The inaugural Drug Discovery Latin America conference and exhibition will be held in the colourful city of Rio de Janeiro in the days immediately following the world famous carnival.
The purpose of this meeting is to review the status of drug discovery activities in Latin America and to assist its future development. Drug discovery is an important part of medical science. Thissite web speaks about how the medicines developed in the last century were derived from molecules that were naturally occurring. These are products that are found in the natural sources. Itincludes fungi,bacteria and plants. The drugs are first tested on animals and then it goes through the clinical trials. These are tested on healthy individuals to check if the drugs are safe. Business and research leaders from both developed markets and BRIC countries will bring their knowledge and experience to share. Participants will be encouraged to network and explore partnering opportunities.
Full conference passes include admission to all sessions and the exhibition as well as conference documentation.
Lunch, coffee breaks and the drinks reception provide ample time for
networking and to continue discussions from the question and answer
sessions.
Agenda
Day One – 26 February 2009
Screening
09:00
Using Drug Molecules as Probes and Probe Molecules as Drug Precursors
Ralph Garippa, Research Leader, Roche Discovery Technologies
This talk will highlight some examples of Pharma’s HT screened
molecules which became popular commercialized reagents, and some
promising molecules which have been published in the public domain
(PubMed) as a result of academic screening.
09:30
Title to be Confirmed
Jeremy Caldwell, Director of Cell Based Screening, GNF
10:00
Using in vitro Screening Assays to Profile the Biology of Chemical Entities
John Watson, Director, Pharmacology and Biotechnology, Promega
Profiling of a compound’s impact on cell signaling pathways, ADME
properties and cellular toxicity early in the discovery process can help
prioritize compounds to help assure the final drug has maximal target
activity and minimal off target effects.
10:30
Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
11:15
Nuclear Receptor Activation Assessment: Improving Safety and Directing Chemistry
Kyle Kramer, Vice President, Business Development, Puracyp
The presentation includes introduction to key nuclear receptors (NR)
involved in drug metabolism. The construction and use of stable cell
lines with reporter genes is explained. Finally, the utility of these
systems in drug safety screening is presented.
11:45
Functional Genome-Wide Screening for Genes that Regulate p53 in Endothelial Cells
Michael Edel, Principle Investigator, Centre of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona
Angiogenesis requires an increase in endothelial cell proliferation to
support an increase in mass of blood vessels. An in vitro cell model has
been designed that can be used for screening gene or chemical libraries
that regulate endothelial cell proliferation.
12:15
Presentation to be Announced
12:45
Lunch and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
Tropical Disease Drug Development
14:00
Prolyl Oligopeptidase of Trypanosoma cruzi (POP Tc80) : A Target for the Design of New Weapons Against Chagas Desease
Bernard Maigret, CNRS Research Director, LORIA – Nancy University
The group has recently demonstrated that the activity of POPTc80, a
prolyl endopeptidase that mediates native collagen and fibronectin
hydrolysis, is required for trypomastigotes entry into host cells. Using
a tridimentionnel model of this target built from homology modelling,
molecular docking and screening assays they were able to identify
possible new compounds active against Chagas desease.
14:30
Novel Drug Targets for the Malaria Parasite
Asif Mohmmed, Staff Research Scientist, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
15:00
Title to be Confirmed
Leila de Mendonça Lima, Senior Researcher and Head of Lab. for
Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ
15:30
Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
16:15
Drug Discovery of Fluorinated Drugs Against Neglected Diseases and HIV/AIDS
Núbia Boechat, Head of R&D Group in Medicinal Chemistry, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, FIOCRUZ
Organic synthesis of fluorinated compounds in medicinal chemistry
against AIDS and neglected diseases; innovation and technological
management in public health.
Drug Discovery in Emerging Markets
16:45
Drug Development and Discovery
Christopher Bianca, Professor of Chemistry, Clinical Consultant, Keystone College Academia
This presentation discusses all the relevant information required to
develop a new drug or a lead compound drug, from toxicology, to
pharmacodynamics, to pharmacokinetics, and all the way to clinical
trials including FDA approval.
17:15
Stem Cells in Drug Discovery
Chris Kendrick-Parker, Chief Commercial Officer, Cellular-Dynamics International
17:45
Drinks Reception
Day Two – 27 February 2009
Drug Discovery in Emerging Markets (continued)
09:00
Title to be Confirmed
Marcelo Criscuolo, Executive Director, Bio Sidus
09:30
Ranbaxy’s Quest to Become a Research Based International Pharmaceutical Company
Abhijit Ray, Director, New Drug Discovery Research, Ranbaxy Laboratories
Ranbaxy has worked hard to create physical infrastructure, science base
and a sustainable strategy for drug discovery research. How this effort
has borne fruit will be discussed.
10:00
Taking Companies from Concept to Market
Paul Morril, Co-Founder, Execute Technologies
10:30
Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
11:15
Title to be Confirmed
Jose Krieger, Heart Institute (InCor), University of Sao Paulo
11:45
Comparative Proteomics Identification of Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Leukemias
Eliana Abdelhay, Head of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Laboratory, National Cancer Institute (INCA)
Through proteomics the group analyzed the modifications in the protein
profile of bone marrow MNCs from patients in CML phases and in Imatinib
Mesylate treatment. They could identify several putative biomarkers of
diagnostic, evolution and treatment response that can be use in drug
design.
12:15
NFAT Transcription Factors: A Putative New Target in Cancer
João Viola, Head, Division of Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute (INCA)
The Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells (NFAT) family of transcription
factors is activated upon different stimuli that lead to increased
intracellular calcium levels. NFAT proteins regulate genes that control
many aspects of malignant cell transformation and tumour development.
The group investigates the molecular mechanisms by which NFAT regulate
tumour-related events and its involvement in oncogenesis.
12:45
Lunch and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
Natural Products
14:00
ChemBioBank, an Academic Project for Drug Discovery in Latin America
Fernando Albericio, Executive Director, Barcelona Science Park, University of Barcelona
The goal of the Latin American ChemBioBank project (LA-CBB) is to build a
chemico-biological database, annotated with both biological and
bioinformatic data, addressed to the scientific community and to the
pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
14:30
High Content Screens for Novel Antipoxviral Agents: Natural Products to the Rescue
Hakim Djaballah, Director, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre
The group have developed and validated a high content assay to screen
for compounds that would preferentially block viral entry, viral
replication, or viral spread upon infecting cell monolayer seeded in
384-well plates with a recombinant vaccinia virus which expresses
karyophilic GFP under the control of a viral early/late promoter.
15:00
Using a Luciferase Based Screening Assay to Identify Traditional Chinese Medicine Targeting Nuclear Hormone Receptors
Chiwai Wong, Principal Investigator, Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Since the activities of nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are regulated
by small molecule compounds and that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
extracts contain a diverse array of naturally derived chemicals, the
group investigated if selective TCM extracts modulate the activities of
NHRs.
15:30
Coffee and Networking in the Exhibition Hall
16:15
Bourreria huanita Flowers, a New Antidepressant?
Miguel Torres, Biological Chemist, University of San Carlos
Ethnobotanical and pharmacological studies have preliminarily
demonstrated an antidepressant effect in ethanolic extract of dried
Bourreria huanita (Boraginaceae) flowers from Guatemala. It’s possible
this natural product contains a medically useful molecule and funding
is required to continue the chemical analysis and elucidation.
16:45
Post Absorption and Metabolism Compounds: A New Approach to Discover Drug Candidates from Chinese Herbal Medicine
William Jia, VP Research and Associate Professor, Shanghai Innovative Research Centre/University of British Columbia
In a recent study the group has isolated compounds post
absorption/metabolism (PAM) of orally taken ginseng. The study showed
that those compounds are highly active for neuroprotection and
anti-depression.