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Novel chemical modalities in drug discovery

Vak
2022-2023

Admission requirements

Organic chemistry 1 & 2, Bio Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Description

In this course the students will learn about bioactive chemical modalities beyond classical small molecule drugs. These novel chemical modalities enable the targeting of challenging disease mechanisms that are inaccessible by traditional drugs. The course will give insights into the development of antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics, peptide based drugs, antibody drug conjugates, covalent inhibitors and molecular glues. Antisense oligos target specific RNA sequences and block the expression of disease interactions. Antibody-drug conjugates are used to deliver cytotoxic payloads of degenerate cells with a high specificity. Covalent drugs achieve longer target inhibition then reversible ligands. Molecular glues can recruit the proteasomal degradation machinery to specific target, and break them down. For each chemical modality the course will cover the basic mechanisms and some examples, based on recent literature. Further the course will show some design and discovery strategies for each modality class. The chemical synthesis strategies for several novel chemical modalities will be studied (e.g., chemical oligonucleotide synthesis, peptide synthesis, bioconjugation reactions).

Course objectives

After following the course the participants will have good insights into the mechanisms and chemistry of novel chemical modalities in drug discovery. For chemical biologists, medicinal chemists and drug discovery scientists this knowledge will be essential and highly valuable, both for a career in academia and in industry. In detail the participants will:

  • Learn about novel chemicl modalities beyond classical small molecule drugs (e.a., antisense oligonucleotides, peptide based modalities and antiody drug conjugates)

  • Gain basic understanding of mechanisms and applications of novel chemical modalities

  • Explore discovery strategies for novel chemical modalities

  • Learn about the chemistry used to create novel chemical modalities

  • Be able to read and understand recent scientific literature

Timetable

You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.

MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).

For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.

Mode of instruction

Lectures, tutorials and self-tuition.

Assessment method

The assessment will be based on an oral presentation and a written exam.

The presentation will be on a scientific paper (related to the topics treated in the course). The paper will be assigned by the lecturer.

Reading list

The list will be announced during the course. Will be mainly based on scripts of the course and scientific literature provided by the lecturer.

Registration

From the academic year 2022-2023 on every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.

Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.

Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.

Contact

Dr. Sebastian Pomplun, s.j.pomplun@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl +31(0)71 527 4651

Remarks

Registration for the exam closes 10 days before the exam date or earlier when the maximum number of 20 students is reached.

This information is without prejudice. Alterations can be made for next year.