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How to access crystallographic fragment screens at Diamond Light Source

February 21, 2023, 9:00 am EDT / 3:00 pm CEST

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Program

Host and moderator: Lizbe Koekemoer (University of Oxford)

5 min
Lizbe Koekemoer (University of Oxford)
Welcome and introduction
5 min
Stefan Knapp (Goethe University Frankfurt)
EUbOPEN as a network for fragment follow-up
15 min
Daren Fearon (Diamond Light Source)
Crystallographic fragment screening at Diamond Light Source
15 min
Joseph Newman (University of Oxford)
Using X-ray fragment screening to find ligands targeting the transcription factor Brachyury
15 min
Harold Grosjean (University of Oxford)
Simple ligand features extraction rationalises binding landscapes from noisy XChem screening of crude reaction mixtures
5 min
Audience Q&A
Q&A

Abstract

This webinar introduces the XChem facility at Diamond Light Source, a dedicated platform for crystallographic fragment screening that provides all the necessary resources for crystallisation, sample preparation, data collection and analysis for 1000s of fragments in a single week. Fragment-based drug discovery is a well-established method for the identification of chemical starting points which can be developed into drugs for use in clinic or high-quality probes for use in research. As part of the EUbOPEN project, the Diamond Light Source XChem facility is offering the opportunity to partner suitable external XChem projects of human targets with the EUbOPEN consortium. The webinar is moderated by Lizbe Koekemoer (University of Oxford) and includes talks by Stefan Knapp (Goethe University Frankfurt), Daren Fearon (Diamond Light Source) and two XChem users sharing their success stories. Join the webinar and learn all you need to know about the XChem platform and how it works.

BIO SKETCHES

Headshot of Lizbe Koekemoer

Lizbe Koekemoer (University of Oxford)

Lizbé Koekemoer is a Team leader at The Centre for Medicines Discovery (CMD) at University of Oxford, where she is responsible for the CMD’s crystallography research facility (PX-SRF). The CMD is a multi-disciplinary Institute which focuses on translational activities to catalyze the discovery of new medicines. Lizbé has a strong interest in crystallography and biophysical techniques for the use in early-stage drug discovery. Before joining the CMD, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Frank von Delft’s group at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC).

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Headshot of Stefan Knapp

Stefan Knapp (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Stefan Knapp is Professor of Chemical Biology at the Goethe University Frankfurt and site head of the Frankfurt node of the “Structure Genomics Consortium”. Stefan’s laboratory is interested in the development and rational design of selective inhibitors targeting key signaling molecules (chemical probes) and their use for the validation of new targets. The research team focusses two main key areas: (1) Targeting protein interactions module that mediate the recognitions of key posttranslational modifications and (2) Targeting protein kinases. His lab is particularly interested in developing inhibitors targeting unusual binding modes and novel allosteric binding sites. 

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Headshot of Daren Fearon

Daren Fearon (Diamond Light Source)

Daren Fearon is Senior Beamline Scientist at the Diamond Light Source Ltd. He is a chemical and structural biologist with expertise in Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, Structure-Based Drug Design, protein crystallography, biophysics and medicinal chemistry. At Diamond, Daren is sponsible for managing the XChem academic user program and in-house research, including collaborations and partnerships such as EUbOpen and iNEXT-Discovery. He is also a co-investigator of the NIH funded AI-driven Structure-enabled Antiviral Platform (ASAP) AViDD Centre and a founding member of the COVID Moonshot consortium.

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Headshot of Joseph Newman

Joseph Newman (University of Oxford)

From 2013, Joseph Newman has been a post-doctoral scientist at the University of Oxford, initially in the Structural Genomics Consortium and now the Centre for Medicines discovery. His current research interests are the structure and function of DNA repair enzymes including helicases and nucleases. After his PhD in structural biology in the lab of Prof David Rice at the University of Sheffield UK, Joseph joined the lab of Prof Rick Lewis at Newcastle University UK where he studied the structure and biophysics of protein complexes involved in central carbon metabolism and biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis. 

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Headshot of Harold Grosjean

Harold Grosjean (University of Oxford & Diamond Light Source)

Harold Grosjean is a D.Phil student in Structural Biology at the University of Oxford and the Diamond Light Source under the supervision of Prof Phil Bigging (Oxford University) and Prof Frank von Delft (Diamond Light Source) and has a deep interest in Structure-Based Drug Design. Harold is also a visiting student at the Sloan Kettering cancer research center in New York where he worked on isothermal titration calorimetry of protein-fragment systems to validate his models with Prof. John Chodera.

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