Lessons Learned from Hunting For Small Molecule-based Drugs

Title:

Lessons Learned from Hunting For Small Molecule-based Drugs 

Schedule:

Date: 30^th October, 2023 (Monday)

Time: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (HKT)

Venue: Lecture Theatre P1, Chong Yuet Ming Chemistry Building

Speaker:

Dr. Zheng HUANG

Former Assay Science Lead of Merck Frosst (Merck Drug Discovery Center in Canada), Biology Director of Eli Lilly China Drug Discovery Research and Development Center, Executive Director of Biology and Pharmacology of DDSU of WuxiApptec.

Abstract:

Trained in chemistry and chemical biology for drug-discovery, Dr. Huang has > 30 years of industry experience in identifying and developing drugs for the treatment of inflammatory disorders, metabolic/immune disorders, cancers, and viral infections. He has experience across the drug hunting space (from target selection, assay development, hit scaffold mining and prioritization, lead molecule optimization, disease model/biomarker discovery/animal safety study design, preclinic candidate selection to proof-of-concept clinic study protocol planning). His team led the discovery of > 10 candidate molecules and supported their clinic development for the treatment of diabetes, obesity, NASH, COPD, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, kidney diseases, Parkinsons, and Alzheimer's. Dr. Huang has experience in the design of tissue-targeted small molecules, covalent drug discovery and de-risking, protein degraders, polymer-based drug delivery, small molecule chemical libraries, and natural product screening and development. His general interests are at the intersection of chemical biology and disease biology, and the development of improved process drug discovery, focused primarily on metabolic targets. A significant effort was devoted to identifying small molecules as seeding scaffolds for further structural optimization, including harnessing the feature and mechanism of actions of natural products, understanding the molecular mechanisms of drug actions, designing chemophore-based tissue-homing molecules to improve the safety window. His group also contributed to pioneering and developing several drug discovery technologies in the industry.

His current focus is on designing tumor-targeting molecules, protein degraders, nanomaterial-based drug delivery systems, treating viral infections, and amplified disorders in China, as well as promoting multi-disciplinary education for graduate students and drug discovery scientists.

This lecture will feature several stories, describing the lessons learned at the molecular level in chemistry and chemical biology through the early drug discovery process.

- ALL ARE WELCOME -