From Structural Insight to Therapeutic Design       

7 October 2026 | 11:15 - 12:30

Structure-based drug discovery has become a key enabler of innovation in modern pharmaceutical research, offering a rational framework for the design and optimization of new therapeutics. By revealing how drug molecules interact with their biological targets at the atomic level, structural insight provides a powerful foundation for informed decision-making throughout the discovery process. This session will highlight how both experimental and computational methods contribute to this effort, from structural biology techniques that uncover target architecture and ligand binding modes to in silico approaches that support modeling, prediction, and design. Together, these complementary strategies help guide medicinal chemistry, accelerate lead optimization, and improve the progression from target identification to high-quality drug candidates. By integrating experimental data with computational insight, structure-based drug discovery enables more efficient discovery pathways and ultimately supports the development of safer and more effective medicines.

Chairs: Willem Jespers (University of Groningen)

Speakers: Marta Arimont (SandboxAQ), Karim Rafie (University of Groningen), Chris Schafer (VU Amsterdam)

Oral Presenter: Remco L. Van Den Broek (LACDR)

FIGON Partners: GRIP

Session Schedule

11:15 – 11:20 
Welcome and introduction by Willem Jespers
11:20 – 11:35 
Karim Rafie (University of Groningen) - De Novo Protein Design to Modulate Viral Protein–Protein Interfaces
11:35 – 11:50 
Chris Schafer (VU Amsterdam) - Unlocking new chemokine receptor pharmacology through de novo protein design
11:50 – 12:05 
Selected oral presentation:
Remco L. van den Broek - COFOLDER: Toward Bias-Aware Co-Folding for Ligand Screening and Design
12:05 – 12:20 
Marta Arimont (SandboxAQ) - Integrative Computational Frameworks: Synergizing AI and Physics-Based Modeling for Multi-Stage Drug Discovery
12:20 – 12:30 
Panel discussion and closing remarks

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