Molecular Storytelling

Описание: Medicinal chemistry is often described as a rational, data-driven optimization exercise—but anyone who has lived through a real discovery program knows that the truth is messier, more creative, and far more human.

In this Flash Talk, Martin Stahl, CSO of Zenith Therapeutics, will use case studies and ideas borrowed from philosophy and the history of science to argue that small molecule drug discovery is about navigating evolving narratives, where each new molecule both captures past learning and reshapes future questions. Rather than treating compounds as isolated data points that can be tabulated, we explore how they form connected chains of insight, branches of a growing tree of knowledge shaped by intuition, failure, serendipity, and design. We challenge retrospective rationalization and propose ways of visualizing and talking about medicinal chemistry while it is still in motion. Along the way, we uncover the hidden value of “dead ends” and examine why tacit knowledge so often escapes formal documentation. This webinar invites us to step back and rediscover medicinal chemistry as a creative, storytelling discipline, where understanding how we got here may be just as important as where we are going next.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
08:23 Structure Search Highlights
11:10 Presentation
43:31 Q&A

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Recorded on February 19th, 2026, as a Drug Hunter Flash Talk.

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