Drug discovery is a highly interdisciplinary process which involves project teams of pharmacologists, medicinal chemists, protein chemists/molecular biologists, structural biologists and computational chemists. The lecture series will provide an introduction to the drug discovery process as run in the pharmaceutical industry, from target identification and validation, via hit finding methods and the hit-to-lead process, to lead optimization, development and clinical studies. Emphasis will be on the contributions protein crystallography and further biophysical methods (such as NMR, ITC and SPR) can make during target selection, hit prioritization and lead optimization. In the second half of the course, typical target families such as protein kinases, nuclear hormone receptors and proteases will be discussed in the context of available crystal structures, and co-complex crystal structures with lead and drug molecules will be analysed in detail: How do drug molecules interact with their target proteins, and what can we learn from their optimisation process? The aim of the course is to develop an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of drug discovery. Overview (topics of the 8 lectures): - Drug Discovery Process - Target Identification (Drugability) and Hit Finding - Hit-to-lead Process and Lead Optimization - Protein Crystallography in Drug Discovery - Ligand-Receptor Interactions and their Characterization (NMR, ITC, SPR etc.) - Typical Target families (I): Protein Kinases - Typical Target families (II): Proteases - Typical Target families (III): Nuclear Hormone Receptors Dr. Roman Hillig, roman.hillig@bayer.com close