Toronto, Canada — April 13 — The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) today announced that it will expand its leadership team to help accelerate the next phase of Target 2035, a global effort to develop a pharmacological modulator for every human protein by 2035.

This expansion marks a critical step in scaling Target 2035 from foundational pilots to global implementation, strengthening the initiative’s ability to engage scientists worldwide, expand partnerships, and ensure that open data and computational tools are accessible across the research community.

The second phase of Target 2035 is built on the principle that tackling early drug discovery requires coordinated global participation and large-scale, high-quality open datasets. By generating and sharing protein–ligand interaction data at an unprecedented scale, the initiative aims to turn hit finding into a largely computational endeavor and enable broader participation in drug discovery.

To support this ambition, the SGC has appointed:

• Matthew Todd as Director of Global Engagement, responsible for mobilizing individual scientists worldwide to contribute to Target 2035 initiatives, including the Protein Contribution Network and MAINFRAME, and to participate in open benchmarking and data generation efforts. 
• Claudia Tredup as Director of Strategic Partnerships, leading the engagement of key organizations, initiatives, and geographies to expand the global footprint of Target 2035 and align partners around shared priorities. 
• Benjamin Haibe-Kains as Director of Data Science, ensuring that Target 2035 datasets, models, and algorithms are structured, accessible, and widely used by the scientific community to advance AI-driven discovery. 
• Claudia Gordijo as Director of Major Funding Initiatives, supporting research sites to secure large-scale grant efforts aligned with Target 2035 priorities. 

Together, these roles establish a coordinated leadership structure across engagement, partnerships, data, and funding; four pillars essential to delivering Target 2035 at a global scale.

“Target 2035 was designed as a community-driven initiative from the outset, but realizing its full potential requires deliberate coordination across people, data, and partnerships,” said Aled Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of the SGC. “These appointments ensure we have the leadership in place to engage scientists worldwide, align global partners, and translate open data into meaningful advances in drug discovery.”