Conferencia: «Chemistry for drug target validation and identification»

The identification and validation of new therapeutic targets is an essential first step in drug discovery. This overall goal requires the discovery of new molecules able to provide detailed information of biological systems. The requirements in terms of new molecules are different depending on the information needed to drive the understanding of biological processes.

In this talk, the lecturer will show how chemistry can contribute to address some important aspects required for target identification and validation with the development of chemical probes, allosteric modulators, or indirect regulators of the endogenous signalling.

Regarding target identification, this research group has developed chemical probes suitable for proteomic experiments that have allowed to identify new targets responsible for the therapeutic effects of a serotonin 5-HT1AR agonist and of the natural product honokiol. With respect to target validation, the group has addressed two main aspects: (i) the cellular and subcellular localization of a given receptor and (ii) the fine-tuned regulation of an endogenous system. The first aspect has been focused on the development of suitable probes to study the cellular distribution of the cannabinoid CB1R, while the second part is aimed at the development of allosteric modulators of dopamine D1R and inhibitors of the enzyme monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL).

About the speaker

María Luz López Rodríguez studied Chemistry and obtained her PhD from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). After a postdoctoral stay in the Sloan Kettering Institute and Florida University (USA) with a Fulbright Grant, she joined the Department of Organic Chemistry at UCM where she started her independent career as the leader of the Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory. In 2004 she was promoted to Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in this University, position that currently holds. 

Her research is focused on the Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology fields, including the design and development of small molecules in challenging therapeutic targets related to cancer and central nervous system as well as the development of chemical platforms for the identification of new therapeutic targets.

She has published 130 original research articles in prestigious journals (Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, J. Neurosci., Clin. Cancer Res., Mol. Pharmacol., J. Med. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., J. Biol. Chem, J. Allergy Clin. Immunol....) and she is an inventor of 13 patents in current exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to this research profile, during her academic trajectory she has supervised 25 PhD students and trained numerous postdoctoral researchers. She is also Associate Editor of different journals in the Medicinal Chemistry field and has received the Medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine (2011) and the Award in Excellence Research (Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014).