Agenda
Friday, October 23, 2026
8:15 am - 9:00 am
Registration and Breakfast
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Welcome Remarks
Chris Wilhelmsen | Senior Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry, Alkermes
Brian Aquila | Vice President, Head of Research, Alkermes
Dr. Danny Thach | Academic Chair Morning Session, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:10 am - 10:30 am
Graduate Student/Postdoc Talks (4 x 20 min)
9:10 am - 9:30 am
A Coiled-Coil Peptide Zipper to Create Antibody–Drug Conjugates
Dr. Alina Ringaci | Grinstaff Group, Boston University
9:30 am - 9:50 am
C-Polysaccharides via Stereoselective Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization of Minimally Protected Monosaccharides
Dr. Ming Zhang | Niu Group, Boston College
9:50 am - 10:10 am
Studies Towards the Oligosaccharide of Pyridapeptide E
Maxwell Sykes | Bennett Group, Tufts University
10:10 am - 10:30 am
Iron-catalyzed highly stereoselective glycosylation methods in rapid synthesis of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides and Fondaparinux
Zixiang Jiang | Xu Group, Brandeis University
10:30 am - 11:15 am
Coffee Break and Poster Session #1
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Academic Keynote
Genetically encoded chemistries to read and write biology
Prof. Abhishek Chatterjee | Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Boston College
12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
Networking Lunch
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Graduate Student/Postdoc Talks (3 x 20 min)
1:30 pm - 1:50 pm
Site-Selective Insertion of Amino Acids into Amide Bonds Enabled by N-Nitrosation
Alexander Mueller | Elkin Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1:50 pm - 2:10 pm
Optimization of pyrazolopyridine derivatives as inhibitors of Trypanosoma brucei
Vinou Val | Ferrins Group, Northeastern University
2:10 pm - 2:30 pm
Charting a Sequence–Function Atlas of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 at Amino Acid Resolution
Julia Morriss | Liau Group, Harvard University
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm
Coffee Break and Poster Session #2
3:15 pm - 3:55 pm
Graduate Student/Postdoc Talks (2 x 20 min)
3:15 pm - 3:35 pm
Modeling Reaction Feasibility to Identify New Opportunities for Sigmatropic Rearrangements
Jordan Liles | Coley Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3:35 pm - 3:55 pm
Degron- independent recruitment of KAT2A expands the target space of CRBN molecular glues
Samuel Ojeda | Fischer Group, Harvard University
3:55 pm - 4:55 pm
Industrial Keynote
Discovery of Alixorexton: An Orexin 2 Receptor Agonist in Development for Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence
Dr. Ingo Mügge | Alkermes Fellow, Head of Modeling and Informatics, Alkermes
4:55 pm - 5:00 pm
Closing Remarks
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Networking Reception