LSI announces May 2008 Symposium: Focus on Chemical Biology
April 21, 2008 - Top researchers specializing in chemical biology will discuss their latest findings at the Life Sciences Institute’s seventh annual symposium: Focus on Chemical Biology on Thursday, May 8, 2008.
Stuart L. Schreiber, PhD, the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and Investigator in Howard Hughes Medical Institute will kick off the meeting as the honorary Mary Sue & Kenneth Coleman Life Sciences Lecturer. Dr. Schreiber is known for having developed systematic ways to explore biology, especially disease biology, using small molecules (precursors to therapeutic drugs that are used as bioprobes) and for his role in the development of the field of chemical biology. Using his chemical approach, he has discovered principles that underlie information transfer and storage in cells. During the past 25 years, Dr. Schreiber has developed an integrated set of techniques that are systematizing the discovery and application of small molecules to biology and medicine.
In 2007, two new anti-cancer drugs that target proteins discovered in the Schreiber laboratory using his small-molecule approach were approved by the U.S. FDA: torisel (treatment of renal cell carcinoma) and vorinostat (treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma).
Dr. Schreiber is Director of Chemical Biology at and Founding Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He will be introduced by Dr. Terrence McDonald, Dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
The full-day program also includes noted researchers: Alanna Schepartz, PhD, Milton Harris ’29 PhD Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University; Chaitan Khosla, PhD, Wells J. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor, Chair, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University; Joseph Noel, PhD, Professor, Chemical Biology, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, Salk Institute; Jin Zhang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
LSI’s annual symposia feature recent developments in areas of interdisciplinary science. They are designed to encourage the exchange of ideas and to provide the opportunity for students and scientists alike to interact with and learn from prominent scientific leaders.
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and her husband, Kenneth Coleman, made a leadership gift in 2004 endowing a variety of efforts across the University. The Institute serves as Michigan’s hub for collaborative biomedical research on human health problems.
The meeting, which is open to the public, will run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in the Biomedical Sciences Research Building Auditorium on the University of Michigan campus.
The complete schedule of speakers and topics is:
Thursday, May 8, 2008—9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Biomedical Sciences Research Building Auditorium, University of Michigan
9:00 am—Welcome
Alan Saltiel, Director of the Life Sciences Institute
9:15 am
Introduced by Terrence McDonald, Dean, College of LS&A
Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Life Sciences Lecture: “Small-Molecule Probe and Drug Discovers”
Stuart Schreiber, PhD
Morris Loeb Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Broad Institute
10:15 am—Break
10:30 am
“Illuminating Protein Conformations and Associations in Live Cells with Small Molecules”
Alanna Schepartz, PhD
Milton Harris ’29 PhD Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University
11:30 am
“Chemistry and Biology of Celiac Sprue”
Chaitan Khosla, PhD
Wells J. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor
Chair, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
12:30 pm—Lunch
2:00 pm
"Quantitative Exploration of the Catalytic Landscape Separating Divergent Plant Sesquiterpene Synthases"
Joseph Noel, PhD
Professor, Chemical Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics, Salk Institute
3:00 pm
“Visualization of Dynamic Signaling Activities in Living Cells”
Jin Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
