From physics to pharmacology: methodological and systemic approaches

• Caruso Giuseppe (University of Catania)

Room: Ritchie Hall, Room 268

Development of fluorescence nanoscopy methods for biological applications

• Luca Lanzanò (University of Catania)

Room: Ritchie Hall, Room 268 The development of superresolution microscopy (nanoscopy) has opened the way for studying biological processes at the nanocale. I will discuss how several tools of fluorescence spectroscopy (e.g. lifetime detection and analysis, correlation spectroscopy) can be exploited to make microscopy and nanoscopy more efficient, versatile and quantitative. As an example, I will discuss application of nanoscopy to the investigation of chromatin alterations in a model of oncogene activation. Relevant Literature (if required) Lanzanò et al, Nat Comm 2015 Sarmento et al, Nat Comm 2018 Oneto et al, Biophys J 2019 Cerutti et al, Sci Rep 2021

How to Find Gold in Data: If You Have Any!

• John Ralston (University of Kansas )

Room: Ritchie Hall, Room 268 Abstract: Most 21st century research has a problem of too much data to interpret. It is a “great interdisciplinary crisis” of the current era. The problem is mathematically deep, and also an unrecognized outcome of the “reductionist” approach to science of 19th century physics. Seeking “emergent” subsystems is a new idea to discover patterns of orderly behavior that complexity often makes on its own. We’ll discuss a general method to find such order: It is weird, and not weird, both and neither, at the same time. We’ll present worked example and real-world experience that shows you can usually find gold in almost any data. The key issue is “exactly what do you mean by a probability?”: And if your data is not crap.

An interdisciplinary approach to drug discovery in Alzheimer’s disease: from neurobiology to target identification

• Filippo Caraci

Room: Ritchie Hall, Room 268 Epidemiological data show that CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease are some of the most prevalent, devastating and yet poorly treated illnesses. Focusing on treatments that target disease pathophysiology will improve the chances of developing therapeutics that go beyond current symptomatic treatments. Indeed, identifying new molecular targets involved in the pathogenesis of AD is an essential first step in designing new and efficacious disease-modifying drugs. Over the last decade significant progress has been made in the field of drug discovery and drug development, according to the pathology-to-drug discovery approach, integrating different tools to improve target identification and validation. I will then discuss how these tools of translational pharmacology can be exploited in experimental models of AD to validate a new pharmacological target and develop neuroprotective drugs. Relevant Literature (if required) Plenge, Science Translational Medicine 2016 Leggio, Caraci et al 2016, Pharmacological Research Cummings et al, Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy 2019