Julia Dou
Director - Protein Chemistry Degron Therapeutics
Julia Dou is Director of Protein Chemistry at Degron Therapeutics, where she leads protein science initiatives supporting the discovery and development of targeted protein degradation therapeutics. Prior to joining Degron Therapeutics, she served as an Associate Professor at Shandong University and was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford, advancing research in protein chemistry and drug discovery. Julia holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh. With expertise spanning protein engineering, chemical biology, and degrader therapeutics, she brings extensive academic and industry experience to the development of innovative medicines targeting previously undruggable proteins.
Seminars
- Exploring the application of the Degron Therapeutics platform to identify and investigate novel MGD targets
- Leveraging Cryo-EM to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying MGD-induced ternary complex formation
- Examining case studies across different targets to demonstrate how structural insights can reveal mechanisms of action and inform key drug discovery questions
Structure-based drug design has traditionally been strongest when applied to well-defined protein-ligand interactions, but the emergence of protein degraders, biologics, and other complex modalities is challenging researchers to rethink how structural information should be interpreted and applied. Join structural biologists, medicinal chemists, protein engineers, and drug discovery leaders as they discuss how SBDD can evolve beyond traditional small molecules by:
- Determining where traditional SBDD principles apply to targeted protein degradation, exploring how structural information can inform molecular glue and PROTAC design while recognising that observed interactions may not always reflect functional behaviour
- Using structural information to improve biologic design, discussing how structures can inform not only binding affinity but also protein expression, stability, developability, and molecular engineering
- Adapting structural workflows for complex therapeutic modalities, exploring how advances in cryo-EM and other structural approaches can generate actionable insights into increasingly complex biological interactions and mechanisms of action
