Gene to Screen Track at SCIpharm 2006 Aimed at the Biological Scientist

Now in its second year, the SCIpharm 2006 conference (May 14-17, EICC, Edinburgh, Scotland) will cover all aspects of modern R&D in a four-track format - Gene to Screen, Screen to Candidate, Candidate to Drug and Where Science Meets Business.

The Gene-to-screen track is targeted to meet the needs of the biologist. With the advent of siRNA and convenient rodent transgenesis, high-throughput biology has come of age.

The result is a fast-growing set of options to select therapeutic concepts, identify the necessary targets and design assays that not only select potent ligands but also those that are selective for the desired pharmacological effect.

The Gene to Screen track will focus on questions like, "How is this biology being turned into drugable targets and viable assays? What will be the new pharmacology to emerge from the sophisticated new screening paradigms? Will optimisation of biologicals open up new therapeutic concepts?"

The specific session themes include, "Novel assays to support biological screening and optimisation" as chaired by Wilma Keighley from Pfizer; "Hepatitis C – A paradigm of gene to screen drug discovery" covered by A Donny Strosberg from the Scripps Institute; "Optimising biologicals" chaired by Frank Walsh of Wyeth; "Gene therapy - from gene to screen to clinic" lead by Yuti Chernajovsky, St. Bart’s and the William Harvey Research Institute; and "Stem cell therapies - When one gene just isn’t enough" covered by Professor Roger Pedersen, Professor of Regenerative Medicine, University of Cambridge.

The sessions provide opportunity for pharmaceutical researchers to obtain both overview and detailed examples of strategies in turning biological insight into viable discovery campaigns.

The abundance of industry researchers and leading academics at SCIpharm makes it an excellent venue for those who are interested in establishing and renewing contacts with the pharmaceutical industry.

The conference covers the most relevant and challenging issues facing all aspects of modern pharmaceutical R&D.

It brings together wide-ranging expertise and an impressive array of eminent speakers, including industry leaders and respected academics from around the world.