Monrovia, CA -- (SBWire) -- 04/16/2012 --Barry A. Morgan, Vice President of Molecular Discovery Research, Site Head in Boston at GlaxoSmithKline to give a Keynote Presentation on “DNA Encoded Libraries: A Disruptive Technology for Lead Discovery” at the 6th Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry Conference (June 7-8, 2012 in San Diego, CA)

Encoded Library Technology (ELT) is a novel approach to lead discovery based upon the creation of large (our biggest library has over a trillion components!) encoded libraries of novel, drug-like structures that can be rapidly interrogated to identify families of compounds with affinity for a macromolecular target. The utility of libraries assembled by combinatorial chemistry to molecular discovery has been constrained due to deconvolution limitations: ELT addresses this issue by encoding each molecule with a covalently attached DNA sequence. The resulting libraries are screened by “selection” on the basis of affinity, any “hits” identified by high capacity DNA sequencing, and the corresponding organic structures synthesized and tested in biochemical assays.

Studies with these libraries against a variety of drug targets, yielding families of “hit” molecules that inhibit the function of these targets with single good potency and selectivity will be described. Aspects of experiences at GSK of four years of applying ELT to molecular discovery, including comparisons and contrasts with other diversity screening approaches will be reviewed.

GTC is proud to present the 6th Drug Design and Medicinal Chemistry Conference held on June 7-8, 2012 at the Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa in San Diego, CA, which will bring together leading industrial and academic experts to further collaborate on the exciting advances in the field. Experts will facilitate discourse on topics such as strategies for hit and target identification, fragment based drug design, chemoinformatics, protein-protein interactions, ligand based drug design, computer aided drug design, protein flexibility, high performance computing, covalent inhibitors, mutational resistance, selectivity of kinase inhibitors, potency, specificity, lead optimization, ADMET, safety in drug discovery, advances in drug delivery and much more.

The sessions for the 2012 agenda include:
- Druggability, Chemical Tractability, Druglikeness, Leadlikeness
- Druggability, Chemical Tractability, Druglikeness, Leadlikeness
- Optimization Strategies
- Advances in Drug Design & Delivery
- Trends & Challenges in Drug Discovery.

The top companies and experts in the field of Drug Design & Medicinal Chemistry will come together to discuss the latest discoveries. Companies include ArQule, Array BioPharma, Astex Therapeutics, OSI Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Bayer, Genentech, Hoffmann-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, and much more!

Keynote & Featured Speakers Include:

Barry A. Morgan, Vice President, Molecular Discovery Research, Site Head in Boston, GlaxoSmithKline

Alexander Hillisch, Director, Medicinal Chemistry & Head, Computational Chemistry, Bayer

Francesca Milleti, Head, Cheminformatics & Statistics, Hoffmann-La Roche

Stephen Burley, Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar, Lilly Biotechnology Center, Eli Lilly

This conference is part of the Drug Discovery and Regulatory Summit, which consists of three other conferences:
- Antibody Design and Discovery
- Biospecimen Repositories
- Life Science Legal & Business Strategy

For more information, please visit http://www.gtcbio.com