ELRIG, a not-for-profit, volunteer-led organization dedicated to the global drug discovery community, and The Protein Society, an international, not-for-profit, scholarly society, with the mission to provide forums for the advancement of research into protein structure, function, design and applications, today announced the keynote speakers for Protein Sciences in Drug Discovery 2026.
Prof Dame Carol Robinson DBE FRS FMedSci FRSC, Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery at the University of Oxford; Dr Andrew Doré, Head of Structural Biology at Isomorphic Labs; and Prof Paula Booth, Daniell Chair of Chemistry at King’s College London (KCL), will lead this year’s conference taking place at GSK Stevenage from 10–11 November 2026.
The free-to attend event offers scientists from academia, pharma, biotech and CROs the opportunity to explore emerging developments in protein science and their application to modern drug discovery. The program will explore AI and machine learning in protein science; challenging targets and complexes; antibody and alternative biologic developability and quality control; and the production challenges associated with non-standard binding proteins.
There will be valuable networking opportunities to exchange ideas, build new connections and explore potential collaborations, alongside meeting technology and service providers through the exhibition. Early Career Professionals will also be eligible for the poster award recognizing the research that the next generation of scientists bring to drug discovery.
Prof Dame Carol Robinson has held the University of Oxford Chair of Dr Lee’s Professor of Chemistry since 2009. She is the first Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery at Oxford and the first female Professor of Chemistry at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Prof Robinson is recognised for establishing mass spectrometry as a viable technology to study the structure, function and interactions of proteins and their complexes.
In 2016, she founded OMass Technologies, now OMass Therapeutics, which uses high-definition native mass spectrometry to develop drug therapies for immunologic and genetic disorders. A Dame Commander of the British Empire and a former President of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry, her research has attracted numerous international awards and distinctions. She will present ‘Cell Surface Receptors and Transporters; Insights From Native MS’ on day one of the conference.
Dr Andrew Doré is Head of Structural Biology at Isomorphic Labs. He earned his DPhil at the University of Cambridge and was a postdoc at the Institute of Cancer Research. He later founded and led Structural Biology at Heptares Therapeutics (Sosei Heptares / Nxera), where his group delivered multiple landmark first-in-class GPCR structures, yielding eight Nature publications and advancing 14 drug candidates to the clinic.
He subsequently served as Vice President at CHARM Therapeutics, pairing 3D deep learning with structural biology for oncology. At Isomorphic, his team is applying AI to enable the rational design of next-generation precision medicine of high therapeutic value. Dr Doré will discuss ‘Engineering the Future of Drug Discovery: Isomorphic Labs’ AI-First Approach’ during his presentation on the first day.
Prof Paula Booth holds the Daniell Chair of Chemistry at KCL, and leads a Satellite Group at the Francis Crick Institute. Previously, as Head of Chemistry at KCL, she led the renaissance of the department and is now the inaugural Co-Director of King’s new Centre for Physical Science of Life.
Prof Booth has pioneered approaches at the interface of chemistry and biology to probe the biosynthetic folding of integral membrane proteins, studying reaction mechanisms, regulation by membrane lipids and constructing biomembranes for synthetic biology applications. She has previously held positions at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford, and Imperial College London.
Her presentation, ‘Membrane Protein Tool-kit: Co-translational Folding in Native Lipid Environments’, will take place on the final day.
Protein science continues to play a critical role in modern drug discovery. This year’s Protein Sciences in Drug Discovery will provide leading scientists from academia and industry with a unique platform to share advances across rapidly developing areas in the field, particularly AI and machine learning. ELRIG is committed to making high-quality scientific content accessible to the whole drug discovery community. The caliber of our keynote speakers, Prof Dame Carol Robinson, Dr Andrew Doré and Prof Paula Booth, reflects the strength and relevance of the scientific program, while our continued partnership with The Protein Society brings together the expertise and communities of both organizations.”
Del Trezise, Chair, ELRIG
The Protein Society is excited to continue our partnership with ELRIG to bring together scientists from academia and industry around some of the most rapidly advancing areas of protein science. As an international society, we value opportunities to engage with the global protein science community, exchange ideas, build new collaborations, and strengthen relationships across countries and disciplines. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to creating opportunities for researchers at all career stages and to translating fundamental advances in protein structure, function and design into new approaches for drug discovery.”
Dr Sam Barrell, Prof Heather Pinkett, Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, and President, The Protein Society
I’m delighted to participate in Protein Sciences in Drug Discovery 2026, and to have the chance to bring membrane protein folding – a critical but often overlooked process – into prevailing drug discovery conversations.”
Prof Paula Booth, Daniell Chair of Chemistry, King’s College London
ELRIG announces inaugural US drug discovery conference