Susquehanna Valley Section

October 2008 Meeting

The three hundred and seventy-second meeting of the Susquehanna Valley Local Section will be held on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 in the Walsh Room in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center on the King's College campus in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The meeting will begin at 7:45 p.m. and will be preceded by a reception and dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Walsh Room. The speaker, Dr. Stephen Johnson from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Co., will presnet a talk entilted "A computational approach to modeling solubility that includes crystal packing, ionization, and intrinsic solubility for use in iterative design".

Dinner: Dinner will egin at 6:30 p.m. The menu selections are either orange peel chicken with jasmine rice or marinated London broil with wild brown rice (vegetarian option available). The cost will be $14.00 per person. Those interested in attending the dinner please contact Ron Supkowski with your choice at 570-208-5900 x5733 or ronaldsupkowski@kings.edu before Friday, 3 October 2008.

Directions: see below

Abstract: The optimization of aqueous solubility is often a challenging component in the discovery and development of a new drug. This presentation will include a brief introduction to physicochemical properties in drug discovery as well as the development, validation, and use of a computational model for aiding in the design of soluble drug candidates. The solubility model is comprised of three primary components: a QSAR model for the prediction of the intrinsic solubility of the neutral solute, an estimated pK_a for use in the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation for ionization effects, and a series of short molecular dynamics simulations to estimate crystal packing effects on solubility.

Dr. Johnson: earned his BA in Chemistry from The University of Delaware and Ph.D. in computational chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Johnson was first employed by SmithKline Beecham (which became GlaxoSmithKline during his time there). He has been at Bristol-Myers Squibb for the last eight years.

Directions to Parking: for the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center at King's College

• From Route I-81, take Exit 170B (formerly Exit 47B) which will put you on Route 309 North.
• Follow Route 309 to exit 3 (Wilkes Barre/Plains).
• Turn left off the exit ramp onto North River Street. Proceed about 1.5 miles, and you will see the Luzerne County Courthouse on your right. Continue through the light at the courthouse.
• Turn left at the next street, West Jackson Street. There is no traffic light at West Jackson Street, so do not go as far as the next light.
• Go through the stop sign and at the first traffic light, turn right onto North Main Street.
• Turn right at the next light onto West Union Street.
• About halfway down the block on your right you will see the entrance to a parking lot. Enter the paved lot where the gate is raised.
• As you pull into this lot, you are looking at the back of the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center, where your event is being held. It is a three-story building. You can walk to the front of the Campus Center by following the lane that runs along the left-hand side of the building (lights line the walkway).
• Your event is taking place on the 3rd floor of the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center. The elevator is around the corner to your left after you enter the building, past the stairwell and large painting.