RESCHEDULED: The new date for this lecture is Wednesday, April 22, 2026.

Unlocking Complex Drug Targets:  From Molecular Motion to Rational Drug Design in Oncology

When: Wednesday, April, 22, 2026 | 14:30-15:30
Where: 6th Level Auditorium, Deree – The American College of Greece

Organized by:
Leonardos Mageiros, Information Technology, Cybersecurity and Computer Science
Ph.D., Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Swansea University
Deree – The American College of Greece

About the lecture

Conventional structure-based drug design has long relied on static, “frozen” models of proteins. While these crystallographic and cryo-EM snapshots are foundational, they often fall short when addressing oncology’s most complex and notoriously difficult targets. To successfully inhibit these elusive cancer drivers, we must move beyond the static paradigm and uncover their dynamic functional mechanisms. This lecture explores an advanced computational ecosystem where AI structure prediction integrates with Coarse-Grained and Atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Together, they create a predictive engine capable of decoding the “molecular motion” of proteins to lay the groundwork for truly rational drug discovery.

What to Expect:

• Beyond Trial-and-Error: Learn how to target cancer drivers in a smarter, data-driven manner.
• The “Undruggable” Challenge: Explore two distinct case studies of major oncology targets that have evaded the global scientific community for decades.
• Exposing Vulnerabilities: Discover how unraveling fundamental functional dynamics can expose hidden structural vulnerabilities, finally opening the door to targeted drug design.

About the lecturer

Dr. Nastazia Lesgidou is a Computational Structural Biologist whose research bridges the gap between fundamental biophysics and computer-aided drug design. She earned her PhD from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Democritus University of Thrace, in collaboration with NCSR “Demokritos”.

Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Lesgidou conducted postdoctoral research at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) within a high-impact collaboration with Novartis. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Computational Drug Design and AI Group (University of West Attica). Her work utilizes high-performance computing to investigate the structural dynamics of disease-associated proteins, while she remains deeply committed to academic teaching and the mentorship of future scientists.