ΘΕΜΑ: IMBB - ICS Open Lecture - Conor CAFFREY, July 1st
2014 @ 14:00
ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΕΑΣ: Maria Stiakaki - IMBB Secretariat
[mailto:mariast@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
IMBB - ICS OPEN LECTURE
Paramet
Summer School - Computational Sciences in Drug Discovery
Conor
CAFFREY
Associate Professor
Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases
Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco
Title: "Drug
discovery and development for global parasitic diseases at UCSF".
Tuesday, July 1st 2014 @
14:00 (note that the lecture starts exactly at 14:00)
Seminar Room 1, FORTH's bldg
Information: Inga
Siden-Kiamos (inga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx),
Ioannis Tsamardinos (tsamard@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Abstract:
Founded in 2001, the CDIPD at UCSF supports anti-parasitic drug discovery and
development via target validation, hit identification and hit-to-lead
optimization. Disease priorities include trypanosomatid and helminth diseases
and I’ll provide context for some of the cross-disciplinary discovery and
development projects ongoing. I’ll then focus on the paradigm that cysteine
proteases are essential and ‘druggable’ parasite proteins for the development
of new drugs. I’ll give an example of one cysteine protease inhibitor’s journey
through pre-clinical development as potential drug therapy for Chagas’ disease.
Finally, I’ll emphasize how this particular program has spawned similar
projects for other parasitic diseases.
Short Bio:
Dr. Conor Caffrey is an Associate Adjunct Professor at
the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine, UCSF and a Senior Scientist
at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD), UCSF.
He received his Ph.D. in Mol. & Biochemical Parasitology from the
University College Dublin, Ireland.
A 20-year research track record reflects his strong interests in the basic
(molecular, cell and chemical) and applied (diagnostics and drug development)
biology of the tropical parasitic diseases, in particular, schistosomiasis,
hookworm disease, African trypanosomiasis, and lately, cryptosporidiosis.
Three broad themes underpin his research; (1) the identification and validation
of protein targets (e.g., proteases and kinases) for potential drug
development, (2) the pre-clinical and translational development of drugs,
including the development and application of associated technologies (e.g.,
high-content and high-throughput screening platforms, RNA interference, C.
elegans as a surrogate for screening anti-parasitics, protein _expression_,
animal models of infection), and (3) development of point-of care (POC)
diagnostics.
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