William Barnes
Executive Director, Head of GPCR Biology Iambic Therapeutics
William G. Barnes, PhD, is a GPCR pharmacologist with 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry and currently serves as Executive Director and Head of GPCR Biology at Iambic Therapeutics. He has led multidisciplinary in vitro and in vivo teams at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and Neurocrine Biosciences, advancing small-molecule, peptide, and RNA-based therapeutics for metabolic, renal, liver, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases with a strong focus on GPCR targets. Dr. Barnes earned his PhD in Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience from Albany Medical College and completed postdoctoral training with Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz at Duke University, where he studied β-arrestin–mediated GPCR signaling. He has authored numerous publications in GPCR biology and translational pharmacology and now leads Iambic’s non-oncology drug discovery programs from target identification through entry into clinical development.
Seminars
- Introducing Iambic’s NeuralPLexer and Enchant AI technologies and how they integrate into a closed-loop discovery engine to address the structural complexity, conformational dynamics, and challenging pharmacology of GPCRs
- Showing how generative protein–ligand complex predictions for GPCRs (orthosteric, allosteric, and cryptic sites) guide rapid design–make–test cycles to optimize potency, selectivity, and signaling bias
- Highlighting how Enchant AI leverages preclinical data to predict human-relevant PK/ PD, safety, and probability of clinical success, and how combining NeuralPLexer +Enchant reshapes go/no-go decisions for GPCR assets
