Industrial speakers (Science)
Prof. David Virshup
Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School Director of the Programme in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology at Duke-NUS Medical School Profile Prof. David Virshup is the inaugural Director of the Programme in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology at the Duke-NUS Medical School, and a Professor of Paediatrics at Duke University. He is also a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Asia Editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation. His research focuses on the Wnt signaling pathway, which forms the basis of Singapore's first publicly-funded cancer drug candidate, ETC-159. The drug, which is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trial, was discovered and developed through Prof. Virshup’s collaboration with researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) and Drug Discovery and Development (D3). Abstract Industrial talk title: "Dare You Search For a Magic Bullet?" The search for a magic bullet starts with a sound understanding of basic biology and pathophysiology. From this may come an insight into where a “magic bullet’ should be aimed. This may be the easy part! This is followed by a long and team-driven process: development of assays, target validation, drug screening, medicinal chemistry, hit validation, drug optimization, toxicity testing, and finally, tests in man. The risks of failure are high, but the potential rewards are great. |