The 2023 MIDD Symposium was held on Friday, February 17th 2023 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex in room KEN 1150 with a poster session in the atrium.
We had almost a hundred symposium attendees in person and online. We started with detailed information, how the MIDD supported by it’s MIDD members is highly dedicated to research, education and outreach. Several programs were highlighted from current research projects, educational program to specific outreach initiatives. Also, new focuses on sustainable chemistry and emphasis to develop better therapeutic medical countermeasures against chemical exposure were presented.
Chris Dockendorff, CEO of Function Therapeutics presented exiting new results how to target proteinase-activated receptors for inflammatory diseases and Ching-Hong Yang (CSO of T3 Bioscience) told us a beautiful story how agents purified from bacteria can be used to protect apple and citrus tree from disease. Dr. Donaldson joined us from Malta online to talk about how simple small molecules can be designed to selectively bind the estrogen receptor alpha. Estrigenix is developing these compounds for memory enhancement and to treat hot flashes.
During the lunch break, graduate and undergraduate students presented their work in form of posters and in the early afternoon we had three undergraduate students presenting their work. Daniel Webb (Arnold Group) presented a novel series of GABA(A) receptor ligands to treat asthma symptoms. Tye Seideman (Hossain Group) highlighted his work on tryprostatin A specifically the alkylation of indoles and Taufeeque Ali (Peng Group) presented the cellular changes that occur when treating triple negative cancer cells with DNA alkylating prodrugs.
The afternoon started with Dr. Stafford presenting the challenges and successes to bring an oral asthma drug to market. Pantherics has been on the forefront to drug the GABA(A) receptor in peripheral tissue. This was followed by Dr. Roy presenting the R&D efforts of Simmaron to find new treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome. Simmaron moved its R&D to UWM earlier this year.
Brian Renzelmann from Millipore Sigma presented about the High Potency API facility in Madison Wisconsin. This was followed by Kristin Ciezki from the Medical College of Wisconsin, who told us more about the Therapeutics Accelerator Program and local efforts to support the Drug Discovery and Development in Southeastern Wisconsin.
The final presentation was given by Mark Millar from Sterling Pharma Solution. He highlighted their success as Partnering Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with local and national and international clients. The responses of symposium attendee were very positive and we are looking forward to coming together again in 2024 for the next MIDD symposium.