#ELRIG

#TO2023

#THERAPEUTICOLIGOS2023

ELRIG Therapeutic OLIGO and European Chemical Biology Symposium 2023

The inaugural ELRIG meeting on Therapeutic OLIGOs combined with the 8th European Chemical Biology Symposium (ECBS) will be held on May 9-11 at the beautiful AstraZeneca R&D site in Gothenburg. This interactive 3-day event will host leading scientists from academia, industry and the vendor community to discuss recent advancements in the discovery of therapeutic OLIGOs and in the Chemical Biology research field in Europe and internationally. The ECBS part of the meeting is co-organized by EU-OPENSCREEN and the EuChemS Division of Chemistry in Life Sciences, and includes contributions from key academic chemical biology research groups in Europe. Our ambition is to create an open access meeting and an inspiring environment for networking between biologists and chemists to fuel cross-fertilisation between research areas.

OLIGOs such as ASOs, siRNAs and other mRNA-targeted therapeutics are impacting patients daily. To further expand the scope of these drug modalities the field is exploring new ways to formulate and distribute the cargo to improve the reach of additional disease-relevant tissue. Efforts include various ways of targeting the delivery, for example by conjugating the cargo to functional groups that interact with specific cell types. This is one area in which developments interplay with the field of chemical biology, where the aim is to exploit chemistry for the purpose of understanding and manipulating biology. With the recent announcement of the latest Nobel Prize in Chemistry for bio-orthogonal chemistry and click chemistry, there is more reason than ever to discuss the next advancements that will impact our understanding of and man-made changes to biology. This meeting will explore these opportunities and challenges in six focus areas as outlined below:

Therapeutic OLIGO profiling

The starting session will focus on the biological profiling of treatment response to oligonucleotides and the underlying characterisation of cellular model systems to achieve this in a rational manner. This includes the application of different techniques for understanding molecular mechanisms behind mRNA modulation and changes to their levels using e.g. RNA sequencing approaches to understand safety aspects. We will also explore novel developments in spatially resolved biology to understand the sequence of events from endosomal uptake, release and delivery to site of action.

Advancements in OLIGO design and synthesis

Short modified oligonucleotides such as ASOs are successfully used as gene-targeted drugs, developments that were made possible by chemistry advancements to improve in vivo stability and specificity, while reducing toxicity. There is currently a strong focus on improving productive uptake in physiologically relevant tissue, where the chemical matter is at interplay with the packaging of the cargo in novel formulations.

Novel formulations and biomarker analysis

Delivery of therapeutic OLIGOs to the intended target tissue is critically important for expanding their clinical utilities. Targeted delivery can be achieved by incorporation of functional groups with the cargo, or alternatively through functionalization of the carrier moieties such as nanoparticles. Understanding successful delivery is intimately linked to the availability of suitable biomarkers of response, the relationships of which will be explored in this session.

Chemical probe-induced protein interaction and degradation

The available toolbox of chemical probes and drugs has recently expanded to include a plethora of approaches for achieving targeted protein degradation. The fundamental science driving this exciting new field is the generation of molecules capable of modulating or engineering new protein-protein interactions, which subsequently exploit the ubiquitin-proteasomal system or other protein degradation pathways. In this session we will explore technologies that are critical for in-depth studies of these interactions.

New ways to shape and interrogate biology through chemistry

The concept of using chemistry to interrogate biology is fundamental to the chemical biology community. We are now going beyond this goal, with efforts to create new biology, for example by the introduction of non-naturally occurring building blocks. In this session we will explore this line of thinking and potential future applications.

Innovative tools and methods for advanced cell profiling

The future of life science research sits with our ability to fully embrace big data, which is increasingly used for better understanding treatment responses but also for better characterising  cellular model systems. Here we will explore the future of compound-induced fingerprinting, where details on the model system become an integral part of this interpretation.

There will be ample opportunity for networking with scientists and researchers from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and vendor communities throughout the 3-day conference. The program also includes poster viewing sessions, snapshot presentations of selected high quality posters, and a tour of the Amazing Journey at AstraZeneca.

It is a great pleasure for us to welcome you to Gothenburg for an exciting three days in May of 2023!

• Thomas Lundbäck, Karin Angelin Krefting, Linda Sundström, and Fredrik Edfeldt (AstraZeneca)
• Pär Matsson (University of Gothenburg – OligoNova / Science for Life Laboratories)
• Bagmi Pattanaik (Dentsply Sirona)
• Benedikt von der Heyde (Pelago Bioscience / BioNordika)
• Katja Herzog, Bahne Stechmann, Wolfgang Fecke (EU-OPENSCREEN)
• Anna-Lena Gustavsson (Karolinska Institutet)
• Sonsoles Martín-Santamaría, Francesco Peri, Marko Mihovilovic (EuChemS Division of Chemistry in Life Sciences)
• Yves Auberson (European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology – EFMC)

AstraZeneca is sponsoring this scientific ELRIG event through in-kind hosting in the PGN conference center.

POSTER ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION.

All Exhibitors have one poster included in their package.  The deadline for Posters is April 30, 2023

To submit an abstract, first you must Register Once complete, you will be able to “Turn on Abstract Submissions” From here you can manage your abstracts.

A Poster at Therapeutic OLIGO and the European Chemical Biology 2023 will be both a physical and digital poster. The physical poster should be A0 Portrait and there will be a board reserved for you in the Exhibition Room.  The digital poster requires a PDF (Max 5mg) to be added to your poster at registration.

If you have already registered, you can login to your account here and “Turn on Abstract Submissions”

Your Poster Abstract – What you need to know

Conference Venue:
AstraZeneca
PGN entrance
Pepparedsleden 5
431 53 Mölndal

Discounted Accommodation for Therapeutic OLIGO and the European Chemical Biology Conference 2023 can be booked at the Quality Hotel the Weaver

Quality Hotel
Göteborgsvägen 91
431 37 Mölndal
www.nordicchoicehotels.com

ELRIG is only able to provide suggestions on how delegates may travel to or places they may stay at, to attend its events.  However, ELRIG cannot recommend nor endorse any of the travel choices nor hotels that attendees make and is not liable for any of the services that its delegates procure.

Speaker expenses:

Speakers invited by ELRIG to present at an ELRIG Conference maybe entitle to claim expenses. Please read the  ELRIG Speaker Expense Claim Policy

Please use the  ELRIG Speaker Expense Claim Form to claim expenses.