Agenda

Day 1 Monday, May 10

8:50     Welcome:
Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia

Convener: Scott Gilbertson, University of Houston

9:00     Keynote Address:
Discovery and Development of GPCR Allosteric Ligands: From Concept to Clinic
Craig Lindsley, Vanderbilt

Session 1:  HT Discovery

Conveners: Cliff Stephan, Institute of Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center
Margie Moczygemba, Institute of Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center

 9:40     Assay and Screening Strategies for Chemical Probe and Drug Discovery
James Inglese, NIH/NCATS

10:10   High Throughput Flow Cytometry for Drug Discovery and Repurposing
Larry Sklar, University of New Mexico

10:40   The Evolution of a Fully Automated High Throughput Flow Cytometry Screening System to Enable Drug Discovery
John Joslin, Novartis

11:10   Networking Break

 Session 2: Advanced Imaging for Target Validation and Drug Discover
Convener: Mike Mancini, Baylor College of Medicine

 11:25   Single Cell Analysis of Estrogen Receptor Actions
Fabio Stossi, Baylor College of Medicine

11:45   Implementing Deep Neural Network Technologies Across Experimental Scales
Reid Powel, Institute of Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center

11:55   Microscopy-Based Identification of RNA Foci Modulators in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1
Sara Jane Johnson, Baylor College of Medicine

12:05   High-throughput Imaging and a Multi-omics Approach Shed Light on Cisplatin Resistance
Vlad Sandulace, Baylor College of Medicine

12:15-  Poster Session-Odd numbered posters
12:55

12:55   Lunch and Networking Break

Session 3:      Metabolism-Targeted Therapeutics

Convener: Peter Davies, Institute of Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M Health Science Center

1:30     The Role of Oxidative Phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in Metastasis and Therapeutic Resistance in Melanoma
Mike Davies, MD Anderson Cancer Center

2:00     IACS-6274, a Potent and Selective Inhibitor of Glutaminase (GLS1) Being Developed for KEAP1/NFE2L2 Mutant NSCLC and ASNS-low Ovarian Cancer Patients
Nakia Spencer, MD Anderson Cancer Center

2:30     Optical Metabolic Imaging to Quantify Heterogeneity in Anti-Cancer Drug Response
Alexandra Walsh, Texas A&M University

3:00     Networking Break

Session 4:      PK/PD and Formulation

Conveners: Diana Chow, University of Houston
Dong Liang, Texas Southern University

3:15     Development of AZD5305, The Next Generation PARP1 Selective Inhibitor and Trapper
Elisabetta Leo, Astrazeneca

3:45     Overcoming Transport Barriers in Cancer Treatment
Haifa Shen, Houston Methodist

4:15     Preclinical and Clinical PK/PD/Efficacy Work on the OxPhos Inhibitor IACS-010759, Targeting Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Cancer
Emilia Di Francesco, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Convener: Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia

4:45     CPRIT Update and Company Funding Opportunities
Cindy WalkerPeach, CPRIT

5:15     Core Facility Networking Showcase

  • Center for Drug Discovery (Marty and Damian)
  • Combinatorial Drug Discovery (Pete and Cliff)
  • PK/PD and Formulation (Liang)
  • Advanced Microscopy (Mancini)
  • High-throughput Flow Cytometry Core Facility (Moczygemba)
  • Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody (An)
  • Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics (Business accelerator; Luby, Hein, Watowich)
  • Targeted Therapeutics Drug Discovery Program (UT Dalby)
  • Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (McHardy)

 Day 2  Tuesday, May 11

9:00     Welcome Phil Jones, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Session 5: Breakthrough Medicines originating from Academic Drug Discovery
Convener: Phil Jones, MD Anderson Cancer Center

9:00     Towards the Rational Design and Development of Targeted Protein Degraders
Lyn Jones, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

9:30     Drugging Protein-protein Interactions: Discovery and Optimization of WDR5 Binders
Rima Alawar, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

10:00   Drugging RAS: Meeting the Challenge
Alex Waterson, Vanderbilt University

10:30   Networking Break

Session 6: Biotech Start-ups

Convener: Sarah Hein, Texas Medical Center, Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics

10:45   TMC Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics: Supporting the Texas Biotech Ecosystem
Sarah Hein, Texas Medical Center, Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics

ACT Users:

11:05  Raimund Ober, Astero Alta

11:15   Andrew Koh, Aumenta

11:25   Craig Ramirez, Tezcat

11:35  Tvardi Therapeutics: Tvardi Therapeutics: The Next Generation of Texas Companies Advancing Through Clinical Trials for Cancer and Fibrosis of Texas
 Imran Alibhai, Tvardi Therapeutics

11:55-  Poster Session-Even numbered posters
12:35

12:35   Lunch/networking break

Convener: Phil Jones, MD Anderson Cancer Center

1:45  Keynote Address:
East to West: A Career in Cancer Care and Drug Discovery
Tom Lynch, Fred Hutch

Session 7: Cell Therapies

Convener: Stan Watowich, University of Texas Medical Branch

2:30     CAR-modified Virus-specific T-cells for the Treatment of Malignancies: Taking Advantage of the TCR
Cliona Rooney, Baylor College of Medicine

3:00     MDACC’s Approach to Optimizing the Academic/Industrial Interface in Cell Therapy
Jason Bock, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Session 8: Future Directions and Opportunities: Technologies, Trends, Etc. 

Convener: Stan Watowich, University of Texas Medical Branch

3:30     Keynote Address:
Academic Entrepreneurs, New Technologies, and Building a Biotechnology Ecosystem: A Personal History
Harvey Lodish, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

4:15     Closing Remarks
Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia
Stan Watowich, UT Medical Branch at Galveston