Instruct PartnerFragment-Screening is a relatively recently emerged method used in drug discovery or tool compound development. Here, small organic molecules – fragments – are used to find starting points that can then be enlarged to high-affinity binders in subsequent steps. The method is increasingly adopted in the pharmaceutical industry, as can be seen by 6 fragment-derived drugs on the market at many more in clinical trials. When carried out as crystallographic screening, not only the hit identity but also its exact binding mode information in 3D is revealed and can thus be used for efficient structure-based compound design.
The course will cover an introduction in fragment-based screening via crystallography, covering sample handling tools, largely automated data collection on beamlines and special software pipelines for hit identification. Furthermore, methods for fragment-based drug design will be presented as well. The participants will have hands-on introduction in the sample-handling, measurements as well as hit identification as part of the data analysis. However, basic crystallographic and structural biology background of the participants is assumed.
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The Course is free of charge but participants need to cover their travel/accommodation expenses via their institutes/companies.
