18 August 2025
Catalyzing discovery in oncology and diabetes: How sharing an inhibitor targeting the SOS1-RAS axis generated new insights in disease pathology
Thursday, September 25, 2025
8:00 am PST | 11:00 am EST | 4:00 pm GMT | 5:00 pm CET
Duration: 60 minutes including interactive session
How can a single molecule drive scientific discoveries in two distinct disease areas? Join our upcoming live online seminar to explore how Boehringer Ingelheim’s SOS1 inhibitor, BI-3406, is unlocking new therapeutic possibilities in both cancer and diabetes.
Shared as one of the first opnMe ‘Molecules for Collaboration’ calls, it generated tremendous interest, resulting in over 100 research ideas submitted by scientists such as yourself. As a result of the subsequent scientific review, we selected six pioneering projects for research funding. In our seminar, Marco Hofmann will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the evaluations and share insights into the criteria that guided our selection.
One of our winners, Matthew Sale will present his findings on the therapeutic potential of SOS1 inhibition in SOS1-mutant, RAS wild-type cancers. Shifting beyond oncology, Ana Puhl will introduce the bold idea behind a novel application of SOS1 inhibition in diabetes. Another winner, Ioannis Serafimidis will then discuss how BI-3406 stimulated β-cell proliferation in human islets and restored β-cell mass in diabetic mice, offering a promising new approach for treating diabetes1.
Join us for this interactive seminar to connect with the scientists driving these discoveries, explore the innovative potential of open science, and find inspiration for your own research.
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About opnMe:
opnMe.com, the open science portal of Boehringer Ingelheim, fosters science and collaboration initiatives in areas of high unmet medical need. Our molecules are provided to the scientific community either free of charge as “Molecules to Order” or applied for via scientific research submissions as “Molecules for Collaboration”. With our “opn2EXPERTS” and “techMATCH” programs, we enlist scientific advice on key scientific topics to fuel further drug discovery and deliver novel solutions that benefit unmet patient needs. Our "opn2TALENTS" postdoc grants at one of our research sites offer opportunities for high-level talents to propose innovative approaches for precisely defined scientific questions.
About opnMe online seminars:
We invite you to watch the recordings of our past opnMe online seminars on the following topics:
- GR agonist: How our glucocorticoid receptor agonist impacted pancreatic cancer research
- CatC: Novel roles of Cathepsin C in human disease
- MMP-13 antagonist: Assessing MMP-13 functions in osteoarthritis and aortic aneurysm
- BCL6 degrader: Elucidating the mechanism of small molecule induced protein degradation
Reference:
- Papadimitropoulou A., Charalampous C., Kogionou P., Reinhardt D., Sonntag J., Gavalas A., Hofmann M. H., Erlmann P., Franti M., Doerr J., Klein T., Willis G. R., Serafimidis I. Pharmacological targeting of SOS1-RAS interaction triggers pancreatic β-cell proliferation and sustainably reverses diabetic hyperglycemia. bioRxiv 2025, .06.03.657628. DOI: 10.1101/2025.06.03.657628.