2020 Workshop on Free Energy Methods in Drug Design
Introduction
This workshop focus on the current state of free energy techniques.
Our goal in this workshop is to bring together experts from pharma and supporting industries, as well as academia, in an intense and focused workshop to identify challenges and help chart the path forward. We are particularly interested in hearing about use cases, pitfalls and their solutions. We also firmly believe we can learn a great deal from failure, so we hope participants will go beyond just highlighting success stories to provide more detailed insight into successes and failures.
Dates and Location
The conference will be held 6th - 8th May 2020, at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA.
The following social arrangements are in place for the evenings of the conference.
Tuesday evening - a reception will be held at Relay Therapeutics, 399 Binney St.
Wednesday evening - a poster session will be held at the conference venue, Novartis.
Thursday evening - Schrödinger will sponsor an evening session at a nearby venue - TBD.
Registration
Registration for the conference will open in early October. Registration will cost $100 for admission to the 2.5 day conference, which will cover both breakfast and lunch, as well as refreshments in the evening sessions.
The conference has been oversubscribed in previous years. It is first come, first served and a waitlist will be held in case of cancellations.
Workshop Themes
As this is the 10th birthday of the first 2010 free energy workshop, we will be holding a session celebrating the last 10 years - how far have we come, and where do we still need to go?
Other sessions will be held to discuss the current software that is currently available to the field - both commercial packages, and open-source academic efforts.
Discussions about the novel methods and algorithms that are in development and where these can be best applied will be held.
Results of free energy methods will be presented - both the successes and the limitations - with the idea of addressing what the community would like to see at the following meeting.
Finally, half a day of talks will be dedicated to the intersection of free energy methods with machine learning.
Sponsors, Social Media and Streaming
Sponsors
We would like to thank the following sponsors:
We are currently looking for sponsorship for the event. If your organisation would be interested, please contact any of the organisers.
Particular thanks to the Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling (BAGIM)for helping with the financial organisation of this meeting.
Social Media
Twitter hashtags: #alchemy2020
Slack: https://alchemistry.slack.com
Schedule
Talks will be held from 9am to 6pm (Wednesday and Thursday) or 3pm (Friday) at Novartis.
Confirmed speakers
- Chris Chipot, University of Illinois
- Jonathan Essex, University of Southampton
- William Jorgensen, Yale University
- David Minh, Illinois Institute of Technology
- Sereina Riniker, ETH Zürich
- Jonah Vilseck, Indiana University School of Medicine
Organizers
- Kira Armacost, Merck & Co., Inc. (kira.armacost@merck.com)
- Hannah Bruce Macdonald, Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (hannah.brucemacdonald@choderalab.org)
- Jonah Vilseck, Indiana University School of Medicine (jvilseck@iu.edu)
- Zoe Cournia, Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens (zcournia@bioacademy.gr)
- Michael Gilson, UC San Diego (mgilson@ucsd.edu)
- Camilo Velez-Vega, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (camilo.velez-vega@novartis.com)
- Sereina Riniker, ETH Zürich (sriniker@ethz.ch)
We also thank current advisors and previous organizers:
- Brian McClain, Vertex (brian_mcclain@vrtx.com)
- Vijay Pande, Stanford University (pande@stanford.edu)
- Michael Shirts, University of Colorado Boulder (michael.shirts@colorado.edu)
- Camilo Velez-Vega, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (camilo.velez-vega@novartis.com)
- John Chodera, Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (john.chodera@choderalab.org)
- Greg Bowman, Washington University in St. Louis (bowman@biochem.wustl.edu)
- Callum Dickson, Novartis (callum.dickson@novartis.com)
- Jose Duca, Novartis (jose.duca@novartis.com)
- Viktor Hornak, Novartis (viktor.hornak@novartis.com)
- John Manchester, Novartis (john.manchester@novartis.com)
- Antonia Mey, University of Edinburgh (antonia.mey@ed.ac.uk)
- David Mobley, University of California at Irvine (dmobley@uci.edu)
- Michael Schnieders, The University of Iowa (michael-schnieders@uiowa.edu)
- Jana Shen, The University of Maryland (Jana.Shen@rx.umaryland.edu)
- Woody Sherman, Silicon Therapeutics (woody@silicontx.com)
Conference Code of Conduct
All attendees, speakers, sponsors and volunteers at our conference are required to agree with the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce this code throughout the event. We expect cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everybody.
Need Help? Please contact the organising committee either in person or via email. Members of the organising committee are listed above.
The Quick Version
Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organisers.
The Less Quick Version
Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion, technology choices, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualised images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualised clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualised environment.
If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the conference organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the conference with no refund.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the organising committee immediately.
A member of the organising committee will be happy to help participants contact local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.
We expect participants to follow these rules at conference and workshop venues and conference-related social events.
The code of conduct text was taken from https://github.com/confcodeofconduct/confcodeofconduct.com in a slightly adapted form.