ALLODD has pursued a comprehensive strategy to train a new generation of scientists in the field of allosteric drug discovery and to advance research on allosteric modulators.
Recruitment and Training of ESRs
All ESRs were recruited by the end of 2022. ESRs followed an interdisciplinary research and training programme based on their individual Career Development Plans (CDPs), which were updated throughout the project in collaboration with their supervisors.
Training activities included:
• Three Training Schools and Networking Meetings (Barcelona 2022, Budapest 2023, Urbino 2024), offering thematic workshops and transferable skills training
• Two major public conferences: “Allosterism and Drug Discovery” (Strasbourg, 2023) and the “European Conference on Allostery in Drug Discovery” (Athens, 2025), both open to external participants
• 20 scientific webinars
• Participation in scientific and public engagement events such as the European Researchers’ Night and multiple Open Science Days
• Monthly ALLODD Journal Club to strengthen their analytical and critical skills
• Enhancing their writing skills with Blog posts and Meeting Summaries
• Community outreach by creating Science Slam videos
• Lectures & Courses to learn transferable skills
• Secondments (see below)
All ESRs were recruited in a doctoral program.
Secondments
Secondments formed a key part of the training programme, allowing ESRs to gain experience in complementary host institutions across academia and industry.
Research Results and Tools
The project focused on 5 scientific objectives:
• Identification of allosteric pockets
• Identification of allosteric ligands
• Understanding allostery at the molecular level
• Understanding biological responses of allosteric ligands
• Building a theoretical framework for allosteric modulation and a platform for the discovery of allosteric drugs
The first year was dedicated to organising the ESR hiring process, developing in greater detail the ESR projects, and setting up the working infrastructures for the project.
In the next three years, ESRs worked on their research projects and finalized their doctoral work. This is evidenced by the successful completion and submission of all deliverables as well as their scientific output in many publications and participation in conferences. All ESRs will submit a PhD executive summary or their theses by the end of the ALLODD project.
ALLODD Events
The ALLODD consortium is acting at a multidisciplinary network level for achieving a collaborative training and research effort through a series of training schools for the ESRs as well as scientific consortium meetings, which enable the exchange of results and facilitate ESR training across ALLODD.
1) The first ALLODD Workshop & PhD Induction Course
2) The second ALLODD meeting, the 1st Training School & Networking Meeting
3) The third ALLODD meeting, "Allostery in drug discovery awareness event and Symposium" and Workshop
4) The fourth ALLODD meeting, the 2nd Training School & Networking Meeting
5) The fifth ALLODD meeting, the IPR Training for Researchers & ESR Presentations on the Progress of their Research
6) The sixth ALLODD meeting, the 3rd Training School & Networking Meeting
7) The seventh ALLODD event, the European Conference on Allostery in Drug Discovery
8) The eighth ALLODD event, the Final Networking Meeting
Outreach, Dissemination, and Communication
ALLODD developed a robust outreach, dissemination, and communication strategy, including:
• An ALLODD logo to maintain a cohesive and recognizable visual identity
• Communication materials in the form of a banner, poster, flyer, and infographic, all created in line with the ALLODD visual identity guidelines
• Yearly newsletters summarizing project milestones and updates
• A project website, updated regularly with news and publications
• Active social media presence (Twitter/X, LinkedIn)
• The ALLODD YouTube channel
• Participation in 16 open science events
• Blog posts, science slam videos, and science communication materials created by ESRs
• 4 Press releases
• 37 peer-reviewed publications have been produced (
https://www.allodd-itn.eu/publications.html(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) and
https://zenodo.org/communities/allodd-itn(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie))
• 50 Conference presentations
Exploitation and Sustainability
The consortium has identified the following Key Exploitable Results (KERs):
KER1: Platform for detecting allosteric ligands
KER2: Predictive web-based tool for identifying allosteric pockets and networks in proteins
KER3: Validated experimental pipelines for detecting allosteric modulators
KER4: Dataset of allosteric site predictions and ligand annotations
KER5: Curated database of experimental allosteric ligands and sites
KER6: ALLODD Webinar Series & YouTube Knowledge Base
KER7: Ligand for DC-SIGN expressing cells for targeted delivery of therapeutics
