Kevin Weeks
Seminars
Tuesday 10th November 2026
Moving Beyond Secondary Structures: Advancing RNA Structure Probing Technologies to Measure Small Molecule–RNA Interactions & Guide Optimization
11:00 am
A major challenge in RNA-targeted drug discovery is determining where small
molecules bind on RNA, what structures they recognize, and whether those binding
events translate into functional outcomes. As structural, probing, and biophysical tools
advance, the field still lacks standardized approaches for connecting RNA structure,
binding-site identification, and compound optimization.
Join medicinal chemists, structural biologists, RNA biologists, and teams improving
structure-guided design to explore practical strategies for:
- Predicting RNA ligandability by identifying structures that can support selective small-molecule binding
- Prioritizing tractable RNA targets by linking function, binding pockets and confidence in on-target engagement
- Evaluating biophysical and structural methods to measure RNA ligand recognition, affinity and conformational change
Wednesday 11th November 2026
A Cell-Based Framework for Discovering Direct RNA Targeting Molecules
3:30 pm
- Targeting MYC mRNA through fragment-based small molecule discovery
- Achieving translation knockdown with direct RNA-binding fragments
- Achieving over 70% translation knockdown on various RNAs
- Validating conventional non-covalent approaches for RNA modulation
