Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 2nd Annual

Emerging Technologies for Discovery Chemistry

Covalent Approaches and New Biophysical Tools

April 14-15, 2026

Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Emerging Technologies for Discovery Chemistry conference focuses on the biophysical methods driving the renaissance in small molecule drug discovery. Many disease targets are protein complexes that lack enzymatic activity and cannot therefore be screened with traditional high throughput cell-based assays. Biophysical-based screening methods detect ligand-target binding rather than enzymatic activity of the target and thereby enable identification of new chemical matter against a wider range of disease targets such as intracellular protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that comprise many cancer, immunological and neurological disease targets. We convene medicinal, biophysical chemists, and structural biologists to discuss technologies such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and mass spectrometry (MS). Covalent strategies, cryo electron microscopy (cryoEM) and the use of affinity-selection mass spectrometry (ASMS), will also be a focus. 

Coverage will likely include:

• Innovations in biophysical technologies (NMR, SPR and mass spectrometry especially ASMS)
• Covalent drug discovery
• Proteomic based methods for lead generation (such as activity-based protein profiling)
• CryoEM applications to complex membrane protein-targeted drug discovery
• Direct-to-biology chemistry
• Case studies of novel technology applications

The deadline for priority consideration is September 30, 2025.

All proposals are subject to review by session chairpersons and/or the Scientific Advisory Committee to ensure the overall quality of the conference program. Additionally, as per Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s policy, a select number of vendors and consultants who provide products and services will be offered opportunities for podium presentation slots based on a variety of Corporate Sponsorships.

Opportunities for Participation:

• To submit a podium presentation, please click here.
• To become a sponsor, click here.
• To present a poster, click here.

For more details on the conference, please contact:
Anjani Shah, PhD
Senior Conference Director
Cambridge Healthtech Institute
(+1) 781-247-6252
Email: ashah@healthtech.com

For sponsorship information, please contact:
Kristin Skahan
Senior Business Development Manager
Cambridge Healthtech Institute
Phone: (+1) 781-972-5431
Email: kskahan@healthtech.com