BMERC Seminar: Hybrid computational strategies for inhibitor design

When:   Monday, February 24, 2:00 pm

Where:  ENG room 203, 44 Cummington Street 

Title:      Hybrid computational strategies for inhibitor design: a case study with protein methyltransferases

Speaker:  Melissa Landon, Ph.D., Schrodinger Inc., Cambridge, MA.

Abstract:  Protein methyltransferases (PMTs) are attractive epigenetic targets for the development of novel chemotherapeutic agents as well as for the treatment of neurogenerative- and inflammatory- disorders.  In this presentation I will discuss the application of hybrid computational strategies, i.e. combining both ligand- and structure-based approached, toward the identification of PMT inhibitors.  Furthermore, I will discuss a general framework for incorporation of 2D and 3D methods into a virtual screening campaign.

Bio: Melissa received bachelors’ degrees in chemistry and applied mathematics from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a PhD in Bioinformatics in 2007 from Boston University.  She completed postdoctoral training in x-ray crystallography in the joint laboratory of Greg Petsko and Dagmar Ringe before moving on to an industrial position at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, and to the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto, ON. Currently she is an Education Specialist with Schrodinger, a computational chemistry software company with offices in Cambridge, MA.