Stuart Schreiber, 'Molecular Glues & Bifunctional Molecules' (ChemSem 11)

This is the Dwain L Ford Lecture Series in the Andrews University Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 2023 spring seminar program (April 6, 2023).

"Molecular Glues & Bifunctional Molecules," Stuart Schreiber, Southern Methodist University

SPEAKER BIO:
Stuart L. Schreiber, Ph.D. is a co-Founder of the Broad Institute, the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.

Dr. Schreiber’s research integrates chemical biology and human biology to advance the discovery of novel therapeutics. His lab discovered the first molecular glues and developed the first bifunctional compounds that recruit neosubtrates to enzymes in cells. He used small molecules to co-discover mTOR and illuminated the nutrient-response signaling network, histone deacetylase (HDAC) and the role of chromatin marks in gene expression, and with Gerry Crabtree mapped the first membrane to nuclease signaling pathway (calcium–calcineurin–NFAT).

Schreiber’s development of diversity-oriented synthesis has led to the discovery of many promising agents, including a novel mechanism of action anti-malarial agent being developed in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Eisai. His most recent discovery revealed a novel cell state responsible for the ability of cancers to resist a wide range of therapies, and a means to target the cancer therapy-resistant state.

Schreiber extended chemical biology principles to medicine by participating in the founding of 14 biotech companies, beginning with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, whose efforts have made cystic fibrosis a manageable disease. These companies or the Schreiber lab itself have thus far developed 16 novel in-human therapeutic agents, nearly all as first-in-class agents. In 2020, Schreiber co-founded Scientists to Stop COVID-19, a nonpartisan science-based group that advises policy makers in U.S. executive, congressional and state governments, as well as leaders in the sports and entertainment industries.