WN_m7JJaw52T8yZYt8-ykL6UQ
Some seminars were recorded and accessible for a limited time on our youtube channel.

Upcoming Speakers

December 5th, 2024

Host: Mikolaj Slabicki / Zuzanna Kozicka

Yifat Merbl

Weizmann Institute of Science

Proteasome Profiling: MAPPing the degradation landscape in health and disease.

Working at the meeting point between biochemistry, immunology, cell systems biology, Dr. Merbl is addressing both basic and translational research questions in the field of cancer and immunity. Her lab focuses on uncovering regulatory mechanisms of the epiproteome, by studying changes in posttranslational modifications and protein degradation. Her lab developed several platform technologies that enable the analysis of biological samples in different disease settings.

In the context of cancer, harnessing these approaches they have uncovered mechanisms regulating anti-tumor immunity by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Dr. Merbl is the recipient of numerous awards for her scholastic and academic excellence, including most recently the Rappaport Prize for Excellence in the Field of Biomedical Research (2024), and the CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR (2024) award.

Gregory Michaud

Novartis

Novel Molecular Glue Targets

Gregory Michaud is chemical biologist leading efforts to advance novel targets for unmet medical needs in Discovery Sciences (DSc) at Novartis BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA. More recently, he has focused on projects/collaborations in both Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) and Targeted Protein Stabilization (TPS) with the aim of developing molecular glue therapeutics for protein classes that are difficult to drug. Earlier in his career, he developed and deployed platform technologies to facilitate the identification of novel targets for bioactive small molecules revealed from phenotypic screening campaigns. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and performed postdoctoral research at Yale University.

December 19th, 2024

Host: Hojong Yoon

ZBTB11 Degraders Target Metabolic Vulnerabilities in K-Ras Inhibitor Resistant PDAC.

Fleur Ferguson

University of California

Fleur Ferguson received her M.Sc degree in chemistry from Imperial College London, and her Ph.D in chemistry from the University of Cambridge funded by a BBSRC studentship, where she was advised by Prof. Chris Abell and Prof. Alessio Ciulli. She then joined Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, where she performed her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Nathanael Gray. Dr. Ferguson is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, at the University of California, San Diego. Her academic research group focuses on the development and application of proximity-pharmacology technologies to disease areas where traditional targeted therapies have failed, such as neurological and degenerative diseases. Research in the Ferguson lab has been recognized by numerous prestigious awards including the NIH Directors’ New Innovator Award, the NSF CAREER, the Keck Foundation Research Award, and early career awards from the Alzheimer’s Association, the PhRMA Foundation, and the Hilblom Foundation.

Eric Wang

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Eric Wang received his PhD from the University of California San Francisco where he was advised by Dr. Scott Oakes. He then performed his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Nathanael Gray at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Wang is currently an Assistant Professor in the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program in the Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. The overarching research goal of the Wang lab is to use and develop chemical tools to understand and modulate transcriptional pathways that underlie tumor cell survival and the anti-tumor immune response, with a long-term goal of developing new therapeutic approaches for cancer.

Slava Ziegler

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

Targeting indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) by monovalent degraders exploiting the native IDO1 degradation mechanism.

Slava Ziegler, born in Bulgaria, started studying Molecular Biology University in Sofia, Bulgaria, and after a year she moved to Germany to study Biochemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum. She obtained her PhD in 2004 at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund (Germany) working on tumor genetics and Wnt signaling. She then joined as a postdoc the Institute of Pathology at the University Hospital of Duesseldorf (Germany) to explore mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastasis. Since 2009 she has been leading a project group in the department Chemical Biology of Prof. Dr. Herbert Waldmann at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology with focus on cell-based assays for exploring bioactivity of small molecules and identification and validation of the targets of bioactive compounds. Her current research focuses on the use of morphological profiling to assess bioactivty of small molecules.

January 9th, 2025

Host: Shourya Roy Burman

Dennis Hu

Drug Hunter

Industry Highlights in Targeted Protein Degradation

Dennis founded Drug Hunter to give drug discovery scientists easy access to transferable knowledge from drug discovery programs throughout the industry. Today, Drug Hunter serves thousands of scientists from hundreds of institutions around the world including most of the top biotech and pharma companies, government institutions including the NIH, and investors in therapeutics discovery companies. Prior to serving as Drug Hunter Inc.'s CEO, Dennis began his career as a medicinal chemist and project team leader at a now publicly-listed biotech startup (FLX Bio/RAPT), where he contributed to the discovery of a phase II drug candidate for cancer immunotherapy. He later joined Genentech, and has published and patented chemical matter supporting a diverse range of target classes. He earned his PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University, MPhil by Research from the University of Cambridge on a Churchill Scholarship, and a dual BA/MS from Northwestern University as a Goldwater Scholar.

January 23rd, 2025

Host: Mikolaj Slabicki

Itay Koren

Bar-Ilan University

Ub or Not Ub: Decoding Ubiquitin-Dependent and Independent Degradation Pathways

Itay is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University. Itay obtained his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dept. of Molecular Genetics, where he studied autophagy under the supervision of Prof. Adi Kimchi. In 2013, he joined the lab of Steve Elledge at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, as a post-doctoral fellow. Itay established his independent lab at Bar-Ilan University in 2019, where he employs genome-wide approaches and genetic tools to explore the ubiquitin proteasome system. His research focuses on the mechanisms that regulate substrate recognition and their implications for signal transduction and protein quality control pathways.

Bi-weekly: Thursdays, 12 pm EDT/EST, 9 am PT/PST, 5 pm BST/BDT, 6 pm CEST/CET https://dfci.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m7JJaw52T8yZYt8-ykL6UQ Some seminars were recorded and accessible for a limited time on our youtube channel.