Bio:

Dr. Conor Caffrey is an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine, UCSF and a Senior Scientist at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD), UCSF. He received his Ph.D. in Mol. & Biochemical Parasitology from the University College Dublin, Ireland.
A 20-year research track record reflects his strong interests in the basic (molecular, cell and chemical) and applied (diagnostics and drug development) biology of the tropical parasitic diseases, in particular, schistosomiasis, hookworm disease, African trypanosomiasis, and lately, cryptosporidiosis. Three broad themes underpin his research; (1) the identification and validation of protein targets (e.g., proteases and kinases) for potential drug development, (2) the pre-clinical and translational development of drugs, including the development and application of associated technologies (e.g., high-content and high-throughput screening platforms, RNA interference, C. elegans as a surrogate for screening anti-parasitics, protein expression, animal models of infection), and (3) development of point-of care (POC) diagnostics.

Time:

13:30

Description:

Paramet Summer School - Computational Sciences in Drug Discovery

Ulka VIJAPURKAR
Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases
Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco

Title: "Principles of Drug Development: Discovery and Development of a small molecule inhibitor to a kinase target for oncology".

Wednesday, July 2nd 2014 @ 13:30 (note that the lecture starts exactly at 13:30)
Seminar Room 1, FORTH's bldg

Information: Inga Siden-Kiamos (inga@imbb.forth.gr), Ioannis Tsamardinos (tsamard@ics.forth.gr)

Abstract:
In the last few years there has been an intense effort towards the development of small molecule inhibitors targeting various nodes of the PI3K/mTOR signaling pathways with several currently undergoing clinical evaluation as anti-cancer agents. mTOR, a component of two protein complexes mTORC1 and mTORC2, is a critical target in the PI3K/Akt signaling axis and a central nexus integrating PI3K, MAPK and other signaling pathways. It controls various aspects of cell physiology, most importantly, regulation of translation. It is a clinically validated target with allosteric mTORC1 inhibitors, rapamycin and its analogs, having been approved for several indications. Second generation kinase inhibitors of mTOR, which target both the mTORC 1 and 2 complexes, are in clinical development and have the potential to be more potent anti-cancer drugs. However their clinical efficacy and clinical niche remains to be determined.
In my lecture I will discuss the development of a small molecule kinase inhibitor of the mTOR protein. I will discuss investigation of its mechanism of action, studies to identify biomarkers of sensitivity to mTOR inhibition that would help to prioritize indications for its clinical development and lastly, combination strategies with inhibitors of upstream or parallel signaling nodes such as PI3K or MAPK that could have implications for rational combinations strategies in the clinic for selected patient populations.
I will discuss this specific project within the context of the preclinical drug development process and my experience working with cross-functional project teams such as chemistry, assay development, pharmacology and clinical in a biotechnology industry environment. I will end the lecture with a brief discussion from a personal perspective on the role of women in science and industry and challenges faced by many in the quest to balance life and family with demanding careers.

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Short Bio:

Dr. Vijapurkar received her Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from the University of Iowa, Iowa city, U.S.A. After completing her post-doctoral fellowship from the University of California, San Francisco she moved to the biotech industry and was a research scientist at Genentech/Roche for several years. Currently she is adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, where she teaches advanced physiology, pharmacogentics and molecular medicine to students in the M.S. Biotech program.

Time:

15:30

Description:

DENDRITES 2014 -- 4th NAMASEN Training Workshop on Dendrites

Susumu TONEGAWA, Nobel Laureate

Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience
Director, RIKEN-MIT, Center for Neural Circuit Genetics
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Director, RIKEN Brain Science Institute

Title: "Control of temporal association memory by feedforward dendritic inhibition".

Wednesday, July 2nd 2014 @ 15:30 (note that the lecture starts exactly at 15:30)
Georgios Lianis Amphitheater, FORTH's bldg

Information: Yiota Poirazi (poirazi@imbb.forth.gr)

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Short Bio:

Dr. Susumu Tonegawa received his Ph.D. from UCSD. He then undertook postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute in San Diego, before working at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Basel, Switzerland, where he performed his landmark immunology experiments. Tonegawa won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for “his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity”. He has since continued to make important contributions but in an entirely different field: neuroscience. Using advanced techniques of gene manipulation, Tonegawa is now unraveling the molecular, cellular and neural circuit mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. His studies have broad implications for psychiatric and neurologic diseases. Tonegawa is currently the Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Director of the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at MIT as well as the Director of RIKEN Brain Science Institute.

Time:

09:00

Description:

Paramet Summer School - Computational Sciences in Drug Discovery

Conor CAFFREY
Associate Professor
Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases
Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco

Title: "Helminthic diseases: strategies and technologies for drug discovery".

Thursday, July 3rd 2014 @ 09:00 (please note that the lecture starts exactly at 09:00)
Seminar Room 1, FORTH's bldg

Information: Inga Siden-Kiamos (inga@imbb.forth.gr), Ioannis Tsamardinos (tsamard@ics.forth.gr)

Abstract:
Focusing on parasitic helminths, I will briefly review some of the projects our center is engaged in regarding drug target discovery and validation, and small molecule development. I’ll describe a number of the tools at our disposal ranging from the fundamental (yet, non-trivial) RNA interference to more technology-driven platforms such as high throughput and high-content screening. I’ll emphasize how strategic engagement by the pharmaceutical industry, including access to either privileged or public small molecule libraries, can accelerate small molecule development for this and other helmintic diseases. An example of employing C. elegans as a functional screening tool for schistosome drug discovery is presented and this approach bodes well for future drug discovery efforts. Throughout, I’ll discuss the cross-disciplinary and interactive nature of our work and how this has been a key driving force for our research.

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Short Bio:

Dr. Conor Caffrey is an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine, UCSF and a Senior Scientist at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD), UCSF. He received his Ph.D. in Mol. & Biochemical Parasitology from the University College Dublin, Ireland.
A 20-year research track record reflects his strong interests in the basic (molecular, cell and chemical) and applied (diagnostics and drug development) biology of the tropical parasitic diseases, in particular, schistosomiasis, hookworm disease, African trypanosomiasis, and lately, cryptosporidiosis. Three broad themes underpin his research; (1) the identification and validation of protein targets (e.g., proteases and kinases) for potential drug development, (2) the pre-clinical and translational development of drugs, including the development and application of associated technologies (e.g., high-content and high-throughput screening platforms, RNA interference, C. elegans as a surrogate for screening anti-parasitics, protein expression, animal models of infection), and (3) development of point-of care (POC) diagnostics.

Time:

12:00

Description:

Christoforos NIKOLAOU
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
University of Crete

Title: "Topological aspects of genome architecture in S. cerevisiae".

Friday, July 4th 2014 @ 12:00
Seminar Room 1 [FORTH's bldg]

Host: C. Spilianakis

Time:

12:10

Description:

SPEAKER: Prof. Annemieke Madder
Organic and Biomimetic Chemistry Research Group, Department of
Organic Chemistry,
Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S4, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

TITLE: "Furan Modified Nucleosides and Amino acids: A Toolbox for
Crosslinking,
Labeling and Target Identification of Biomacromolecules "

DATE: Friday 4th July 2014

TIME: 12:00

ROOM: Chemistry Seminar Room