May 9, 2023
Day 1 Big Picture
7:45-8:15 Registration and breakfast
8:15-8:20 Welcome: Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia
8:20-9:00 Keynote Presentation
The Study of Human Diversity: The Key to Understanding of Human Disease
Kári Stefánsson
deCODE Genetics, Iceland
9:00-9:40 Keynote Presentation
Generative AI for Drug Discovery and Development
James Zou
Stanford Univ.
Session 1: Pharma and State of the Field
Convenors: Jason Cross, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Phil Jones, MD Anderson Cancer Center
9:40-10:05 The Reality of AI in Drug Discovery
Bissan Al-Lazikani
MD Anderson Cancer Center
10:05-10:30 In Vitro-In Vivo Correlations and Human PK/Dose Predictions: What are the Hurdles?
Leslie Benet
Univ. of California San Francisco
10:30-10:55 Can Humans Learn from Machine Learning in Drug Discovery?
Tudor Oprea
Univ. of New Mexico School of Medicine
10:55-11:10 Break
Session 2: Leveraging Preclinical Databases for Drug Discovery
Convenors: Pete Davies and Cliff Stephan, Institute of Bioscience and Technology, Texas A&M Univ.
11:10-11:35 Knowledge-primed AI to Power the Design of Rational Combination Therapies
Maxwell Sherman
Serinus
11:35-12:00 Pre-Clinical Oncology Studies using Patient-Derived Xenografts
Janine Low-Marchelli
The Jackson Laboratory
12:00-12:25 Establishing Pre-clinical Databases for Drug Repositioning
Reid Powell
Institute of Bioscience and Technology, Texas A&M Univ.
12:25-1:30 Lunch
Session 3: Diversity in Healthcare Datasets
Convenor: Suzanne Tomlinson, Gulf Coast Consortia
1:30-2:10 Keynote Presentation
The All of Us Research Program Researcher Workbench
Sheri Schully
NIH All of US
2:10-2:35 Values and Barriers to Diversity in Healthcare Datasets
Veronica Ajewole
Texas Southern University
2:35-3:00 What We Don’t Know CAN Hurt Us: Representation in Healthcare Datasets
Rayne Rouce
Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine
3:00-3:25 Panel Discussion
3:25-3:40 Break
Session 4: Leveraging Clinical and Real-world Data
Convenor: Stan Watowich, Univ. Texas Medical Branch
3:40-4:05 Unlocking the Potential of Real-World Data in Oncology Research and Development
Vasu Chandrasekaran
Ontada
4:05-4:30 Challenges and Opportunities of Real-World Evidence Data for Therapeutics and Drug Development
Georgiy Golovko
Univ. of Texas Medical Branch
4:30-4:55 From Real-world Data to Real-world Evidence: An Upstream Bespoke EHR Strategy
Guo-Qiang Zhang
Univ. of Texas Health Science Center Houston
4:55-5:15 Panel Discussion
5:15-6:15 Posters and Networking Reception (event hall)
May 10, 2023
Day 2 Disease-Specific Data-Driven Drug Development
8:00-8:30 Registration and breakfast
Session 5: Session 5 Neurotherapeutics
Convenor: Jim Ray, MD Anderson Cancer Center
8:30-9:00 AI Rodeo: Riding the Wave of Large Language Models in Drug Discovery
Brett Abrahams
Heppinn Biosciences
9:00-9:30 Breaking Down Barriers in Neuroscience Drug Discovery Through an AI-powered, Human-Centric Approach
Virginie Buggia-Prevot
Valo Health
9:30-9:45 Panel Discussion
9:45-10:05 Networking Break
Session 6 RNA Therapeutics
Convener: John Cooke, Houston Methodist Research Institute
10:05-10:30 Systematic Bioinformatics Studies for the Development of the Targeted Therapeutics (Targeting Diverse RNA Level Mechanisms and Gene Fusions)
Pora Kim
Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
10:30-10:55 Mapping and Programming RNA-protein Interactions to Build RNA Therapeutics
Kristopher Brannan
Houston Methodist Research Institute
10:55-11:20 Targeting RNA Splicing in Cancer and the Immune System
Trey Westbrook
Baylor College of Medicine
11:20-12:50 Lunch and Cores
11:20 Lunch
11:50 Core Showcase-Core and Core representatives can be found here
Session 6: Cardiovascular
Convenor: John Cooke, Houston Methodist Research Institute
12:50-1:15 Big Data Infrastructure Transforming the Future of CV Health Research: Happening As We Speak
Khurram Nasir
Houston Methodist Research Institute
1:15-1:40 Beyond Genes: Understanding Cardiovascular Health through Exposomics
Sadeer Al-Kindi
Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Medicine
Session 7: Infectious Disease & Microbiome
Convenors: Zhiqiang An, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center Houston
1:40-2:05 Metagenomic Enzymes: A Window into Evolution for Next-Generation Pharmaceuticals
Peter McCaffrey
Pragma Biosciences
2:05-2:30 Targeting the Microbiome and Other Factors to Promote Health and End Cancer
Jenn Wargo
MD Anderson Cancer Center
2:30-3:00 Audience Brainstorming: Needed Initiatives to More Rapidly Advance Healthcare Research
Suzanne Tomlinson
Gulf Coast Consortia
Stan Watowich
Univ. Texas Medical Branch
Peter Davies
Institute of Bioscience and Technology, Texas A&M Univ.
3:00 Closing remarks
Stan Watowich
Univ. Texas Medical Branch