Tutorial Workshop

Target Identification – illuminating the interface between chemistry and biology

Synthetic small molecules or natural products with exciting biological activities are of fundamental importance in chemical biology research and drug discovery. Knowledge of their cellular target proteins is essential to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying biological regulation or therapeutic benefit. While target identification is still challenging, technological concepts have advanced in recent years. The Tutorial Workshop “Target Identification – illuminating the interface between chemistry and biology” will by co-chaired be Carsten Hopf and Henrik Daub and focus on chemical proteomics techniques for the hypothesis-free elucidation of small molecule targets in cells and tissues.

Tutorial lectures will be held by Guillaume Médard, who is a group leader in Chemical Proteomics at the Technical University of Munich, and by Markus Schirle, a Senior Investigator at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, USA. Both instructors are leading experts in chemical biology approaches to target identification and drug selectivity analysis. They will share their broad expertise that ranges from the underlying concepts to experimental aspects in the laboratory. The tutorial workshop will be held in an interactive format and is intended for research scientists from academia and industry. The following topics and questions will be addressed:

• Applications of chemical proteomics, including target protein identification after phenotypic compound screens in cell culture models, selectivity analysis within target classes, or the identification of proteins that mediate drug side effects.
• Which technologies are available, and what are their individual strengths and weaknesses?
• Which might be favorable compound characteristics to increase chances for successful target identification?
• What classes of protein targets are covered by different chemical proteomics methods, which gaps and limitations exist?
• How do I plan a chemical proteomics study as an interdisciplinary effort involving chemical synthesis and mass spectrometry analysis?
• How can I implement and optimize chemical proteomics protocols in the lab?
• When is chemical proteomics a stand-alone solution and when is it better used in combination with other technologies?

Agenda (Tuesday, January 19, 2016):