Ajinkya Patil
Principal Scientist Pfizer
Ajinkya Patil is Principal Scientist in Discovery Biology and Pharmacology at Pfizer, where he leads preclinical molecular glue and targeted protein degradation programs. His work spans induced-proximity therapeutics from assay development through hit-to-lead optimization. Prior to Pfizer, he completed his PhD at Harvard University and received honors including the AACR-Sanofi Scholar-in-Training Award and the Fujifilm Fellowship.
Seminars
• Anchoring hit identification on a highly sensitive, gain-of-signal biochemical proximity assay to maximize early detection of ternary-complex formation, opening a productive front-line screen for undruggable targets defined by weak or transient basal target and ligase interactions
• Sequencing a tiered validation cascade, spanning biochemical proximity, binder competition, functional ubiquitination, and cellular degradation, in which each tier enforces a distinct mechanistic criterion that systematically eliminates proximity-only false positives before committing chemistry resources
• Translating this orthogonally cross-validated funnel into confident go/no-go decisions and a generalizable, plug-and-play discovery framework that is portable across diverse undruggable targets and E3 ligases
