Center News

The Emory Drug Discovery and Development (3D) Symposium was held on April 26, 2024 in the R. Randall Rollins building at Emory University to gather the Emory 3D community, inspire future therapeutic innovation, and launch the Emory Center for New Medicines. The event attracted more than 250 attendees from 21 departments across Emory, underscoring the enthusiasm for this work within the Emory community. Central to the mission of this event was a focus on leveraging the past successes and unique environment at Emory to accelerate drug discovery and development in the academic setting, with the goal of moving significantly more therapeutics from discovery to market in the coming years.

Emory was recently recognized as the #3 public sector research institution in the world in new drug development – an accolade that has been earned in large part due to outstanding advances in anti-viral therapeutics developed over the last four decades. Propelled by the global impact of Emory’s anti-viral drug development, it is natural to expand our effort to other major therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs that align with Emory’s research strengths, including cancer and brain health. With this strategic vision in mind, this event aims to invigorate this work through an annual gathering of 3D leaders, investigators, and trainees across all therapeutic areas to educate, equip, and empower the next generation of academic therapeutic innovators to develop new medicines to impact the world.

In addition to convening the Emory 3D community for a full day of inspiring scientific programming, the 2024 3D Symposium served as the official launch of the Emory Center for New Medicines (CNM). The CNM was established in 2023 with strategic investments by the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and the Winship Cancer Institute. Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH (Executive Vice President of Health Affairs at Emory University) opened the symposium with inspiring remarks not only on the importance of addressing unmet medical needs through innovative new medicines, but also the unique environment at Emory in which these efforts can be supported. Importantly, he expressed his enthusiasm and support for the establishment of the Emory Center for New Medicines, to be co-Directed by Haian Fu, PhD (Professor and Chair, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology) and Dennis Liotta, PhD (Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry).

Following opening remarks, Haian Fu presented the strategic vision and operational model for the Emory Center for New Medicines. Emphasizing the central mission of the Center, which is to have a physician-guided, discovery-enabled structure in which Emory researchers can translate their unique discoveries to the clinic. In alignment with Winship’s strategic emphasis on cancer drug discovery and development, Suresh Ramalingam (Executive Director of the Winship Cancer Institute) announced an investment from Winship to support cancer therapeutics projects, starting with an initial cohort of six projects spanning multiple cancer types. 

The central goal of the Emory 3D Symposium is to gather the Emory 3D community by providing them with a series of inspiring talks from leading researchers across the country. Kicking off the scientific program was a Keynote address by Stuart Schreiber, PhD, Founding CEO of Arena BioWorks, Morris Loeb Research Professor at Harvard University, and a founding core member of the Broad Institute. His talk, "Molecular glues & bifunctional compounds: Therapeutic modalities based on induced proximity", was an inspirational tale highlighting several of the discoveries that have established him as an international thought leader and pioneer in the field of chemical biology.

Session 1, Cancer Therapeutics, was chaired by Kelly Goldsmith, MD (Co-Leader of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics program at the Winship Cancer Institute) and Adam Marcus, PhD (Deputy Director, Winship Cancer Institute) and featured presentations from:

• Stephen Fesik, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Chemistry; Orrin H. Ingram II Chair in Cancer Research, Vanderbilt University
  • Cancer drug discovery using fragment-based methods
• Andrea Kasinski, PhD, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Deputy Director of Purdue Institute of Cancer Research, Purdue University
  • To the tumor and beyond: Tales of a holistic microRNA therapeutics platform

Session 2, Innovative Chemistry for Drug Discovery and Development, was chaired by Huw Davies, PhD (Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Chemistry and Co-Director, Biological Discovery through Chemical Innovation) and featured presentations from:

• William Gallagher, PhD, Associate Scientific Director, Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Process Chemistry at Bristol Myers Squibb
• Yi Tang, PhD, Professor of Chemistry, UCLA
  • Strategies for Discovery of Bioactive and Structurally Novel Natural Products

Session 3, Therapeutics for Neurodegenerative Diseases, was chaired by Allan Levey, MD, PhD (Director, Goizueta Institute at Emory Brain Health) and Todd Golde, MD, PhD (Director, Emory Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases) and featured presentations from:

• Frank Longo, MD, PhD, George E. and Lucy Becker Professor, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University
  • Developing an Alzheimer’s disease therapy: Concepts, small molecules, cells, mice, and human trials
• Charlotte Sumner, MD, Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
  • Therapeutics development for spinal muscular atrophy: Successes and ongoing challenges 

The day’s programming ended with a panel discussion on the evolving landscape of biotech, academic drug discovery, and innovative new models. Moderated by Haian Fu and featuring Stuart Schreiber, Dennis Liotta, George Painter, and Todd Sherer as panelists, this discussion provided an opportunity for discussions around drug discovery and development within academia as well as an exciting, new model that was recently established, Arena Bioworks, by Stuart Schreiber. Schreiber focused on the idea of breaking out of the way we normally think about drug discovery and development, encouraging the audience to move away from the question of how do we monetize science and our scientists? to how do we mitigate disease and suffering? Painter and Liotta emphasized a need for training and education for faculty in development processes, entrepreneurship, and business management – skills that are not standardized within faculty training. Lastly, Sherer emphasized the importance of a more unified innovation ecosystem as well as an environment that is laser focused on value generation through risk reduction.

The day ended with closing remarks from Dennis Liotta, PhD, (Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry, Co-Director of the Emory Center for New Medicines) and Lanny Liebeskind, PhD (Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs), who both emphasized the importance of committing to this work and building on the strong foundation established by Emory’s strong track record of success in drug discovery and development.

Following closing remarks, attendees were invited to the 8^th floor for a reception overlooking the beautiful Atlanta skyline – a lovely end to an inspiring day!

This event was hosted by the Emory Center for New Medicines, with generous support from the Woodruff Health Science Center, Winship Cancer Institute, Goizueta Institute at Emory Brain Health, Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (CND), School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Biological Discovery through Chemical Innovation (BDCI) initiative. Planning for next year’s event is already underway, with an expanded program and further opportunities for the 3D community to connect, collaborate, and ultimately elevate the landscape of therapeutic innovation at Emory. Save the date for Friday, March 28^th, 2025!

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