2026 PLENARY SESSIONS

The Plenary Sessions at Drug Discovery Chemistry convene attendees of the event’s parallel conference tracks, to hear from or participate in discussions with leading scientists or biotech/pharma industry practitioners who are driving scientific innovation.
Drug Discovery Chemistry offers two Plenary Keynotes and one Plenary Panel:

Tuesday, April 14, 4:35-5:30 pm PDT
Charting the Evolution & Future of Targeted Protein Degradation: From Fundamental Mechanisms to Translational Impact – Alessio Ciulli, PhD, University of Dundee

Thursday, April 16, 8:15-9:10 am PDT
Directed and Random Walks in Chemical Space – Brian K Shoichet, PhD, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Thursday, April 16, 12:40-1:30 pm PDT
Plenary Panel Discussion featuring Venture Capitalist Insights, followed by a dessert break in the exhibit hall with ‘Meet the Venture Capitalists and Poster Award Recipients.’

Join hundreds of your colleagues during these sessions, which include live Q&As with the audience. These sessions are also listed within the agendas of conference tracks that take place at the corresponding times.

PLENARY KEYNOTE SESSION 1 - TUESDAY AFTERNOON APRIL 14, 2026      

4:45 pm Charting the Evolution & Future of Targeted Protein Degradation: From Fundamental Mechanisms to Translational Impact
Alessio CiulliAlessio Ciulli, PhD, Professor, Chemical & Structural Biology and Director of the Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation, University of Dundee
I will be reflecting on the evolution of the TPD field, from early design principles to today’s landscape of PROTACs and molecular glues. Latest advances from the Ciulli Lab in mechanistic understanding and chemical biology of degraders ternary complexes will be showcased. I will also highlight collaborative academic-industry consortia tackling grand challenges with undruggable targets in paediatric cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, charting the next-generation of proximity-based therapeutics.

Biography:
Alessio Ciulli studied chemistry in Florence, Italy, and obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 2006. After postdoctoral research in Cambridge and a brief visit at Yale University in the USA, he returned to Cambridge in 2009, to start his independent laboratory. In 2013, he moved to the University of Dundee, UK, where he was promoted to full professor in 2016. He has received numerous awards, including most recently the Prous Institute–Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery. He is the scientific founder of Amphista therapeutics, a targeted protein degradation company spin-out of his laboratory, and the founder of the University of Dundee’s new Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation which he directs and opened in January 2023.

PLENARY KEYNOTE SESSION 2 - THURSDAY MORNING APRIL 16, 2026

8:40 am Directed and Random Walks in Chemical Space
Brian K ShoichetBrian K Shoichet, PhD, Professor & Chair, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
In the last six years, docking libraries have expanded from three million to over a trillion molecules. In controlled experiments, we compare billion vs. million molecule library docking on the same targets, demonstrating that as the libraries grow so too do hit-rates and affinities. I consider how and if new ML methods separate true from false positives in these campaigns, and how good our subsequent ligand optimization strategies are versus what we might expect against a random background (surprisingly unimpressive).

Biography:
Brian Shoichet was born on the banks of the Don River in Toronto. His family was upper middle class, but they had love. Shoichet received a BSc in Chemistry from MIT (1985) and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry for work with Tack Kuntz at UCSF. He studied protein structure and stability as a Damon Runyon fellow with Brian Matthews (Inst. of Mol. Biology, Eugene) before establishing his lab in the Pharmacology Dept. at Northwestern University (1996). He was recruited back to UCSF in 2003, where he was eventually appointed chair of the department that was so foolish as to train him in the first place. The Shoichet lab develops new structure-based and chemoinformatic methods, which they test prospectively initially in model systems and eventually in therapeutic targets, often GPCRs. A recent disruptive innovation in the field has been the advent of ultra-large make-on-demand libraries, the impact of which is the focus of his presentation.

PLENARY PANEL DISCUSSION - THURSDAY AFTERNOON APRIL 16, 2026

12:40 pm Venture Capitalist Insights into Drug Discovery Trends

PANEL MODERATOR:
Daniel A. ErlansonDaniel A. Erlanson, PhD, Chief Innovation Officer Frontier Medicines Corporation
Dr. Daniel A. Erlanson is the Chief Innovation Officer for Frontier Medicines, which is using covalent fragments, machine learning, and chemoproteomics to target proteins often thought undruggable. Prior to Frontier he co-founded Carmot Therapeutics, where he contributed to two clinical-stage molecules. Before Carmot, Dr. Erlanson spent a decade developing fragment-based discovery technologies and leading medicinal chemistry projects at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Erlanson was an NIH postdoctoral fellow with James A. Wells at Genentech, earned his PhD in chemistry from Harvard University in the laboratory of Gregory L. Verdine, and his BA in chemistry from Carleton College. He has co-edited two books on fragment-based drug discovery and is an inventor on more than a dozen issued patents and an author of more than forty scientific publications. He also runs a blog devoted to fragment-based drug discovery, Practical Fragments (http://practicalfragments.blogspot.com/).

PANELISTS:
Chris De SaviChris De Savi, PhD, CSO Partner, Curie Bio Jim joined Samsara
As Senior Vice President, Head of Drug Discovery at Kymera Therapeutics, Chris was responsible for medicinal and computational chemistry, lead discovery (biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology), preclinical development (DMPK and Toxicology), and proteomics. His team contributed to all drug discovery phases at Kymera from project inception through to clinical candidate discovery and beyond. Prior to joining Kymera, Chris was head of chemistry at Blueprint Medicines, a precision medicine company specialized in kinase drug discovery and development. Chris has deep experience in leading discovery research groups and project teams in both global pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He has directly contributed to the invention of 9 clinical candidate drugs for oncology and inflammation disease – most recently BLU-945, an EGFR T790M/C797S triple mutant inhibitor for the treatment of lung cancer, AZD4573, a selective CDK9 inhibitor for the treatment of haematological malignancies and AZD9496, an oral, selective estrogen receptor degrader for the treatment of ER+ breast cancer. He co-discovered Barasertib (AZD1152), a selective Inhibitor of Aurora B kinase for the treatment of AML. He is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and patents in the fields of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery and a PhD qualified chemist who has previously held academic positions at Queens’ College Cambridge and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

James EdwardsJames Edwards, PhD, Venture Partner, Samsara BioCapital
Jim joined Samsara BioCapital as a Venture Partner in Fall 2022 and has over 28 years of experience in drug discovery across multiple therapeutic disciplines. Prior to joining Samsara, Jim spent 22 years at Janssen Research & Development in roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, he was Vice President and Global Head, In Silico Discovery & External Innovation, leading a multi-disciplinary group of computational & data scientists providing predictive and design tools across all modalities within the Therapeutics Discovery organization at Janssen. Prior to this, he was Vice President, Discovery Chemistry, leading drug discovery teams at multiple sites in the US and Europe. These teams were responsible for the discovery of small molecule drug candidates working with partners across all six Therapeutic Areas within JRD and delivered clinical-stage small molecule drug candidates against targets ranging from kinases (e.g., BTK, JAK) & other enzymes (MALT1) to cytokines (IL17) & cytokine receptors (IL23R).

Sarah HymowitzSarah Hymowitz, PhD, Partner, The Column Group
Dr. Hymowitz joined The Column Group in 2021. As a partner in an early stage biotech-focused venture capital firm, she helps build and serve as a board member for innovative biotech companies. Previously she oversaw large molecule drug discovery efforts and mentored project teams on the identification and optimization of numerous small molecule and large molecule clinical candidates as the Vice President of Protein Sciences at Genentech. Dr. Hymowitz earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco.

Jamie KasuboskiJamie Kasuboski, PhD, Partner, Luma Group
Jamie is a Vice President with OMX Ventures. Prior to OMX, Jamie developed deep experience in early-stage biotech investing and company creation while working on the investment team at RA Capital. In that role, he served on the board of Enara Bio, Avilar Therapeutics, and Hyku Therapeutics. Before joining RA, he was a Director at Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and served as a Board Director of both Tilos Therapeutics (acquired by Merck & Co.) and Rewind Therapeutics.

Ken LinKen Lin, CEO & Founder, ABIES Capital
Ken Lin is the CEO and Co-founder of ABIES Capital, a firm focused on innovative healthcare startups and investments. His career trajectory combines deep experience in global asset allocation, fundraising, brand development, and healthcare enterprise management. ABIES Capital employs a dual strategy: managing healthcare VC assets through a Fund of Funds (FoFs) approach—partnering with top-tier U.S. VC firms—while also direct investing in high-potential biotech, medtech, and health tech enterprises. Prior to founding ABIES Capital, Ken spent over a decade in the medical device field, holding management roles at industry leaders Medtronic and Biotronik in Taiwan. He holds both a Master's degree in Zoology and a Bachelor's degree in Life Science from National Taiwan University. Ken is also certified through the UC Berkeley Haas Venture Capital Executive Education program, is a Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®), and holds the International IBHRE Cardiac Rhythm Management Device Certification.