Prof. Irit Sagi from the Weizmann Institute of Science visited GIBH

On April 21st and 22nd, Prof. Irit Sagi from the Department of Biology Regulation at the Weizmann Institute of Science paid a visit to GIBH. Chief Technology officer Micky Tortorella and the assistant to the director general Donghai Wu welcomed the guest.

Micky reviewed GIBH’s development and the project undertaken by the Drug Discovery Pipeline (DDP) while Prof. Sagi introduced the Department of Biology Regulation and the research which is being conducted by her lab. Both sides discussed the potential collaboration for development of protein-based inhibitors targeting metalloproteinases. Afterwards, she held talks with senior scientists from DDP and gave a seminar entitled “Matrix enzymes: from structure-function to drug design”.

The Weizmann Institute of Science is a leading research institute with over 2,500 employees. Its scientists do extensive research in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science. Prof. Sagi and her team have established a record in the field of structural biology and biophysics of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs ) and developed structural-dynamic X-ray spectroscopic methods to characterize metalloenzymes catalytic sites during action and at atomic resolution. Recently Sagi and coworkers designed and produced target metalloproten cleft (metallobodies) inhibitory anti-MMP monoclonal antibody (mAb). This mAb has therapeutic effect in MMP dependent inflammatory bowl diseases model.