Upcoming Course: CHI's Identification of Druggable Sites for Protein-Protein Interaction Targets

March 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Cambridge Healthtech Institute, in collaboration with Bio-IT World, will hold a dinner short course on Identification of Druggable Sites for Protein-Protein Interaction on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston in Cambridge, MA.  This dinner course is scheduled for 6:00-9:00 p.m.  Delegates from CHI’s Structure-Based Drug Design conference are invited to attend, as well as others from the local area.

CHI’s Structure-Based Drug Design conference is scheduled for June 8-10, 2011.

For more information and to register for this course and/or conference, visit: http://www.healthtech.com/sbd/

About the course:
Despite the growing number of examples of small molecule inhibitors that disrupt protein-protein interactions (PPIs), the origin of druggability is poorly understood. This course is designed to demonstrate the use of computational methods to determine the most likely structure of the complex formed by interacting proteins, identify potentially druggable sites in the interface, determine whether the target is druggable, and provide information on potential ligands. Participants will study a number of targets using web-based software (including PIPER and ClusPro, currently the best protein docking tools available) on their laptops. A light dinner will be served.

Course Instructors:
Sandor Vajda, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, Boston University
Dima Kozakov, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor, Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University

* The problem of disrupting protein-protein interactions
* Predicting the structure of protein-protein complexes using fragment-based identification of binding hot spots
* Druggability of binding sites determined by the hot spots
* Identification of functional groups with preferential binding to hot spots
* Comparison of computational and experimental approaches.

Additional information and registration details for this course and/or conference is available at http://www.healthtech.com/sbd

About Cambridge Healthtech Institute (http://www.chicorporate.com)

Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech and academic organizations. CHI's portfolio of products includes Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Insight Pharma Reports, Barnett International, Cambridge Marketing Consultants, Cambridge Meeting Planners and Cambridge Healthtech's Media Group, which includes numerous e-newsletters as well as Bio-IT World magazine.

Founded in 1992, Cambridge Healthtech Institute strives to develop quality information sources that provide valuable new insights and competing points of view while offering balanced coverage of the latest developments. Basic research related to commercial implications is covered, with heavy emphasis placed on end-user insights into new products and technology as well as coverage on the strategy behind the business.

About Bio-IT World: (http://www.bio-itworld.com)

Part of the Cambridge Healthtech Institute Media Group (http://www.chimediagroup.com), Bio-IT World magazine is a bimonthly publication that life science and IT/informatics professionals continuously reference to find information, news, and commentary on indispensable technologies and business strategies. Bio-IT World provides outstanding coverage of cutting-edge trends and technologies that impact the management and analysis of life sciences data, including next-generation sequencing, drug discovery, predictive and systems biology, informatics tools, clinical trials, and personalized medicine. Cambridge Healthtech Media Group also hosts daily news and opinion at http://www.bio-itworld.com, a variety of e-newsletters, and a rich compendium of webinars and web symposia. Cambridge Healthtech Media Group is based in Needham, Mass.

Contact:
James Prudhomme
Cambridge Healthtech Institute
781-972-5400
jprudhomme@healthtech.com
http://www.healthtech.com/sbd

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Since 1992, Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech and academic organizations.