Webinar Overview
RNA participates in all the aspects of the cell life cycle, and often mis-regulation leads to disease. Recent advances in understanding of RNA biochemistry, structure and dynamics have revealed the importance of RNA structure in cellular processes and disease. NMR spectroscopy is a unique and powerful technique that is suitable for characterizing various aspects of RNA and small molecule in early stage of drug discovery.
This presentation will overview the versatile roles of NMR spectroscopy in RNA drug discovery for providing the structural basis for the rational drug design. Advanced techniques for simplifying crowded spectra of large RNAs will be discussed. A disease-related RNA and small molecule structural study will be included as an example to elaborate how NMR techniques are employed to tackle challenges in drug discovery.
Tuesday, 30 January 2024, 17:00 CET
Key Learning Topics
- NMR in RNA target characterization
- NMR in RNA structure determination
- NMR in RNA-small molecule engagement
Speakers
Dr. Yaqiang Wang
Principal Scientist, Arrakis Therapeutics
Dr. Yaqiang Wang is a Principal Scientist in Structural biology at Arrakis Therapeutics, and a structural biology lead of RNA and small molecule characterization. Yaqiang received postdoctoral training at University of California Los Angles with Prof. Juli Feigon after his PhD at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Prof. Gary Pielak.
Dr. Martial Piotto
Pharma product manager of Biologics solutions
Martial Piotto obtained his Ph.D. in NMR spectroscopy at the University of Purdue, USA (Pr. D. Gorenstein). He then joined Bruker France as head of NMR application where he worked on various aspects of NMR spectroscopy, notably the development of new pulse sequences and HRMAS technology. Over the years, he grew an interest in applications of NMR in the pharmaceutical and medical fields. His work currently focusses on the characterization of Biologics (mAb, vaccines and therapeutic oligonucleotides) by combining NMR and multivariate statistical tools.