The Bringing Chemistry to Medicine symposium featured thought leaders at the interface of chemical and biomedical sciences, working in areas spanning therapeutic regulation of transcription and chromatin, computational biology, and chemical biology. This year’s annual symposium featured two themes: Transcription Therapy (Thursday, July 22) and Frontiers in Chemical Biology (Friday, July 23).
This virtual symposium, hosted by the St. Jude Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics and the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a component of the institution’s strategic objective to establish a global hub focused on the emerging field of transcription-targeted therapeutics.
To enable broad participation and interaction among trainees and scientists around the world, registration was free.
M. Madan Babu
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Suzanne J. Baker
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
James E. Bradner
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research
Andrea Califano
Columbia University
Francesca Ciccarelli
The Francis Crick Institute
Patrick Cramer
Max Planck Institute
Craig Crews
Yale University
Pedro R. Cutillas
Cancer Research UK Barts Center
Cigall Kadoch
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
William G. Kaelin, Jr
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Mitch Lazar
University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan Licht
University of Florida Health Cancer Center
Craig W. Lindsley
Vanderbilt University
Debora S. Marks
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School
Marvin J. Miller
University of Notre Dame
Anjana Rao
La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Tobin Sosnick
The University of Chicago
Janet Thornton
The European Bioinformatics Institute
Held Thursday, July 22, 2021: Transcription Therapy
All times are in Central Time: 9 am CT
| Time (Central) | Presentation |
|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:15 am | Opening Remarks Watch Video |
| 9:15 - 9:45 am | Histone Mutations and Disrupted Development in Pediatric High-Grade Glioma Suzanne J. Baker, PhD Introduction by: Jamy C. Peng, PhD Watch Video |
| 9:45 - 10:15 am | Recent Insights into Chromatin Transcription Patrick Cramer, PhD Introduction by: Mario Halic, PhD, and Silvija Bilokapic, PhD Watch Video |
| 10:15 - 10:30 am | Break |
| 10:30 - 11:00 am | NSD2 in Lymphoid Malignancy Jonathan D. Licht, MD Introduction by: John D. Crispino, PhD, MBA Watch Video |
| 11:00 - 11:30 am | Structure and Function of Mammalian SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Complexes in Human Cancer Cigall Kidoch, PhD Introduction by: Hai Dao, PhD Watch Video |
| 11:30 am - 12:00 pm | Session Panel Moderated by: Charles W.M. Roberts, MD, PhD |
| 12:00 - 12:30 pm | Lunch |
| 12:30 - 1:00 pm | Chemical Control of Gene Expression James E. Bradner, MD Introduction by: Adam D. Durbin, MD, PhD Watch Video |
| 1:00 - 1:15 pm | Discussion Moderated by: Aseem Ansari, PhD |
| 1:15 - 1:45 pm | Three Possible Paths to Targeting Undruggable Transcription Factors William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD Introduction by: Anand Patel, MD, PhD Watch Video |
| 1:45 - 2:15 pm | Elucidation and Pharmacologic Targeting of Single Cell State Maintenance Mechanisms Andrea Califano, PhD Introduction by: Jiyang Yu, PhD |
| 2:15 - 2:30 pm | Break |
| 2:30 - 3:00 pm | Transcriptional Networks in Tumour-Infiltrating T Cells Anjana Rao, PhD Introduction by: Benjamin A. Youngblood, PhD Watch Video |
| 3:00 - 3:30 pm | Personalization of Transcriptional Therapy With Drugs Targeting Nuclear Receptors Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD Introduction by: Daniel Savic, PhD Watch Video |
| 3:30 - 4:00 pm | Session Panel Moderated by: Aseem Ansari, PhD |
| 4:00 - 4:15 pm | Closing Remarks |
Held Friday, July 23, 2021: Frontiers in Chemical Biology
All times are in Central Time: 9 am CT
| Time (Central) | Presentation |
|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:15 am | Opening Remarks |
| 9:15 - 9:45 am | Rationalising Anti-Cancer Drug Responses Using Proteomics and Machine Learning: Towards Next Generation Precision Medicine Pedro R. Cutillas, PhD Introduction by: Tommaso Cupido, PhD Watch Video |
| 9:45 - 10:15 am | Predictors of response to cancer immunotherapy: beyond Tumour Mutational Burden Francesca Ciccarelli, PhD Introduction by: Tommaso Cupido, PhD |
| 10:15 - 10:30 am | Break |
| 10:30 - 11:00 am | Using Response Surface Models to Analyze Drug Combinations Anang A. Shelat, PhD Introduction by: Tommaso Cupido, PhD Watch Video |
| 11:00 - 11:30 am | Prediction of a Protein’s Free Energy Surface with Validation Using Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Tobin R. Sosnick, PhD Introduction by: Marcus Fischer, PhD Watch Video |
| 11:30 - 11:45 am | Break |
| 11:45 am - 12:15 pm | Computational Enzymology: The Structure, Function and Evolution of Enzymes Professor Dame Janet Thornton Introduction by: Marcus Fischer, PhD Watch Video |
| 12:15 - 12:45 pm | Variation in GPCR Signalling : Implications for Drug Discovery M. Madan Babu, PhD, FRSC Introduction by: Marcus Fischer, PhD Watch Video |
| 12:45 - 1:15 pm | Session Panel Moderated by Anang Shelat, PhD |
| 1:15 - 1:45 pm | Lunch |
| 1:45 - 2:15 pm | Discovery and Development of GPCR Allosteric Ligands: From Concept to Clinic Craig W. Lindsley, PhD Introduction by: Taosheng Chen, PhD, PMP Watch Video |
| 2:15 - 2:45 pm | Design, Syntheses and Studies of New Antibiotics Marvin J. Miller, PhD Introduction by: Stephanie M. Reeve, PhD Watch Video |
| 2:45 - 3:00 pm | Break |
| 3:00 - 3:30 pm | PROTAC-mediated Protein Degradation: A New Therapeutic Modality Craig M. Crews, PhD Introduction by: Zoran Rankovic, PhD |
| 3:30 -4:00 pm | Session Panel Moderated by Richard Lee, PhD and Zoran Rankovic, PhD |
| 4:00 - 4:15 pm | Closing Remarks |
Watch our Archived Lectures
In 2020 and 2021, St. Jude hosted exciting two-day events focused on Transcription Therapy and Chemical Biology and Therapeutics.
Transcription Therapy at St. Jude
Over decades of research, scientists in the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center and others have discovered that several pediatric cancers emerge due to disruption in chromatin and epigenetic states and dysfunctional transcriptional regulation. While gene regulation in general has long been considered “undruggable,” scientists in the St. Jude Department of Chemical Biology & Therapeutics (CBT) have created synthetic gene regulators and are devising new chemical approaches to inhibit or degrade malfunctioning components of chromatin and gene regulatory machineries. This work builds on the history of St. Jude as a pioneer in the therapeutic use of small molecules targeting gene regulation, most notably the application of glucocorticoid receptor agonists into chemotherapy regimens for pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL). The drugging of this transcription factor helped to dramatically increase overall survival rates for newly diagnosed ALL to 94% at St. Jude.
Learn more about transcription therapy at St. Jude Learn more