William F. DeGrado, PhD, Scientific Advisor for drug discovery and clinical development for the Company, gave the introductory Spiers Memorial Lecture at the 2021 Faraday Discussion.
The Spiers talk focused on new insights and research into the science of Peptide-Membrane Interactions. Excerpts from the lecture, highlighting DeGrado’s and peers’ work to discover computationally-designed (pdf) Brilacidin (and later published by the Royal Society of Chemistry), are provided below.
Dr. DeGrado, a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California San Francisco, is a renowned expert in de novo drug design.
He, and Michael Klein, PhD, Dean of the College of Science and Technology at Temple University and a co-discoverer of Brilacidin, also were awarded the 2020 John Scott Medal based on their overall contributions to science.
The Scott Awards, created in 1816 and named for the 19th-century chemist, John Scott, who endowed it in honor of Ben Franklin, are given annually to those scientists whose inventions have improved the “comfort, welfare and happiness” of humankind.
The 2021 Scott Award went to two scientists, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose research contributed to the development of RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines.
“This review has given only the smallest glimpse of the vibrant and growing field of peptide–membrane interactions. Peptides have proven to be outstanding systems for understanding larger proteins, particularly for deciphering the rules of membrane peptide/protein association, insertion, and folding. This field has also spawned antimicrobial peptides and peptide mimetics currently in the clinic, while also inspiring new areas of antimicrobial polymer science. Clearly, the future is very bright.”