Stefan Schiesser
Director - Medicinal Chemistry AstraZeneca
Stefan is Director of Medicinal Chemistry at AstraZeneca, where he leads drug discovery projects in respiratory, immunology, cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases across modalities including small molecules, PROTACs, macrocycles, and antibody-drug conjugates. Since joining AstraZeneca in 2016, he has contributed to the discovery of two clinical candidates and leads a strategic initiative to explore small molecule RNA binder. He manages a team of scientists, supervises international students, and supports global knowledge-sharing initiatives. Stefan completed postdoctoral research at MIT and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Munich. He has authored 25 publications, two patents, and has delivered invited talks worldwide.
Seminars
- Assessing RNA targets systematically by defining practical workflows that evaluate functional regions, tractability, binding potential, and risks before screening
- Learning from affinity-based screening pitfalls where compounds bind RNA in biochemical assays but fail to produce meaningful functional activity
- Shifting toward cell-based screens for functional output in RNA-targeted drug discovery
Identifying RNA targets that are both biologically meaningful and chemically tractable remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in RNA-targeted drug discovery. Many RNA regions are capable of binding small molecules, but only a subset controls diseaserelevant biology in a way that can support a therapeutic hypothesis.
Join RNA biologists, screening scientists, translational researchers, and discovery
teams to explore practical strategies for:
- Identifying which RNA transcripts, structures and regulatory elements are suitable for small-molecule intervention
- Moving beyond one-at-a-time target discovery with scalable screening and functional assay approaches
- Using chemical probing to distinguish dynamic RNA structures from functionally important conformational switches
- Matching each RNA target to the most appropriate therapeutic hypothesis, from splice modulation to direct binding, degradation or translational inhibition
- Learning from screening approaches that failed to generate actionable targets, functional hits or reliable discovery decisions
