New insight in Drug design and discovery: from the bench to the patient

Week 1 -Wednesday-7th May-14:00‐17:00 From Charges to p‐systems: Classical Molecular Interactions – Familiar, yet still Surprising. Non‐Classical Molecular Interactions: New Tools, New Rules Prof. Dr. Frank M. Boeckler Molecular Design & Pharm. Biophysics, Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen Friday, 9th May- 14:00‐17:00 The Drug Discovery Process & Technologies ‐ Strategies, Issues, Costs, Outlook Thermodynamics in Drug Discovery (in Hit2Lead / LeadOpt) Molecular Complexity & Fragment‐based Drug Discovery Hit‐to‐Lead optimization, Co‐optimizing Ligand Properties, Avoiding late Attrition Prof. Dr. Frank M. Boeckler Lab for Molecular Design & Pharm. Biophysics, Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen Week 2- Wednesday-14th May- 14:00‐15:30 In Vitro Cell Culture Models and Evaluation of Drug Effects Dr. Miruna Stan, Faculty of Biology, Bucharest University 15:30‐17:00- Neurodegenerative Diseases and Drug Discovery Prof. Dr. Maria Cano‐Abad, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autonoma Madrid Friday, 16th May 14:00‐15:00 Immunomodulation and Drug Impact on Cytokine Production and on the M1/M2 Macrophage Phenotype Dr. Gratiela Gradisteanu, Research Institute of Bucharest University 15:00‐17:00 Evaluation Drug‐induced Responses in Cultured Cells at Specific Time Points (Cell Cycle Analysis and Apoptosis). Screening of Drug‐induced Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Leukocytes Subpopulations in Whole Blood (Ex‐vivo) Prof. Dr. Luminita Marutescu, Faculty of Biology, Bucharest University Week 3- Wednesday, 21st May 14:00‐17:00 Microcalorimetry (ITC, DSC) and NanoDSF : Application to Anticancer Drugs Screening and Thermodynamic Characterization Prof. Dr. Francois Devred, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aix‐Marseille Université Friday, 23rd May 14:00‐17:00 Introduction to NMR Spectroscopy and Related Screening Methods Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Mikros, Faculty of Pharmacy, National Kapodistrian University of Athens Week 4 Wednesday, 28th May 14:00‐17:00 Pharmacokinetics in Drug Discovery and Development: Physiologically‐based PK (PBPK) Models Prof. Dr. Florence Gattacceca, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aix‐Marseille Université Friday, 30th May 14:00‐17:00 Facts and Principles in Drug Discovery and Development: the Molecular Drug Space Selection and Optimization Prof. Dr. Sandrine Alibert, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aix‐Marseille Université Week 5, Wednesday, 4th June- 14:00‐15:30 Animal Models (Ethical Considerations, Experimental Design, In vivo Analysis of Drug Effects) Dr. Gratiela Gradisteanu, Research Institute of Bucharest University 15:03‐17:00 Microparticles and Nanoparticles for drug administration. Prof. Dra. Ana Isabel Torres, Pharmacy and Food Technology. Universidad Complutense de Madrid Friday, 6th June- 14:00‐17:00 Controlled Drug Delivery Systems for Parenteral Administration. Microparticles and Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery. Dr. Juan Aparicio Blanco, Pharmacy and Food Technology. Universidad Complutense de Madrid Week 6- Wednesday, 11th June-14:00‐15:30 Screening methodologies for the identification of new drugs Prof. Dr. Adrian Gironda Martinez, Pharmacology Department Medicine School, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 15:30‐17:00 Drug repurposing and repositioning: A new life for old drugs Prof. Dr. Adrian Gironda Martinez, Pharmacology Department Medicine School, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Friday, 13rd June- 14:00‐15:30 Case Studies in Industrial Anti-cancer Drug Discovery: KRAS G12C and HIF2α Dr. Rainer Wilcken, Drug Design at Flare Therapeutics Director, Computational Chemistry / Computer-Aided Therapeutics 15:30‐17:00 Fragment-based Approaches towards PROTAC Development and FE Methods Dr. Matthias Bauer Senior Expert II Data Science at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Week 7- Wednesday, 18th June- 14:00‐15:30 Introduction to Epigenetics and Related Drugs Prof. Dr. Antonello Mai, Faculty of Pharmacy, La Sapienza University 15:30‐17:00 Introduction to Ligand‐based Methods: Pharmacophore Modeling, (3D) QSAR Prof. Dr. Rino Ragno Faculty of Pharmacy, La Sapienza University, Rome Friday 20th June- 14:00‐15:30 Introduction to Structure‐based Methods in Drug Design: Molecular Docking Prof. Dr. Rino Ragno Faculty of Pharmacy, La Sapienza University, Rome 15:30‐17:00 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery Dr. Markus Zimmermann, Molecular Design & Pharm. Biophysics, Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen Week 8- Wednesday,25th June- 14:00‐15:30 New targets and potential drug candidates for refractory epilepsy (Dr. Carmen Ovejero, Pharmacology Department, Pharmacy , (Universidad San Pablo Ceus) 15:30‐17:00 Introduction to ligand-based methods: Pharmacophore modeling, Prof. Dr. Thilo Stehle, Dean of the Faculty of Science Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry Eberhard Karls University Tübingen Friday-27th June- 14:00‐15:30 Bioequivalence clinical Trials Prof. Dr. Alberto Borobia, Pharmacology Department, School of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 15:30‐17:00 Clinical Trials Prof. Dr. Evangelos Terpos, School of Medicine, National Kapodistrian University of Athens Drug developming , experimental and computational approaches

Application Deadline

Virtual Part starting date 2025-05-07

Virtual Part closing date 2025-06-27

Total student workload 180

Specific field of studies Drug developing, biological models, clinical trials, new systems of drug delivery

Pre-requisite for selection CV Motivation Letter

Academic pre-requisites for applicants Students will require to have a good comprehension of English to follow the lectures, to be able to communicate, answer the multiple-choice test and present their review work. This course is addressed to students with basic knowledge in pharmacy, medicine, biophysics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and biochemistry. Bachelor, Master student, and PhD student,

Physical Part starting date 2025-06-30

Physical Part Description The physical component of the program will consist of an one- week summer school in which students will participate in lectures, seminaries, hands-on-courses and practical tutorials covering the following topics: - New strategies to develop drugs for neurodegenerative diseases / Methods to measure calcium- Tools for drug discovery- Prof. Maria F. Cano Abad, Facultad de Medicina, Universitad Autónoma Madrid - Microbicidal versus antipathogenic strategies in antimicrobial drug discovery- Prof. Dr. Carmen Chifiriuc, University of Bucharest - Introduction to physiologically-based modelling- Prof. Florence Gattacceca, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aix-Marseille Université - Methods for the In vitro Assessment of Antimicrobial Activity- Prof. Dr. Luminita Marutescu, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest - NMR-based Metabolomics- Prof. Emmanuel Mikros, Faculty of Pharmacy, National Kapodistrian University of Athens - Practical Aspects in Building (3D-) QSAR Models and their Validation- Prof. Rino Ragno, Faculty of Pharmacy, La Sapienza University Rome - The Versatility of Halogen Bonding/Methods in CompChem -Choose wisely and apply with care!- Prof. Frank M. Böckler, Dept. of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen - Principles and Applications of Chalcogen Bonding / Introduction Hands-on-Course: CompChem/ VS/ ML- Dr. Markus O. Zimmermann, Dept. of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen - Gastroplus ADMET Predictor to Screen Gastro-intestinal Absorption and Metabolism Properties- Prof. Florence Gattacceca, Faculty of Pharmacy, Aix-Marseille Université - 3D QSAR Practical Course- Prof. Rino Ragno, Faculty of Pharmacy, La Sapienza University Rome - Hands-on-Course: Computational Chemistry / Virtual Screening / Machine Learning- Dr. Markus O. Zimmermann, Dept. of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen - Hands-on-Molecular-Biophysics ( Differential Scanning Fluorimetry / Isothermal Titriation Calorimetry / Fluorescence Polarization / Crystallography )- Prof. Frank M. Böckler, Dept. of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen - From the laboratory to the patient, Prof. Dra. Manuela García López, Pharmacology Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma Madrid. - Hands on, Animals models in neurodegenerative disease- Tools for drug discovery, Dra. Elena Tortosa, Pharmacology Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma Madrid. - Hands-on-Microparticles and Nanoparticles for drug administration, Prof. Dra. Ana Isabel Torres, Pharmacy Faculty, Department of Galenic Pharmacy and Food Technology - Drug development pharmaceutical company. Dr. Carlos Herrero, EMEA Head. Early Development & Clinical Pharmacology. Global Clinical Operations The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

Physical Part closing date 2025-07-04

Language level required B2

Field of studies related to the course Medicine and Health

Course location Madrid, Spain

Course language English