Harnessing Structural Insights in Drug Discovery

The Role of Structural Insights in Drug Discovery Structural information plays a pivotal role in drug discovery, and access to 3D information can streamline many aspects across the value chain. Dr. Jay Bertrand, Vice President, Head of Global Structural Biology and Evotec's Princeton Site Head, discusses the evolution of structural support to drug discovery projects, and provides insight into choosing the right protein for structural analysis. He will also share case studies on the application of X-ray and cryo-EM to obtain compound-bound protein structures. Jay Bertrand VP Head of Global Structural Biology & Princeton Site Head Biography Dr Bertrand has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology (1994) with a focus on protein crystallography. He then spent three years in Grenoble, France at the Institut de Biologie Structurale where he worked on a joint project with Roussel Uclaf on the antibacterial target MurD before returning to the US to work with Janet Smith at Purdue University. In 2000, Jay transferred from academia to industry with an initial role in Roche Palo Alto providing structural support to inflammation projects before moving on to Pharmacia in Milan, Italy to support oncology projects. While in Milan, Jay’s role evolved from a Principal Scientist to the Head of Structural Chemistry and, during the same time, ownership of the site changed from Pharmacia to Pfizer before eventually becoming Nerviano Medical Sciences. In 2012, he joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals Oxford, UK site as a Research Fellow and Director of Structural Biology and Biophysics. During his time in the UK, he implemented fragment screening techniques that delivered novel chemistry starting points to oncology projects and led the integration of Cryo-EM into the Vertex Oxford workflow. In 2021, he joined Evotec as VP Head of Global Structural Biology and, more recently, took on the role of Princeton Site Head. During his time in academia and industry, Jay has been named in 6 chemical patents and co-authored 32 publications, covering a broad range of targets and therapeutic areas. He’s also participated in teams delivering 11 clinical candidates of which 3 have become marketed drugs.