Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 3rd Annual
Lead Generation Strategies
Productive Small Molecule Drug Discovery & Design
10-11 November 2026
In the enterprise of small molecule drug discovery, there are now many ways, beyond traditional high-throughput screening, to arrive at small molecule (or fragment) binders against disease-relevant molecular drug targets. Types of compound collections have expanded: DNA-encoded libraries, fragment libraries and huge on-demand virtual libraries to name a few. Next, there are multiple hit evaluation options: binding, functional or activity-based for example. Much of this progress has led to therapeutic options for “difficult-to-drug” targets such as protein complexes on the cell surface like G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), or intracellular protein-protein interactions (PPIs). However, with more choices also come more drug discovery decision points.
At Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Lead Generation Strategies conference, get a sneak peek at behind-the-scenes decision-making at leading pharma and biotech industry companies. Which approaches for a particular target were tried first? How were results integrated from various hit-finding strategies? Where to capitalise on AI? Also, hear case studies from peers about emerging technologies applied to the hit-to-lead process.
Coverage will include, but is not limited to:
- Covalent chemistry strategies
- Induced proximity applications
- Applying biophysical tools to lead generation (NMR, SPR, mass spectrometry)
- Fragment-based drug design (FBDD) applied to PPI targets
- DNA-encoded library technology (DELT)
- Binding targets in cells: direct-to-biology (D2B) approaches
- Methods for assessing target engagement: cellular temperature shift assays (CETSA), affinity selection mass spectrometry (ASMS)
- Functional activity-based proteomics
- Targeting GPCRs and membrane proteins
- Structure-based drug design examples (cryoEM, machine learning)
The deadline for priority consideration is 3 April 2026
All proposals are subject to review by session chairpersons and/or the Scientific Advisory Committee to ensure the overall quality of the conference program. Additionally, as per Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s policy, a select number of vendors and consultants who provide products and services will be offered opportunities for podium presentation slots based on a variety of Corporate Sponsorships.
Opportunities for Participation: