What’s New at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018?

ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018: Drug Discovery for Small & Large Molecules takes place October 9-10, at the ExCeL Arena, London, marking the 12th event. Ahead of this year’s meeting, SelectScience^® speaks with ELRIG Board member, Sanj Kumar, to find out what is in store for scientists attending ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018.

Over 1,200 attendees expected for first London-based event

“This is the 12th year that ELRIG's been running the Drug Discovery meeting and we expect this year to be bigger and broader than any of the other meetings that we've done before,” Kumar explains. “In the past, we've had over1,000 attendees coming through the doors in a period of two days. This year we're expecting over 1,200, the increase of which is due to the new location in London, at the ExCeL arena, and the incredibly broad and relevant programme we have created.”

50 scientific talks

The event boasts 50 talks, arranged into eight tracks, over two days – 48 speakers in total, plus 2 keynote speakers. “The two keynotes are quite spectacular,” says Kumar. “We have Janet Thornton who's a world-renowned protein chemist, and we also have Jonathan Milner. Jonathan was the CEO of Abcam and is now an angel investor, investing in biotech startups. We're honored that both keynote speakers will be speaking.”

Parallel to the main program there will be at least six vendor workshops on a variety of topics.

A focus on early career professionals

Kumar explain that ELRIG will also have a specific focus on early career professionals – scientists just starting out in their careers who may still be deciding which direction to go in. “We have a Network like a Boss session”, which is essentially where they can meet mentors representing different segments of the industry and ask questions career orientated questions to the “Bosses”,” Kumar highlights. “We're also hosting a workshop on how to choose your career, in Drug Discovery, run by Dr. Clare Viney, CEO of CRAC Vitae, a renowned professional in this area, as well as a CV workshop, being run by Emma Howarth of Langton Howarth.”

The event will also host free-of-charge training sessions on the latest techniques within life sciences, while a new ‘Learning Paths’ feature will help scientists to identify talks and sessions over the whole event relevant to a topic of their interest. Find out more about Learning Paths at ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018.

Exhibition

“Of course, parallel to the scientific content, ELRIG has always been about highlighting the latest technologies on the market, and it's our vendors and suppliers who do that. We have an exhibition taking place, which already has over 94 exhibitors signed up. We have an innovations zone that will include at least 10 startup companies, and we have healthy contribution from a group of contract research organizations (CROs).” says Kumar. “It's safe to say that all the great and good of the drug discovery industry will be there. We also encourage networking to take place within the exhibition itself, with a networking event taking place on the first night.”

It’s all free of charge

“The most amazing thing about all of this, is that it is all free to attend!” Kumar concludes. “So, anybody can join and all of the content is free of charge, whether it's to listen to the keynote, or to listen to a speaker, or to attend a workshop, or to attend a training, or to visit our vendors in the exhibition — and that's because ELRIG's mission is to provide the best scientific conference available within the drug discovery/life science arena free of charge to the community.”

Register for ELRIG Drug Discovery 2018 for free today and make sure to drop by the SelectScience booth in the media zone of the exhibition hall.