{"id":9950,"date":"2018-10-16T14:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadianglycomics.ca\/?p=9950"},"modified":"2019-08-01T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T17:39:32","slug":"inaugural-meeting-helps-glyconet-identify-lead-molecules-for-drug-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianglycomics.ca\/fr\/inaugural-meeting-helps-glyconet-identify-lead-molecules-for-drug-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural meeting helps GlycoNet identify lead molecules for drug development"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Post-doctoral fellow Omar El-Halfawy, a member of GlycoNet network investigator Dr. Eric Brown’s team at McMaster University, speaks at the GlycoNet Medicinal Chemistry meeting in September.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

by Bernie Poitras<\/p>\n

GlycoNet held its inaugural Medicinal Chemistry Workshop in September in Toronto with an eye to improving how its research projects can better contribute to drug development.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the meeting was to add value to current research projects by understanding and identifying the best lead molecules to move forward and make additional analogues.<\/p>\n

GlycoNet Principal Investigators from three projects, trainees and industry partners gathered for one day of discussion and decision-making. The meeting looks to build on GlycoNet\u2019s commercialization strategy specifically in the area of drug discovery.<\/p>\n

GlycoNet Scientific Director Dr. Todd Lowary<\/a> explains that the meeting\u2019s purpose is to help prioritize which molecules to focus on for drug development.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost academic researchers don\u2019t have the expertise to identify the best hit compounds from high throughput screens to take forward for optimization into a drug lead,\u201d says Lowary. \u201cThe idea behind this meeting was to get our network investigators in the same room with experts from the pharma industry to identify the most promising hits, which could then be prioritized to be the focus of additional work, including analog synthesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowary feels this forum adds great value to GlycoNet\u2019s high throughput screening efforts and in particular for future projects, the opportunity to engage more with experts in other fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great forum and opportunity to get expert advice in medicinal chemistry so we can make wise decisions and use our resources effectively,” he says.<\/p>\n

Industry representative David Powell, director of chemistry at Inception Sciences<\/a>, said he found a lot of value in the purpose of the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs researchers in the Canadian community, we all benefit from the product of good science,\u201d says Powell. \u201cIn particular, the discovery of new targets for diseases of unmet medical needs combined with high quality small molecule leads which can modulate those targets only further enables successful drug discovery programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndustry can help work with the academic labs to take the quality hits from early discovery to a potential commercial product; a critical step along that path is the high-throughput screening (HTS) screen,\u201d he says. \u201cThus any efforts to improve upon the HTS process and drug-like properties of the leads from the HTS helps both academic and industrial scientists, and most importantly could serve to benefit patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell added that meetings like this between industry and research needs to happen more often because each side can learn from one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe academic groups got a sense of when an industrial scientist would file intellectual property, what sort of structure activity relationship (SAR) we have found is best done in the early stages of the program, and how to set up the HTS screen to maximize success rate,\u201d he says. \u201cThe industrial scientists were able to learn the academic groups in terms of new targets, basic science projects and the type of collaborative efforts occurring across the academic labs.<\/p>\n

The meeting was also a learning opportunity for GlycoNet trainees to learn more about medicinal chemistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt fortunate to be included in a small focused meeting that bridged academia and industry,\u201d says trainee Natalie Bamford<\/a>, a graduate student in Dr. Lynne Howell\u2019s lab at The Hospital for Sick Children<\/a> in Toronto. \u201cIt was very eye opening to hear the guidance from the industry representatives in terms of IP and priorities with these translational projects. It was also amazing how quickly the chemists from academia and industry picked out problem compounds and functional groups that could be used to increase the likelihood of the project\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowary sees the meeting as a possible springboard to future partnerships or additional funding opportunities with industry partners.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  by Bernie Poitras GlycoNet held its inaugural Medicinal Chemistry Workshop in September in Toronto with an eye to improving how its research projects can better contribute to drug development. The purpose of the meeting was to add value to current research projects by understanding and identifying the best lead molecules to move forward and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","wpbf-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t