In Industry Insights, members of ASPET’s Industry Science Committee discuss the intersection of pharmacology and industry, private sector highlights, and how the industry and membership can support each other.
ASPET 2026 Industry Scientists Track: Where Cutting-Edge Science Meets Real-World Opportunity
By Harshini Neelakantan, PhD, and Kyle Palmer, PhD
ISC Founding Co-Chairs
ASPET 2026 unites leading voices in drug discovery, toxicology, and translational science for an unmissable meeting in Minneapolis. From AI-driven therapeutics and next-generation toxicology approaches to candid career conversations with industry veterans, come ready to learn, connect, and leave inspired.
The Industry Scientists track at ASPET 2026 features new frontiers in contemporary drug discovery, while offering a private sector perspective for the next generation of scientists. Organized by ASPET’s newly formed Industry Science Committee (ISC), the track opens with Accelerating Biopharmaceutical Drug Discovery: Strategies and Scientific Frontiers—a deep dive into how AI/ML, novel therapeutic modalities, and early clinical development are reshaping the field, with direct relevance for early-career scientists tracking industry research. The Axelrod Symposium: From Transporters to Tumor Suppressors will highlight novel targets and therapeutic strategies across cancer, psychiatric and substance use disorders, and peripheral immunology. On the topic of AI in drug discovery, the keynote presentation by Dr. Karen Akinsaya on Designing, Refining and Combining Disease Off Switches Leveraging Computation will illustrate Schrodinger’s advanced computational platform in accelerating target identification to clinical candidates for oncology and immunology indications. Therapeutic promise for neurological channelopathies will be highlighted in the symposium on Targeting TRP Ion Channels in Drug Discovery and Development, where advanced cryo-EM structural biology that enable the design of precision small-molecule modulators for the expansive TRP channel family will be reviewed.
With incretin-based therapies dominating clinical headlines, the session on GLP-1R vs. GIPR Pharmacology: Not All Incretin GPCRs Are Created Equal is particularly timely. The industry speakers in this session will unpack the paradox that both agonism and antagonism of GIPR appear equally effective against obesity and cardiometabolic disease. The Division for Drug Discovery and Development Scientific Achievement Award Lecture will showcase meritorious research by trainees through notable presentations, alongside the Award Lecture from Sandhya Kortagere of Drexel University College of Medicine. Rounding out the track, two neuroscience-focused sessions will bring fresh perspectives: Targeting Neuroinflammation for Innovative Neurodegenerative Disease Therapies will bring together foundational, computational, translational, and clinical perspectives on non-traditional inflammatory pathways and drug repurposing strategies; and Recent Developments in Discovery of Subunit-Selective GABAA Modulators will present discovery programs on next-generation GABAA subtype-selective compounds that provide clinical benefits of existing GABAergic drugs without the side-effect liabilities.
This year’s symposia will push into toxicology and translational drug development realms with speakers from academia and biotech revealing cutting-edge tools like gastrointestinal organoids and cell-based in vitro models and their real-world impact on ADME and toxicology research in Novel Drug Technologies in ADME/T: Recent Applications and Future Perspectives. The Division of Toxicology adds to the momentum in their Career Award Session and Trainee Abstract Platform Presentations on pulmonary toxicity, carcinogenesis, and novel biomarkers for checkpoint inhibitor toxicities. With the regulatory landscape rapidly evolving, FDA, industry, and academic experts will break down the latest global toxicology guidelines in the Bridging the Gap: Aligning Predictive Toxicology with Mechanistic Pharmacology, including new approach methodologies (NAMs), weight-of-evidence approaches, and forward-thinking regulatory agency-aligned roadmaps. Rounding out the science slate, a dedicated session on A Critical Look at Nanocarriers and ADCs in Translational Drug Development will walk through design principles, preclinical development, manufacturing, and clinical scalability from bench to bedside of these drug delivery systems.
The programming on career development at ASPET 2026 meeting is just as packed. Whether you’re polishing your resume or plotting your next career move, ASPET 2026 has covered everything from hands-on workshop to networking-rich career talks with industry leaders. A resume workshop symposium Turning Your Expertise Into Impact: A Workshop to Launch Your Career will help trainees reframe academic experiences into results-driven, industry-ready accomplishments. Two complementary sessions on non-academic careers—an interview-style Career Connections panel from the ISC: The Untold Career Paths for Pharmacologists and Biomedical Scientists and a symposium: Non-Academic Careers for Pharmacologists, will each feature pharmacologists who’ve successfully made the leap to the private sector across a wide range of career tracks. Attendees can additionally catch the fan-favorite Guppy Tank Translational Science Pitch Competition to pick up tips on sharpening their elevator pitches and presenting science to a broad audience. Furthermore, in these more demanding times for science advocacy and policy, attendees can expect to equip themselves with the right tools and communication strategies by attending an interactive session on Bridging the Gap: Science, Misinformation, and Effective Policy. New this year, the ISC brings two additional Career Connections programs: Collaboration and Partnership Models Across the Private Sector, a panel that will exemplify the complex journey from therapeutic discovery to commercialization using practical case studies, and an intimate Behind the Science: A Fireside Chat with Dr. Michael F. Jarvis, which will reveal candid, unfiltered, and full of career insights from an honorable private sector scientist.
With these exceptional sessions led by leaders from large pharma, biotech, CROs, regulatory agencies, and government, ASPET 2026 is shaping up to be an unmissable meeting. Connect with industry leaders in above-mentioned sessions and in the hallways—at the welcome reception, poster sessions, cross-divisional mixers, and the closing awards lunch.
Don’t miss it. Register now—we’ll see you in Minneapolis!