New consortium mounts first symposium: VirginiaBrain Rx
“The scale and complexity of today’s … research problems increasingly demand that scientists move beyond the confines of their own discipline and explore new organizational models for team science…. Many scientists will still continue to pursue individual research projects, but they too will be encouraged to make changes in the way they approach the scientific enterprise.”
— NIH Roadmap for Research
The recently conceived, still-evolving Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium is nothing if not a prime example of collaborative science.
Its first meeting, “VirginiaBrain Rx: A Symposium on Drug Discovery for the Brain,” will further the collaboration by convening brain disease researchers from Virginia universities, research institutes and pharmaceutical companies to highlight the challenges and opportunities for drug discovery in targeting brain diseases. The ultimate goal? To stimulate collaborative brain research among those entities.
Researchers and students are welcome to attend the May 23-24 symposium. Five keynote speakers will be featured, as well as a poster session and a panel discussion on the pharmaceutical industry’s “conditions for satisfaction” in drug discovery collaborations with academia. Keynote speakers are the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Phil Skolnick, Carrie K. Jones of Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Todd Sherer of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Thomas Laughren of MGH Clinical Trials Network and Institute and Darryle Schoepp of Merck.
Richard A. Glennon, chairman of the VCU School of Pharmacy Department of Medicinal Chemistry, credits David G.I. Kingston with the concept. Kingston, a chemistry professor, directs the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery.
Glennon notes that Kingston wanted to expand on the idea of a “brain state” by looking specifically at drugs and the brain. “Different universities have different strengths, so he contacted John Lazo [at University of Virginia]. They started talking, then Kingston called me because they were treading in the area of medicinal chemistry.”
From those conversations, a symposium committee was formed: Kingston; Glennon; Lazo, a U.Va. professor and director of its Fiske Drug Discovery Lab; and Paul R. Carlier, a professor and deputy director of the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery.
Co-sponsors of the symposium include VCU, Eastern Virginia Medical School, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corp. Discussing the idea of Virginia as a “brain state” in an interview last year with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Mike Grisham, CEO of VBHRC, predicted that the Commonwealth could become a national and global leader in neurosciences.
Although the universities that have expressed interest in the Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium are not yet conducting research together, they are finding out what each has to offer. VDDC, in essence, will serve as a research engine, paving the way for significant increases in external funding and concomitant increases in scholarship. Building on shared strengths and common interests, the consortium aims to develop a program that can create a supportive ecosystem to improve Virginia’s national ranking and international reputation.
This, in turn, will position Virginia for new funding opportunities in growth areas relevant to drug discovery via synergies that will facilitate productive research and development: a perfect storm of collaborative science.
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VirginiaBrain Rx schedule
Monday, May 23
Chairmen: David G.I. Kingston, Ph.D., and Richard A. Glennon, Ph.D.
11 a.m. Registration opens
1 p.m. Symposium opens. Welcome from David G.I. Kingston, Ph.D. (professor, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech), meeting chairman; Mike Grisham, VBHRC/The Catalyst; and Virginia Del. John O’Bannon, M.D. (R-73rd District)
1:15 p.m. “Origins, Status and Future of the Virginia’s Neuroscience Initiative, aka The Brain State,” Mike Friedlander, Ph.D. (founding executive director, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute); George Bloom, Ph.D. (professor of biology and cell biology, University of Virginia) and David Cifu, M.D. (Neurotrauma Consortium, Virginia Commonwealth University)
1:30 p.m. Keynote 1: “Developing Therapeutics for Substance Use Disorders: Progress and Outlook,” Phil Skolnick, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon.) (director, Division of Therapeutics and Medical Consequences, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH)
2:05 p.m. Q&A
2:15 p.m. Keynote 2: “Opportunities in CNS Drug Development: An Industry Perspective,” Darryle Schoepp, Ph.D. (vice president and therapeutic area head, Neuroscience, Merck)
2:55 p.m. Q&A
3 p.m. Coffee break/poster session
3:30 p.m. Keynote 3: “Lessons Learned in Building an Academic Drug Discovery Center,” Carrie K. Jones, Ph.D. (director, In Vivo and Translational Pharmacology, Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery)
4:10 p.m. Q&A
4:15 p.m. Opportunities for interinstitutional collaboration within the Commonwealth; resource inventories at EVMS, GMU, ODU, U.Va., VCU, VT: VPRs or their designees
5:15 p.m. Day 1 wrap-up, Richard A. Glennon, Ph.D. (chairman, Medicinal Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University)
5:30 p.m. Social hour and networking/poster session
6:30 p.m. Dinner
Tuesday, May 24
Chairmen: John S. Lazo, Ph.D., and Paul R. Carlier, Ph.D.
7:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Welcome from John S. Lazo, Ph.D. (professor of pharmacology and chemistry, U.Va.)
Keynote 4: “Parkinson’s Disease: Meeting the Challenge,” Todd Sherer, Ph.D. (CEO, Michael J. Fox Foundation)
9:15 a.m. Introduction to Commonwealth of Virginia speakers
9:20 a.m. “Amyloid and Tau: The Trigger and Bullet in Alzheimer’s Disease Pathogenesis,” George Bloom, Ph.D. (professor of biology and cell biology, University of Virginia)
9:35 a.m. “The Medicines for All Initiative,” B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D. (chairman, Chemical and Life Science Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University)
9:50 a.m. “New Use for an Old Drug: Sulfasalazine to Treat Tumor-Associated Epilepsy,” Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D. (executive director, Neuroscience Initiative, Virginia Tech)
10:05 a.m. Coffee break/poster session
10:55 a.m. “Insights From an Integrated Approach to Animal Behavioral Models,” Larry D. Sanford, Ph.D. (professor of pathology and anatomy, Eastern Virginia Medical School)
11:10 a.m. “Preclinical and Clinical Applications of Drug and Gene Electrotransfer,” Richard Heller, Ph.D. (professor, Frank Reidy Center for Bioelectrics, Old Dominion University)
11:25 a.m. “The Role of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor in Axon Growth and Regeneration,” Nadine Kabbani, Ph.D. (associate professor, molecular neuroscience, and Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University)
11:40 a.m. “The NIH Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network,” Amir Tamiz, Ph.D. (program officer, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Office of Translational Research, NIH)
11:55 a.m. Closing remarks for the morning session
Noon Lunch and networking/poster session
1:00 p.m. Keynote 5: “Challenges and Opportunities in Psychiatric Drug Development,” Thomas Laughren, M.D. (director, Regulatory Affairs, MGH Clinical Trials Network and Institute)
1:45 p.m. Panel discussion: “What are Industry’s ‘Conditions for Satisfaction’ in Drug Discovery Collaborations with Academia?”, Mike Grisham (VBHRC/The Catalyst), moderator; Rita Balice-Gordon, Ph.D. (Pfizer); Ryan Westphal, Ph.D. (Lilly); Michael Wood, Ph.D. (AstraZeneca) and Frank D. Yocca, Ph.D. (BioXcel)
2:55 p.m. Closing remarks from Paul R. Carlier, Ph.D. (professor, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech)