Venomics: Drug Discovery from Nature's Deadliest

Speakers

Organizers

Mandë Holford, PhD

Hunter College, CUNY / American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Mandë Holford is as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Hunter College and CUNY-Graduate Center, with a scientific appointment at the American Museum of Natural History. Her dual appointment reflects her interdisciplinary research, which combines chemistry and biology to discover, characterize, and deliver novel neuropeptides from venomous marine snails (cones snails, terebrids, and turrids) as tools for manipulating cell signaling in the nervous system. She has received funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support her independent research. Dr. Holford received her PhD in Synthetic Protein Chemistry from The Rockefeller University. In 2013 she was recently award the prestigious Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. In 2011 she was awarded an NSF CAREER Award, and named a 21st Century Chemist in the NBC-Learn, Chemistry Now series. She is an inaugural member of the World Academy of Young Scientist (WAYS), an organization sponsored by UNESCO and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS). She served on the Advisory Committee for Term Members of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Junior Council at the American Museum of Natural History. She is also a member of AAAS, The American Chemical Society, the American Peptide Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Steven Gross, PhD

Weill Cornell Medical College

Steven S. Gross is Professor of Pharmacology, Director of the Mass Spectrometry Core Facility and Director of Advanced Training in Pharmacology at the Weill Cornell Medical College. The American Chemical Society recently awarded Dr. Gross with a 2011 award for "Achievements in Mass Spectrometry". His primary research interest is in cell–cell communication, with a focus on nitric oxide (NO) and reactive molecules as mediators of cell signaling. In the late 1980s, Dr Gross and colleagues made the initial identification of L-arginine as the precursor of NO in blood vessels. They were also first to establish that NOS inhibition elevates blood pressure in animals, demonstrating that NO plays a physiological role in controlling blood pressure and vascular tone. Since then, research efforts have been directed toward elucidating the enzymes and mechanisms that regulate NO synthesis in cells. His basic studies have provided fundamental insights into the therapeutic control of NO synthesis, resulting in core technologies for the creation of ArgiNOx Inc., a biotech start-up that seeks to develop novel NO-based drugs. Dr. Gross' research is supported in part by a MERIT Award from the NHLBI. He is a founder and Board Director of the Nitric Oxide Society and chairs the Steering Committee of the Biochemical Pharmacology Discussion Group (BPDG) at NYAS. Dr Gross received his PhD in Biomedical Science from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Jennifer Henry, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Keynote Speaker

Baldomero M. Olivera, PhD

University of Utah

Baldomero (“Toto”) Olivera was born in Manila and received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines (summa cum laude).  He came to Caltech in Pasadena, California to do graduate work on the Biophysical Chemistry of DNA and did postdoctoral work in Biochemistry at Stanford. He returned to the Philippines to a faculty position at the Department of Biochemistry, University of the Philippines Medical School. In 1972, he moved to the University of Utah where he is presently a Distinguished Professor of Biology. His early research contributions include the discovery and biochemical characterization of E. coli DNA ligase, a key enzyme of DNA replication and repair that made the recombinant DNA revolution in Biology possible.

Dr. Olivera initiated the identification and characterization of biologically-active peptides found in the venoms of the predatory cone snails. A large number of peptide neurotoxins ("conopeptides") are present in these venoms, and their characterization led Olivera’s research group to a broad involvement with molecular neuroscience. Conus venom components are used to investigate the function of individual molecular components of nervous systems, particularly a class of protein complexes known as ion channels. In addition, the cone snail project has raised wide-ranging biological questions, from mechanisms of protein folding and post-translational modification, to gene organization and mechanisms of speciation. Several peptides discovered in Olivera’s laboratory have been developed by Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies as therapeutic drugs, three have reached human clinical trials and one (Prialt) has been approved by the FDA in the U.S. for the treatment of intractable pain. Additional applications of these compounds as therapeutics for heart attacks, strokes, epilepsy and other neuropathologies are actively being explored.

Speakers

Anirban Banerjee, PhD

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH

Anirban Banerjee got his MSc in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur where he did research in supramolecular chemistry and total chemical synthesis of fullerene fragments. As a graduate student in Greg Verdine's lab in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, he combined tools and techniques from synthetic oligonucleotide chemistry, biochemistry and crystallography to study the problem of how a particular class of DNA repair proteins locate rare sites of damaged bases in DNA and discriminate between undamaged and damaged DNA. In his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Rod MacKinnon at The Rockefeller University, he focused his attention on various aspects of voltage-dependent K+ channels (Kv channels), including the mechanism by which small peptide toxins from the venom of poisonous animals target this important class of ion channels. In 2012, he started as an Earl Stadtman Investigator in the Cell Biology and Metabolism Program at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) in the Bethesda campus of the NIH. He is a recipient of the ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award in Graduate Education, a post doctoral fellowship from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and the NIH Director's Challenge Award in 2013.

Carole A. Bewley, PhD

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH

Dr. Carole Bewley received her PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Natural Products Chemistry/Oceanography in 1996, and carried out postdoctoral research in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institutes of Health. She joined the faculty of the Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, NIDDK, NIH, in 2000 where she is currently a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Natural Products Chemistry Section and Deputy Chief of the Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry. She leads a multidisciplinary research program that focuses on discovery and structural studies of natural products and protein inhibitors that have therapeutic potential in the areas of antibiotics and viral entry inhibitors. For this work, she has been the recipient of the NIH Director's Award, the Paul Dowd Lectureship, and the Maryland Chemical Society, and is an inventor on numerous patents for discoveries in the area of anti-infectives. One of the most gratifying aspects of her job includes mentoring scientist/co-workers, especially in the chemical sciences. Dr. Bewley is an active member and reviewer for the American Chemical Society, and is currently a member of the Chemical Sciences Roundtable for the National Academy of Sciences, and an editorial advisory board member for the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Natural Product Reports, and Current Anti-Infectives.

Pierre Escoubas, PhD

VenomeTech

Dr. Pierre Escoubas is President and CEO of VenomeTech, a Biotech startup company located in the Sophia-Antipolis French research cluster. Dr. Escoubas obtained his PhD in Chemical Entomology at University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris) in 1988, and worked as a post-doctoral associate at the University of Georgia (USA) before moving to Japan in 1989 as a research associate for the Japan Research and Development Corporation. In 1993, he joined the Suntory Institute for Bioorganic Research (SUNBOR) in Osaka to work on peptide toxins from animal venoms. He returned to France in 1998 to join the group of Prof. M. Lazdunski at the CNRS Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology in Sophia Antipolis, and as an Associate Professor at the University of Paris and University of Nice Sophia Antipolis until 2009.

He has also received business and entrepreneurship education at HEC Paris (Challenge+) and EM Lyon business schools. He founded VenomeTech in 2009 and has since been leading the company towards the development of innovative drugs from animal venom peptides.

He has implemented and is leading the FP7 European project VENOMICS (2011-2015, budget 6m€/8m$), a large-scale endeavor aiming at the development of novel drugs from animal venom peptides. Dr. Escoubas research interests include the discovery of novel peptide toxins from various venomous animals, biological mass spectrometry, peptide engineering and folding, ion channel molecular pharmacology, and the development of novel peptide therapeutics. He has organized symposia, workshops, training courses and lectures in peptide biochemistry and biological mass spectrometry. Dr. Escoubas has authored 78 research papers, and holds 8 patents.

Bryan Fry, PhD

The University of Queensland, Australia

Associate Professor Bryan Grieg Fry has published widely on venomous animals including cephalopods, centipedes, jellyfish, reptiles, scorpions, spiders, slow lorises and even vampire bats. His fieldwork has taken him to all of the continents, including collecting venomous octopuses in Antarctica. His discoveries include that the iconic Komodo Dragon is actually venomous. His research has led to the discovery of compounds useful as medicines, such as patenting taipan snake venom peptides for use in treating congestive heart failure.

Mandë Holford, PhD

Hunter College, CUNY / American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Mandë Holford is as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Hunter College and CUNY- Graduate Center, with a scientific appointment at the American Museum of Natural History. Her dual appointment reflects her interdisciplinary research, which combines chemistry and biology to discover, characterize, and deliver novel neuropeptides from venomous marine snails (cones snails, terebrids, and turrids) as tools for manipulating cell signaling in the nervous system. She has received funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support her independent research. Dr. Holford received her PhD in Synthetic Protein Chemistry from The Rockefeller University. In 2013 she was recently award the prestigious Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. In 2011 she was awarded an NSF CAREER Award, and named a 21st Century Chemist in the NBC-Learn, Chemistry Now series. She is an inaugural member of the World Academy of Young Scientist (WAYS), an organization sponsored by UNESCO and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS). She served on the Advisory Committee for Term Members of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Junior Council at the American Museum of Natural History. She is also a member of AAAS, The American Chemical Society, the American Peptide Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Inés Ibañez-Tallon, PhD

The Rockefeller University

Dr. Ines Ibañez-Tallon is Visiting Associate Professor at the Rockefeller University and Group leader at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin. She studied Biology at the University of Barcelona, obtained her PhD in Genetic Sciences from the University of Milan and carried out postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University.

Mark E. Siddall, PhD

American Museum of Natural History

Mark Siddall, Curator, Division of Invertebrate Zoology Mark Siddall's research has focused on the evolutionary biology of a wide range of parasites, from single-celled microbes to leeches. Dr. Siddall now concentrates on researching Darwinian selection and diversity of hemotoxic venom proteins of leeches like Tyranobdella rex (T. rex), recently described from the Amazon. Siddall has led numerous field expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History. He is a professor in the Museum's Richard Gilder Graduate School and is principal investigator in the Museum's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. In addition to serving as vice president of the American Society of Parasitologists, Siddall is also the curator of the Museum's exhibition Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies, and co-curator of the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life and The Power of Poison opening in November of 2013. He received his PhD in Zoology from the University of Toronto.

Beatrix Ueberheide, PhD

NYU Langone Medical Center

Dr. Ueberheide joined the faculty of NYU as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and Director of the Proteomics Core. She has extensive experience in biological mass spectrometry, especially method development, mapping of post translational modifications, de novo sequencing, 'Bottom Up' and 'Top Down' strategies, as well as comprehensive protein characterization in complex mixtures. Dr. Ueberheide contributed to a wide range of studies from analyzing chromatin, characterizing venoms, to sequencing of complex antibody mixtures. She received her PhD in chemistry at the University of Virginia in the lab of Dr. Donald Hunt where she focused on the study of histone post translational modifications using classical 'Bottom Up' and also 'Top Down' strategies. She joined Rockefeller University in 2006 for her postdoctoral training with Dr. Brian Chait. There she developed de novo sequencing strategies for analysis of venom components and established techniques to study antibodies isolated from HIV infected long-term non-progressors. The current focus of her research is to develop advanced mass spectrometric techniques for the characterization, de novo sequencing and quantitation of proteins and their post translational modifications.

Panelists

Yvonne M. Angell, PhD

Ipsen

Yvonne Angell is Director of Chemistry at Ipsen. Yvonne earned her BS in Pharmacy and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed her post-doctoral work at the University of Minnesota. Yvonne has 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Past experience includes designing novel, constrained peptide libraries to inhibit protein-protein interactions as a scientist at Eli Lilly and Co., design and development of bead-based binding assays to identify new hits aimed at inhibiting protein-protein interactions at Genetics Institute (now Pfizer), and hit-to-lead optimization on several peptide therapeutic projects as a senior scientist at Affymax. Her current work at Ipsen is focused on discovery, design and engineering of novel, potent, selective lead peptide and peptide chimeric compounds for oncology and endocrinology targets. She has led several cross-functional project teams from early discovery through preclinical development.

Les P. Miranda, PhD

Amgen

Les Miranda is Director of Research in Therapeutic Discovery at Amgen, Inc. A graduate of the University of W. Sydney (Australia), he obtained his Ph.D. in synthetic peptide and protein chemistry from the University of Queensland (Australia). Les held a research position at the Carlsberg Laboratory (Denmark), and then served as an Associate Director at Gryphon Therapeutics (South San Francisco, USA) with Professor Stephen B.H. Kent, where he contributed to the development of methods for the total chemical synthesis and medicinal optimization of protein therapeutics. At Amgen, he is responsible for peptide and related hybrid discovery, and has supported numerous preclinical and early development programs. Les has led several cross-functional teams through various stages of drug discovery and development. During his career, Les has authored more than 50 publications and contributed to more than 10 issued patents.

Hazel H. Szeto, MD, PhD

Stealth Peptides Inc.

Dr. Szeto is a Professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College and Director of the Research Program in Mitochondrial Therapeutics. Dr. Szeto has extensive expertise in peptide-based drug design, pharmacokinetics, and preclinical drug development. She has developed a number of highly potent and selective opioid peptide analogs that are metabolically stable and can readily cross the blood-brain barrier. In 2004, Dr. Szeto made the original discovery that certain cell-permeable aromatic-cationic tetrapeptides selectively target and concentrate in the inner mitochondrial membrane. She recently discovered that these peptides target cardiolipin on the inner mitochondrial membrane, promote electron transfer through cytochromce c, enhance ATP production and reduce ROS generation. Dr. Szeto then evaluated their efficacy in protecting and restoring mitochondrial bioenergetics in numerous preclinical models of age-associated complex diseases, including cardiorenal diseases, metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, skeletal muscle weakness, and chronic pain. In 2006, Dr. Szeto founded Stealth Peptides International to take these “first-in-class” cardiolipin therapeutics from bench to bedside. The first drug candidate (Bendavia) has completed Phase 1 studies with intravenous and oral formulations, and is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for acute cardiorenal ischemic injury and heart failure. An ophthalmic formulation is scheduled to enter clinical trial in early 2014. Dr. Szeto remains a full-time faculty member at Weill Cornell Medical College while serving as Scientific Consultant to Stealth Peptides. She received her MD and PhD in Pharmacology from Cornell University Medical College in 1977.