MONDAY, APRIL 2 | 2:00 - 5:00 pm

SC1: Ligand-Receptor Molecular Interactions and Drug Design

Instructor: Maricel Torrent, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, AbbVie

This course provides an overview of protein-ligand interactions and drug design principles. The presentation is targeted to medicinal chemists. Part 1 covers hydrophobic, H-bonding and electrostatic interactions; Part 2 covers specialized topics such as conformation analysis, pi-stack, cation-pi, halogen bonding, protein-protein interface, and covalent inhibition. Med chem case studies are incorporated.

Topics to be covered:

• Drug design principles generally applicable to all medicinal chemistry programs
• Interpretation of atomic-level protein X-ray and modeled structures of binding modes
• Understanding the relative amounts of potency gain from different interactions
• Case studies illustrate all of the design strategies

Instructor Biography:

Maricel Torrent, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, AbbVie

Dr. Torrent has been working in the field of Molecular Modeling/Computational Chemistry for the last 15+ years, in the context of the pharma/biopharma industry (Merck, Abbott, and now AbbVie), with special emphasis on research in drug discovery and the early pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Torrent is sought by her colleagues both in biology and in medicinal chemistry for her expertise in target exploration and druggability assessment as well as her proven record of finding hits, turning hits into tools, advancing tools into leads, and ultimately optimizing the best leads into preclinical candidate molecules using a variety of in silico methods. Dr. Torrent deeply understands the value of education and scientific knowledge dissemination, both nationally and internationally. She has been part of the Distinguished Faculty at Cambridge Healthtech Institute since 2011, teaching annual workshops in the U.S. She is also part of the AbbVie Faculty in partnership with AUW (Asian University for Women).