Drug Discovery Seminar: Prof. Olaf Wiest

When: Wednesday, June 12, 2 pm

Where: LSEB room 103, 24 Cummington Street

Title:    Epigenetics in Cancer and Metabolic Diseases

Speaker: Professor Olaf G. Wiest

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Abstract: Epigenetic targets have found significant interest in drug discovery in the last few years. Here, we describe computational and experimental studies for the epigenetic readers and erasers of the histone acetylation, the bromodomains and histone deacetylases, respectively. The application of a range of computational methods to identify novel binders and understand isoform selectivity is described. Finally, I will discuss the use of a histone deacetylase inhibitor for a lethal rare disease, Niemann-Pick Type C as an example for drug discovery in an academic environment.

Biographical Notes: Professor Wiest obtained his Diploma (M.S.) in 1991 and his Dr. rer. nat (Ph.D.) in 1993 from the University of Bonn in Germany for his work on synthetic and mechanistic studies of radical cation Diels-Alder-Reactions. He then spend two years as a Feodor Lynen Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at UCLA working on the application of ab initio quantum mechanical methods to the mechanism of pericyclic and enzymatic reactions. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1995 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2001 and Full Professor in 2005. He was awarded both a NSF CAREER Award and an NIH FIRST Award. He was named one of sixteen 2001 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars in the nation. In 2004, he received a Kaneb Teaching Award from the University of Notre Dame.