Learning from the experts, one mini-symposium at a time
By Karina Leal
Sage Bionetworks
In November 2020, we piloted the hosting of a mini-symposium focused on calpain-2, one of the targets in our portfolio. We invited experts in the field to share their knowledge about the target and learn more about TREAT-AD. Calpain-2 isn’t a novel target per se, and it’s been studied extensively across different disciplines and diseases. But in AD, it remains a relatively understudied protein. Before our team dove into creating a detailed plan about how to probe the target, we consulted an existing group of calpainologists who shared their expertise about the calpain protein family: what’s been done, where there are gaps, what our center can provide to the community as part of our target enablement package, and what collaborations and synergies are possible.
We invited the following speakers to the mini-symposium:
| Speaker | Affliation | Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Yasuko Ono, PhD | Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science | calpain-3, -8, and -9 |
| Peter L. Davies, PhD | Queen’s University | calpain-2 and -3 |
| Peter A. Greer, PhD | Queen’s University | calpain knockouts, inhibitors |
| Vinit Mahajan, PhD | Stanford School of Medicine | calpain-5 |
| Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD | Cincinnati Childrens | calpain-14 |
A major outcome of the symposium was the initiation of a collaboration with Dr. Peter Greer’s lab at Queen’s University and the transfer of a calpain-2 specific protein-protein interaction biosensor assay that his group developed. As a result of the assay transfer, the Assay Development and High-Throughput Screen Core, led by Haian Fu at Emory University, moved directly into optimization and miniaturization of the biosensor assay for ultra-high-throughput screening of compounds to identify potential positive “hits” for a drug development campaign.
“My current research focuses on exploring calpain as a target in breast cancer,” Dr. Greer said. “But the scope of activities funded through our grant doesn’t support drug development efforts beyond the first round of hits. I knew that at some point I’d have to form partnerships with other groups to bring more resources to the research, in particular for drug development and medicinal chemistry.”
The collaboration with TREAT-AD allowed Dr. Greer access to a larger set of screening results that could help his own research in cancer and is accelerating the development of a calpain-2 inhibitor for AD by TREAT-AD.
“It has been exciting for me and a pleasure to interact and get to know several of the people,” Dr. Greer said. “The collaboration has amplified what we can do and the potential for having success for what we are doing.”
The outcome and success of the mini-symposium format was so encouraging that we’ve committed to hosting more events in the future, featuring prioritized targets, therapeutic hypotheses, and techniques to study AD. Let us know if you’re interested in participating in future mini-symposia or want to learn more about our Center and upcoming events.
Contact at us treatad.info@sagebionetworks.org.
