Aim

Workshop Objectives

Workshop Structure

📅 Day 1: Incretin Receptor Biology and Structural Pharmacology

Focus: Understanding the structural and pharmacological basis of GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptor targeting.

Topics Covered

• Molecular pathophysiology of diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction.
• Therapeutic roles of GLP-1, GIP, glucagon and insulin signalling pathways.
• Structural organisation of GLP-1R, GIPR and GCGR as class B G-protein-coupled receptors.
• Retrieval and assessment of experimentally determined and predicted receptor structures.
• Comparison of mono-agonist, dual-agonist and triple-agonist therapeutic mechanisms.
• Identification of orthosteric binding regions and receptor–peptide interaction interfaces.
• Mapping of hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic contacts, salt bridges and polar interaction networks.
• Interpretation of receptor selectivity, potency, efficacy and biased-signalling concepts.
• Evaluation of receptor structures for structure-guided peptide and therapeutic design.

🛠️ Hands-on Activities

• Retrieve GLP-1R, GIPR and GCGR sequences and structural information.
• Compare receptor domains, conserved motifs and ligand-binding regions.
• Visualise receptor–peptide complexes and identify critical binding residues.
• Map interaction networks associated with receptor activation and selectivity.
• Prepare a comparative structural-pharmacology annotation sheet for the three receptors.

🧰 Tools Covered

• UniProt, RCSB Protein Data Bank, AlphaFold Database, Mol*, PyMOL or UCSF Chimera, Clustal Omega, GPCRdb

📅 Day 2: Multi-Agonist and Smart Insulin Molecular Design

Focus: Applying peptide engineering and structure-guided strategies to next-generation diabetes therapeutics.

Topics Covered

• Sequence–structure–activity relationships in incretin and metabolic peptide therapeutics.
• Rational design principles for GLP-1/GIP dual agonists and GLP-1/GIP/glucagon triple agonists.
• Balancing receptor potency, selectivity and pharmacological activity in multi-agonist design.
• Peptide-engineering strategies for protease resistance and prolonged therapeutic activity.
• Lipidation, albumin binding, amino-acid substitution and molecular-size optimisation.
• Insulin structure, insulin-receptor recognition and mechanisms of receptor activation.
• Molecular principles of glucose-responsive and glucose-sensitive insulin systems.
• Responsive molecular switches, polymeric carriers, hydrogels and controlled-release platforms.
• Developability challenges involving aggregation, immunogenicity, stability and manufacturability.

🛠️ Hands-on Activities

• Retrieve and compare reference incretin, glucagon and insulin peptide sequences.
• Identify amino-acid substitutions associated with receptor activity and peptide stability.
• Map sequence modifications onto three-dimensional peptide–receptor complexes.
• Compare candidate multi-agonists using a sequence–structure–function framework.
• Develop a conceptual smart-insulin or multi-agonist therapeutic-design profile.

🧰 Tools Covered

• UniProt, RCSB Protein Data Bank, AlphaFold Server or AlphaFold Database, ExPASy ProtParam, Clustal Omega, Mol*, PyMOL or UCSF Chimera, PubChem.

📅 Day 3: PK–PD Evaluation, Safety and Precision Therapeutic Prioritisation

Focus: Integrating molecular design, pharmacological performance, safety and patient-specific considerations for rational candidate selection.

Topics Covered

• Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles for peptide-based diabetes therapeutics.
• Evaluation of absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and therapeutic exposure.
• Proteolytic stability, plasma half-life, clearance and dosing-frequency considerations.
• Assessment of physicochemical properties, aggregation tendency and formulation suitability.
• Safety considerations including hypoglycaemia, gastrointestinal effects and cardiovascular risk signals.
• Immunogenicity, off-target activity and receptor cross-reactivity assessment.
• Interpretation of dose–response relationships, therapeutic windows and efficacy–safety balance.
• Patient stratification using metabolic phenotype, comorbidities and therapeutic-response indicators.
• Multi-criteria prioritisation of multi-agonist and smart-insulin therapeutic candidates.

🛠️ Hands-on Activities

• Evaluate physicochemical and developability properties of selected peptide candidates.
• Compare predicted pharmacokinetic and safety characteristics across therapeutic designs.
• Analyse receptor activity, stability, dosing and safety trade-offs.
• Construct an integrated structure–pharmacology–PK–PD prioritisation matrix.
• Select a final therapeutic candidate and justify suitable backup strategies.

🧰 Tools Covered

• SwissADME, pkCSM, ADMETlab, ExPASy ProtParam, PubChem, ClinicalTrials.gov, Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets

Who Should Enrol?

Important Dates

Workshop Outcomes

Meet Your Mentor(s)

Abhimanyu

Deprtment of Biotechnology

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Fee Structure

What You’ll Gain