Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing David Wild received a $71,605 grant from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute (Indiana CTSI) to research technologies for discovering new drugs and therapies.
The research, which is in collaboration with Rich Taylor at the University of Notre Dame, will bring together two of the world-leading Indiana research groups. The work will combine IU’s Cheminformatics & Chemogenomics Research Group's expertise in tools for big data mining for chemical and biological data with Notre Dame’s Warren Family Center for Drug Discovery and Development’s knowledge in chemical synthesis and drug discovery to support and maximize the impact of Automated Synthesis Laboratories (ASLs) in Indiana.
"Automated Synthesis Laboratories are a major emerging technology for the next generation of drug discovery, and this CTSI grant will fund the first substantive research in the world on how advanced "big data" cheminformatics can maximize the impact of ASLs,” said Wild. “This will help will place Indiana as a world leader in this area."
ASLs provide researchers the ability to remotely conduct synthetic capabilities and their application to drug discoveries, which could have a dramatic impact on scientists’ ability to explore new chemical space for drug therapies.
The combined strengths from the research partners will be used to determine which new chemical syntheses should be explored. This knowledge is key to maximizing the impact of ASLs.
The School of Informatics and Computing’s Cheminformatics & Chemogenomics Research Group is a world-leading center in cheminformatics and big data mining of chemical and biological data for identification of new drug possibilities, and the Warren Center for Drug Discovery and Development specializes in a new chemical synthesis process for development of new therapeutic compounds that are amenable to ASL technology.