Practical Aspects of Drug Discovery Course in Uruguay

We had the pleasure of our first in person course since 2019 last week.  The Practical Aspects of Drug Discovery course was held in the beautiful city of Montevideo in Uruguay.  Our hosts, the Pasteur Institute helped us lay on a fabulous course which attracted 24 participants from 8 different countries.  With help from the Wellcome Connecting Science team this programme was made available to anyone working in the drug discovery field in South and Central America.

The programme started on Sunday with introductions to the training team and a few facts from each of the participants.  It is always nice to get to know the participants before we spend an entire week teaching.  Learning that most of the group had a hobby that included food – cooking, eating – helps us all get along!

We then had a further 5 days of interactive lectures, case studies and conversations, taking our participants through the journey of drug discovery.  Starting with the different parts of the drug discovery pipeline, the teaching team worked through the pipeline discussing each of the aspects in turn.   Participants got to work in groups to develop a Target Product Profile for a neglected disease and refine this throughout the week.

However, we did manage to get outside and see the surroundings.  This beautiful beach below was across the road from the hotel and now and then we would be up early enough to visit before the bus arrived!