Plenary Keynotes and Speaker Lineup Announced for Discovery on Target 2016

Over 300 Distinguished Speakers to Present at the Pharmaceutical Industry's Preeminent Event on Novel Drug Targets


NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, announced the speaker agenda for the 14th Annual Discovery on Target, taking place September 19-22, 2016 in Boston, MA. Spanning four days, the event showcases current and emerging "hot" targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Over 1,100 attendees (from 26 countries) composed of scientists/technologists, executives, directors, and managers from biopharma, academic, and healthcare organizations are expected to participate.

The Plenary Keynote Presentations feature two prominent thought leaders from The Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV), an open-innovation consortium that aims to select and validate novel targets in drug development: Jeffrey Barrett, D.Phil., Founding Director of CTTV and Group Leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; and Aaron Day-Williams, Ph.D., Biogen Scientific Lead at CTTV, Associate Director and Head of Statistical Genetics at Biogen. During their keynote presentation, titled "Open Innovation Partnerships to Bridge the Gap from GWAS to Drug Targets," they will discuss how human genetics and large-scale genomics can change how the pharmaceutical industry approaches therapeutic target validation, and how open innovation partnerships involving scientists working closely with academics can best bring these cutting edge datasets to fruition. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions and gain valuable insights from their learnings.

Barrett and Day-Williams will join an impressive group of 300+ distinguished speakers who look forward to sharing their knowledge, best practices, and expertise with all attendees. Topics include (but are not limited to) GPCR-Based Drug Discovery, Cardio-Metabolic Diseases, Ocular Disorders, Gene Editing and Silencing, Cancer Genomics, Rare Genetic Diseases, the Microbiome, and more.

The year's event features nearly 250 presentations within 17 conference tracks, five symposia, 16 short courses, an introductory training seminar, over 50 exhibiting companies, more than 135 scientific research posters, and countless dedicated networking opportunities.

For more information about Discovery on Target, including attendee testimonials and detailed agendas, visit DiscoveryOnTarget.com.

About Cambridge Healthtech Institute (http://www.healthtech.com)

Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, CROs, academia, and niche service providers. CHI is renowned for its vast conference portfolio held worldwide including PepTalk, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, SCOPE Summit, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, PEGS Summit, Drug Discovery Chemistry, Biomarker World Congress, World Preclinical Congress, Next Generation Dx Summit and Discovery on Target. CHI's portfolio of products that include Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett International, Insight Pharma Reports, Cambridge Marketing Consultants, Cambridge Meeting Planners, Knowledge Foundation, Bio-IT World, Clinical Informatics News and Diagnostics World.

Contact Information:

Lisa Scimemi
Corporate Marketing Director
lscimemi@healthtech.com