Interactions with industry

HEARING LOSS: causes, consequences, therapies & IDORSIA PHARMACEUTICALS: Insight into CNS drug discovery (on site)

December 12, 2022

Basel (Switzerland)

INTRODUCTION

How are sounds processed from the ear to the cerebral cortex ? What are the different pathophysiological mechanisms that may lead to hearing loss -whether they are the result of age, trauma or drug-induced lesions ? Which genes are involved in hereditary deafness ? How do the different kinds of hearing loss translate into patients ? What therapies are available, and what is the current status of personalized therapies, including genetic approaches & stem cell technology?

Well-known scientists from Academia will address these different issues during the first session of a workshop entitled « HEARING LOSS: causes, consequences, therapies & IDORSIA PHARMACEUTICALS: Insight into CNS drug discovery » that will be held on the 12th of December. This first part takes place in the morning and early afternoon at the Museum Kleines Klingental (Unterer Rheinweg 26, Basel).

During a second session in the late afternoon on site at Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in Allschwil, Idorsia’s scientists will introduce the participants to the process of industrial drug Discovery. They will hightlight the paths of two drug discovery programs starting from the initial idea for the target, via high throughput screening, medicinal chemistry, and prelinical testing, up to the clinical proof of concept in human. The two examples that are presented are :  a Calcium T-type channel blocker for the treatment of epilepsy, and the dual orexin receptor antagonist daridorexant for the treatment of insomnia.  

PROGRAM

08.20 - 08.50 Registration and Welcome Coffee

FIRST SESSION: HEARING LOSS: causes, consequences, and therapeutics

08.50 – 09.00 Dr. Michel A Steiner (CNS Pharmacology, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Switzerland)

« Opening & Introduction »

09.00 – 09.45 Prof. Tania Barkat (Department of Biomedicine, University Basel, Switzerland)

« Making sense of sounds: auditory processing from the ear to the cortex »

09.45 – 10.30 Prof. Marlies Knipper (Research group: Molecular Physiology of Hearing; Tübingen Hearing Research Centre, Germany)

« Pathophysiological processes involved in age-, trauma- and drug-related hearing loss »

 

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break

 

11.00 – 11.45 Dr Nicolas Michalski (Dept of Hearing Institute, Pasteur Institute, Paris)

« Central auditory deficits: new insights from mouse models with genetic forms of deafnesss »

 

11.45 – 12.30 Dr. Marta Roccio (Inner Ear Stem Cell Lab, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland)

« Stem cell technologies for hearing research and personalized therapy »

 

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

 

13.30 – 14.10 Prof. Daniel Bodmer (Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Switzerland) « The complex presentation of hearing loss in the patient, therapeutic possibilities, and promising novel approaches: a doctor’s perspective »

 

14.10 – 14.50 Travel by bus to Allschwil (Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd.)

 

SECOND SESSION : IDORSIA PHARMACEUTICALS: Insights into CNS drug discovery

Chaired by Michel A. Steiner (Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Head CNS Pharmacology)

14.50 – 15.20 Welcome Coffee at Idorsia

15.20 – 16.20 Olivier Bezencon (Head CNS Chemistry)

« Discovery of a Calcium T-type channel blocker as treatment for a specific pediatric epilepsy syndrome»

16.20 – 17.20 Catherine Roch (Principal Scientist, Project Leader, CNS Pharmacology) & Christoph Boss (Head Drug Discovery Chemistry)

« Discovery of daridorexant, a new dual orexin receptor antagonist for the treatment
of insomnia »

 

17.20-17.35 End of the event; possibility to travel back to the Museum Kleines Klingental by bus

DATES AND VENUE

Monday, the 12th of December 2022

 

Morning session :

Museum Kleines Klingental

Unterer Rheinweg 26

BASEL

 

Afternoon session :

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Hegenheimermattweg 91, 4123 Allschwil

PLEASE NOTE THAT...

Neurex workshops are part of the cycle B5 of the University of Basel. They allow students to gain Credit Points from attending workshops/meetings.

This specific workshop will give rise to the attribution of 0.5 CP.

Important: Full rules & how to proceed available here.