Our DNDi Latin America team and the Prof. Luiz Carlos Dias (UNICAMP) are organizing a two-day scientific event to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Lead Optimization Latin American (LOLA) consortium. Entitled ‘Advancing Neglected Diseases Drug Discovery in Endemic Areas‘, the symposium will be held in person in Campinas/Brazil combined with live streaming.
The event will bring together international experts from academia, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies to share knowledge and exchange ideas on drug discovery, with a special focus on infectious and neglected diseases that affect patients in Latin America. We hope it will contribute to the debate around the opportunities and challenges associated with the development of strategic medicines in endemic areas, while facilitating sharing of knowledge, promoting collaboration and innovation, enhancing capabilities, and creating opportunities for partnerships between academia and industry.
Agenda
19 October 2023
Session 1: LOLA 10 years: DNDi drug discovery in endemic areas
Time: 9:15 – 11:00
Chair: Charles Mowbray, Discovery Director, DNDi
| Setting the scene – Science and public health challenges in Latin America Helena Nader, President, Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Brazil |
| Introduction to drug discovery and DNDi LOLA consortium Jadel Kratz, Head of Discovery and R&D Partnership, Latin America, DNDi |
| Testimonials of principal investigators LOLA Luiz Carlos Dias, Full Professor, Universidade Estadual de Campinas Adriano Andricopulo, Researcher, University of São Paulo Carolina Borsoi Moraes, Associate Researcher, University of São Paulo |
| Testimonials early-career investigators LOLA Rafael Ferreira, Lead Applications Scientist, Croda María Mollo, Assistant Researcher, CONICET |
| Launch “Open LOLA” project Luiza Cruz, Drug Discovery Coordinator, DNDi |
Session 2: DMPK integration within drug discovery and development
Time: 11:30 – 13:00
Chair: Lidia Lima, Associate Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
| Importance of ADME/DMPK in drug discovery Kevin Read, Professor of Quantitative Pharmacology, Head of DMPK, Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee |
| MMVsola and other recent advances in Malaria drug discovery Paul Willis, Interim Head of Discovery, Medicines for Malaria Venture |
| Pharmacometrics in Latin America: barriers, challenges and opportunities Manuel Ibarra, Full Professor, Universidad de la Republica |
| Lessons from COVID-19 drug repurposing Peter Sjö, Head of Drug Discovery Programme, DNDi |
Roundtable: Capacity Strengthening and Sustainable Innovation
Time: 14:30 – 16:30
Moderator: Glaucius Oliva, Full Professor, University of São Paulo
| Leading drug discovery in endemic areas Richard Gessner, Research Officer, University of Cape Town |
| Training the new generation of scientists Adalberto Fazzio, Director and Research Teacher, Ilum Escola de Ciência |
| Carla Reis, Head of the Department of the Industrial Complex and Health Services at BNDES, Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) |
| Representative from The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) |
20 October 2023
Session 1: Contributions from global pharma to fight against NTDs
Time: 9:00 – 11:00
Chair: Katlin Massirer, Principal Investigator at Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
| Discovery of a pan-Kinetoplastid proteasome inhibitor – LXE408 Srinivasa Rao, Associate Director, Novartis |
| Flubentylosin – The long road towards treating river blindness Mike Schrimpf, Research Fellow, AbbVie |
| Representative from Eurofarma |
| Fabian Gusovsky, Vice President, Global Health Research, Eisai |
| Combination therapy for Chagas disease Maria Marco-Martin, Chief Scientist & GSK Associate Fellow, GSK |
| Open science initiatives to fight schistosomiasis Tom Spangenberg, Head of Global Health Open Innovation & Drug Discovery, Global Health Institute, Merck |
Session 2: New technologies and approaches for drug discovery
Time: 11:30 – 13:00
Chair: Maria Cristina Nonato, Full Professor, University of São Paulo
| Helder Nakaya, Senior Researcher, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein |
| Carolina Horta, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Universidade Federal de Goiás |
| Ana Tavassi, Director of Innovation, Instituto Butantan |
| PROTACs in parasitic diseases: Dream or reality? Maria Laura Bolognesi, Full Professor, Università di Bologna |
Session 3: Antiviral drug discovery
Time: 14:30 – 16:00
Chair: Jair Siqueira Neto, Associate Adjunct Professor, University of California San Diego
| Moonshot Project – Mpro open drug discovery Annette von Delft, Translational Scientist, University of Oxford |
| Translational repurposing platform Mauro Teixeira, Professor of Immunology at the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais |
| Novel antiviral COVID-19 – Partnership with local pharma Thiago Moreno, Research Scientist, Fiocruz |
| Structural Biology Supporting COVID-19 Drug Discovery Daniela Trivella, Head of Drug Discovery, The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials |
Session 4: Biodiversity and natural-products inspiration
Time: 16:30 – 18:00
Chair: João Calixto, Director, Centro de Inovação e Ensaios Pré-Clínicos
| Cristiano Guimarães, Co-Founder and CSO, Nintx |
| Lisandra Pessa, R&D Manager, Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos |
| Novel therapeutic agents from the bacterial symbionts of Brazilian invertebrates Monica Pupo, Full Professor, Universidade de São Paulo |
| Application of molecular networks for the screening of complex mixtures Jean-Robert Ioset, Senior Discovery Manager, DNDi |
Roundtable: The role of scientific communication
Time: 18:00 – 19:00
Moderator: Flavio Emery, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Heterocyclic Chemistry, University of São Paulo
| Herton Escobar, Special Reporter, University of São Paulo |
| Roxana Tabakman, Independent Journalist |
