Past Event

Smarter Drugs: How Protein Crystallography Revolutionizes Drug Design

Presented by Clyde Smith

According to Smith, protein crystallography allows scientists to design drugs in a much more efficient way than the standard methods traditionally used by large drug companies, which can cost close to a billion dollars and take 10 to 15 years. "A lot of the work can be compressed down," Smith said. Protein crystallography enables researchers to learn the structure of molecules involved in disease and health. Seeing the loops, folds and placement of atoms in anything from a virus to a healthy cell membrane gives important information about how these things work - and how to encourage, sidestep or stop their functions. Drug design can be much faster when the relationship between structure and function tells you what area of a molecule to target.

Smith will use a timeline to illustrate the traditional methods of drug development and the new ways it can be done now. "It is very exciting work. There have been some failures, but many successes too." A new drug to combat the flu was developed in a year or so. Smith will tell us how. He will also highlight drugs developed to combat HIV, Tuberculosis, hypertension and Anthrax.

About Clyde Smith

After two decades of research in New Zealand, Smith came to SSRL in late 2003 to do structural biology with SSRL's high-intensity x-rays and is developing experiments for the x-ray free electron laser being built at SLAC.

Born and educated in New Zealand, his research studies have included how bacteria become resistant to drugs, bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, antibiotic resistance and viral DNA packaging. He won the Applied Biosystems/NZSBMB Award in 2003.

Past Event

Smarter Drugs: How Protein Crystallography Revolutionizes Drug Design

Presented by Clyde Smith

Public Lectures
Date
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
12:30–1:30 p.m. PDT
Add to calendar
Science and User Support Building (SUSB)
Attending a public event

Coming to SLAC

Free admission 
Registration may be required.

Identification required 
Adults are required to bring a photo ID to enter the SLAC campus.

Limited seating  
Please arrive early to join the event on time.

Free parking 
SLAC offers free parking in our visitor parking lot.

Accessibility 
SLAC facilities meet American Disability Act requirements for accessibility. If you need assistance, please notify our security officers as you enter SLAC’s main gate, and they will direct you to a parking area and assist or escort you to the auditorium.     

Getting here 
SLAC is located at 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California, 94025. Please visit our Maps and directions page for driving directions. 

If you have specific questions or concerns about attending a public lecture at SLAC, please contact us.

Site entry informationMaps & directions