Nov 2
Chemistry Department Seminar: Ben Buehrer '86
'Phenotypic and Target-based Screening in Early Stage Drug Discovery'.
This presentation will summarize two programs, one using a target-based approach to design selective fyn kinase inhibitors for metabolic diseases, and a 
second using a phenotypic approach to design sebogenesis inhibitors as potential acne therapies. Target-based drug discovery has the benefit of a clearly-defined protein target that can be used to design specific interactions into test compounds. However, the therapeutic use of these compounds is limited to the known physiological role of the protein target. Phenotypic screening focuses on the therapeutic activity of test compounds without specific knowledge of their target. The downstream identification of the drug target and its mechanism of action can be a very difficult process.
Vice President at Zen-Bio, Inc.