SC18: Practical Phenotypic Screening
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Room: Fairfax B


Phenotypic drug discovery is experiencing a renaissance in the pharmaceutical industry, based on its successful track record in delivering first-in-class medicines. This approach offers the promise of delivering both novel targets & chemical matter modulating a disease phenotype of interest. Although phenotypic screening may appear at first sight to be similar to target-based screening, there are some significant differences between the two approaches. These need to be properly considered and addressed to ensure the greatest likelihood of success for phenotypic drug discovery programs. This presentation will cover a range of relevant topics with a goal of providing practical information to help prosecute such programs more effectively.

Instructor:

Fabien Vincent, PhD, Associate Research Fellow, Hit Discovery and Lead Profiling Group, Pfizer Inc.

Topics to be discussed:

  • What is the rationale for conducting phenotypic screening?
  • When does phenotypic screening provide the most value? What may be the best indications for this strategy?
  • Not all phenotypic assays are created equal: what are the characteristics of the best assays?
  • Which libraries should be screened and why?
  • What are key considerations and strategies for phenotypic screening hit triage and validation?
  • What are key considerations and strategies for target/mechanism identification and validation?
  • What are key considerations and strategies for phenotypic program progression?

Instructor Biography:

Vincent_FabienFabien Vincent, PhD, Associate Research Fellow, Hit Discovery and Lead Profiling Group, Pfizer Inc.

Fabien Vincent, PhD, is an Associate Research Fellow in the Hit Discovery and Lead Profiling Group at Pfizer. His laboratory provides molecular pharmacology support for the small molecule project portfolios of the Immunology & Inflammation research unit and the Centers for Therapeutic Innovation. This work includes designing hit identification strategies and screening funnels, developing assays for high throughput screening as well as additional assays to elucidate the structure activity relationship of active compounds, understand their mechanism of action and facilitate translation to pre-clinical models. His main research interests are centered on improving the translation of discovery research to patients and specifically include phenotypic screening and atypical molecular mechanisms of action. Fabien Vincent recently led a team of Pfizer scientists in an analysis of how best to approach phenotypic screening, and specifically how to design the optimal phenotypic assays, those which can best predict compounds and mechanisms that will be effective in patients.

Fabien Vincent received a Diplôme d’Ingénieur in organic chemistry from CPE Lyon (France) before conducting graduate research in the fields of chemical biology and enzymology in the laboratory of Pr. Harold Kohn at the University of Houston. He later became a post-doctoral fellow in chemical biology at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego. He entered the field of drug discovery as both a drug discovery research project leader and molecular pharmacology-biochemistry group leader. He has authored 30 peer-reviewed research articles, review articles and book chapters and has been invited to present his research at more than 20 conferences and other events. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Chemical Probes Initiative and has been a NIH study section reviewer on HTS and molecular probe identification. He was recently a guest editor for a special issue in Med. Chem. Comm. surveying progress and advances in the field of phenotypic drug discovery.

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