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AI, Big Data, and Beyond: Computational Approaches for Drug Discovery and Pharmacology

The Great Lakes Chapter (GLC) of ASPET will hold its 38th Annual Scientific Meeting on June 13, 2025 at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. 

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The Great Lakes Chapter (GLC) of ASPET will hold its 38th Annual Scientific Meeting on Friday, June 13, 2025 at Northwestern University in Chicago. The theme of the 2025 meeting is “AI, Big Data, and Beyond: Computational Approaches to Drug Discovery and Pharmacology.” Our intent is to provide a forum for students, postdoctoral fellows, and scientists working in this area and related areas, to participate and engage in productive discussions with colleagues in the field. We have selected speakers that will be informative and relevant to both basic scientists engaged in drug discovery or preclinical toxicology as well as to clinical researchers. The annual meeting of the GLC of ASPET has historically provided an excellent forum of learning and exchanging of ideas in all fields of the pharmacological sciences and is a major networking event for biomedical scientists in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest. Featured events at the meeting include the Main Symposium, Young Investigator Symposium, Pharmacology Educators Symposium, Lunch and Learn career development event, and poster session. All biomedical topics are welcome in the poster session.

Symposium Speakers:

Main Symposium 

  • Nicholas Tatonetti, PhD (Keynote Speaker) (Professor and Vice Chair of Operations, Department of Computational Biomedicine; Associate Director of Computational Oncology)
    “From Signals to Solutions: AI for Safer Medicines in Underserved Groups” 

  • Sanjiv Shah, MD (Director, Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine—Center for Deep Phenotyping and Precision Therapeutics, and Stone Endowed Professor; Northwestern University)
    "Leveraging Machine Learning to Address the Challenges of Drug Development for Heterogeneous Clinical Syndromes"

  • John Karanicolas, PhD (Head of Computational Drug Discovery, AbbVie)
    "Emerging strategies for AI/ML-driven drug design"

  • Gabriel Rocklin, PhD (Asst. Professor of Pharmacology, Northwestern University)
    “High-throughput  discovery of protein stability and dynamics”

Young Investigator Symposium

  • Wei Liang, PhD (Senior Scientist, AbbVie)
    “Vision-Based AI for Analyzing Primate Behavior”

  • Sudarshan Babu, PhD (AI Fellow, Khan Lab, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago)
    “Novel Molecular Representations for AI-Driven Discovery”

  • Shilpa Sharma, PhD (Post-doctoral Associate, Saha Lab, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
    "Mapping the Free Energy Landscape of AF9-BCOR: Unraveling Intrinsically Disordered Protein Interactions in Leukemia"

Registration

Online early registration with discounted rates will end May 16 at 11:59 PM EDT. Online registration will close on June 12, 2025. We strongly encourage all attendees to register online prior to the meeting. If you encounter technical issues with registering online, please contact ASPET Membership at membership@aspet.org for assistance. For registration onsite, only cash and check will be accepted.

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Poster Abstract Submission

Registration is required for abstract submission. Abstracts submitted without prior registration will not be accepted. The deadline for abstract receipt is Friday, June 6, 2025 by 5:00 PM CDT. Please use the form online. Completed abstracts using the can be submitted to aspetabstracts@gmail.com

Download the Abstract Form

 

Maps and Parking Directions

Address: 303 East Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611

Maps: Google Maps, Chicago Campus Map

The conference will be held at the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center at Northwestern University on its Chicago medical campus in Chicago (street address listed above).

Public Transportation:

The location of the meeting is a little over 2 miles away from Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago. Commuter trains on the Metra’s Union Pacific North line (UPN) run between Ogilvie Transportation Center and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Parking: Parking near the event is available at the following parking garages (under 24 hrs only):
Erie Ontario Parking C & D: 321 E Erie St.
Huron Superior Parking:222 E Huron St.
Space is limited in these garages.

COVID-19 Protocols (as of February 24, 2025)

If you have a fever, cough, or other symptoms, you might have COVID-19 and please refrain from attending the meeting. If you have COVID-19, we will refund your registration fee. Please contact aspetabstracts@gmail.com.

Thank you for your understanding.

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