Annelot van Esbroeck wins Best Oral Communication Prize
Annelot van Esbroeck-Weevers, PhD student at the Molecular Physiology research group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, headed by Dr. Mario van der Stelt, has been awarded the Best Oral Communication Prize at the 8th European Workshop on Cannabinoid Research, held from 31 August to 2 September 2017 in London.
The title of her presentation was "Activity-based protein profiling reveals off-target proteins of the FAAH inhibitor BIA 10-2474".
The experimental drug BIA 10-2474, an FAAH inhibitor, had fatal side effects in a clinical trial in France last year. Van Esbroeck, together with Anthe Janssen and other colleagues, investigated the interaction profile of the drug. They discovered that BIA 10-2474 is not selective at high doses and deactivates multiple proteins, thereby disrupting the lipid metabolism of human nerve cells. Their findings have been published in Science on June 9th, 2017.