Target to Candidate

What is a drug? How are drugs designed? How does a drug navigate in the body to its desired target? What is a drug target?

This course has been designed to give scientists, with the aim of working in drug discovery space, a flavour of how a drug project goes from idea to pre-clinical candidacy. Our course highlights how to start and progress a drug discovery campaign with real life examples from experts working in this area of science, both academia and industry. By utilising a series of interactive talks, workshops and tutorials, participants will learn the success, failures and challenges of drug discovery.

Throughout the course, the team will take you through a series of topics to give you an appreciation of all aspects of drug discovery research. After a brief introduction to drug discovery, you’ll be taught on the following subjects:

• Screening methods and technologies
• Hit validation and optimisation
• Structure-based drug discovery
• in vitro and in vivo DMPK
• Lead optimisation
• Mode of action
• Pre-clinical follow-up

WHEN: 6th – 17th November 2023

LENGTH: 3 hrs per day over 2 weeks

WHERE: Online via Microsoft Teams

WHO: WCAIR welcome applicants who are PhD and early-stage researchers working in any field of drug discovery.

PLACES: 20 places available

Applications open now – click here for further details

Applications close Friday September 29th

Practical Aspects of Drug Discovery: At the Interface of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacology

LNBio, CNPEM, Campinas, Brazil, 19-25 November 2023

This programme was open to applicants from institutes based in Latin America and the Caribbean, and with a background knowledge of any discipline related to drug discovery.

With our colleagues in the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory, CNPEM and Wellcome Connecting Science we were pleased to be able to offer this programme at the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory, Campinas, Brazil.

This programme has been designed to provide an overview of the entire drug discovery process, from screening and hit discovery, assay development, drug design and an introduction to pre-clinical and clinical development.

With a mix of lectures, case-studies, and discussions, we focus on the need for drug discovery in Latin America and how these approaches can be applied in the regional context and environment.

Applications Closed

Synthesis Simplified

Knowing how to make molecules is vital for medicinal chemists, but how do we know where to start?

Over 4 weeks, we will build a solid understanding of the most popular reactions in medicinal chemistry, including when and how to use them.  Using a mixture of interactive talks and workshops, this course will focus on organic synthesis for medicinal chemists.

Week 1: Amides, Esters and Protecting Groups

Week 2: Heterocyclic Synthesis

Week 3: Aromatic Substitution Reactions

Week 4: Cross-coupling and Metal-Catalysed Reactions

WHEN: Thursday 5-26 October 2023

LENGTH: 2 hr per week over 4 weeks

WHERE: Online via Microsoft Teams

WHO: WCAIR welcome applicants who are PhD and early-stage researchers working in the field of chemistry/medicinal chemistry.

PLACES: 12 places available

Applications Closed

Drug Discovery Mission

Drug Discovery Mission (DDM) is designed as an interactive tool to understand the processes involved in drug discovery. Drug discovery is a highly collaborative process that utilises scientists from all disciplines. Without this multi-disciplinary approach, it would not be possible for drugs to make it to market. DDM will ask you to step outside of your comfort zone by exposing you to all aspects of the pre-clinical drug discovery process.

Despite the drug discovery process taking ~15 years from idea to market, the DDM will ask you to cover most of this process in one week. By embedding yourself into a team of drug discovery scientists, you will be asked to find a cure/treatment for a neglected tropical disease of WCAIR’s choosing. In order to succeed, you must work as a team to make critical analytical decisions and make conclusions on data presented to you.

DDM is comprised of talks and workshops. Topics included:
• Target product profiles and its role in unifying team goals
• Drug target interactions and how to design this into compounds
• Physiochemical properties and guidelines to succeed in drug discovery
• In vitro drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) and associated data
• Linking in vivo data to compound design
• Toxicity in drug discovery

WHEN: TBC

WHERE: TBC

WHO:  WCAIR welcome applicants who are completing their PhD and early-stage researchers working in the field of chemistry/medicinal chemistry.

PLACES: 10 places available

Medicinal Chemistry 101

What does a medicinal chemist need to know about drug discovery? What contributions can this discipline make and how?

This course has been designed to give chemists working in medicinal chemistry a flavour of the different stages of the drug discovery process. Drug Discovery is highly collaborative, expensive and time consuming but reaps rewards of single dose single cures, vaccinations, and treatments. Our course highlights how to start and progress a drug discovery campaign with real life examples. By utilising a series of interactive talks, workshops and tutorials, participants will learn how chemical matter can be progressed using chemical optimisation, in vitro and in vivo DMPK.

Over 12-weeks, the team will take you through a series of topics to give you an appreciation of all aspects of drug discovery research.
• Target assessment and screening
• Hit discovery and structure activity relationship
• In vitro/In vivo DMPK and strategies to optimise
• How to optimise pharmacokinetic properties

WHEN: 5th June – 18th August 2023

LENGTH: 1.5 hr per week over 12 weeks

WHERE: Online via Microsoft Teams

WHO: WCAIR welcome applicants who are PhD and early-stage researchers working in the field of chemistry/medicinal chemistry.

PLACES: 20 places available

Applications Closed

DMPK 101

I have a potential drug but what happens next? The drug does not work when I dose it to an animal, why could that be?

Along with clinical efficacy, compounds can fail to reach the clinic due to poor pharmacokinetic properties. The importance of understanding how well a drug can be dissolved, absorbed and metabolised can assist in understanding your in vivo data and whether your drug could cause the desired pharmacological response.

DMPK 101 will explore DMPK’s place in drug discovery by covering topics including:
• Drug absorption, metabolism and route to the systemic circulation
• The 3 Rs in animal testing
• Understanding pharmacokinetic data and what this means for your drug project
• Potential for toxicity and how to identify

WHEN: 5th June – 18th August 2023

LENGTH: 1.5 hr per week over 12 weeks

WHERE: Online via Microsoft Teams

WHO: WCAIR welcome applicants who are PhD and early-stage researchers working in any field of pharmacology.

PLACES: 20 places available

Applications Closed

Drug Discovery: An Introduction

Making medicines engulfs multiple areas of science to form the highly collaborative field known as “Drug Discovery”.  When you ingest a medicine, how does the medicine know where to go?

Drug Discovery: A beginner’s guide has been designed to give professionals, working in all kinds of sectors, a flavour of what medicines are and how are they “discovered”.  Drug Discovery is highly collaborative, expensive and time consuming but reaps rewards of single dose single cures, vaccinations, treatments etc.  Our course highlights the journey of a medicine and the scientists involved in its development.  By utilising a series of interactive talks, participants will learn the different stages of the drug discovery process and how they can get involved within this collaborative field.

Over 4-weeks, the team will take you through a series of topics to give you an appreciation of what it takes to be a medicine.

 WHEN: 5th June – 30th June 2023

LENGTH: 1.5 hr per week over 4 weeks

WHERE: Online via Microsoft Teams

WHO: WCAIR welcome applicants waiting to gain an understanding of drug discovery.

PLACES: 20 places available

Applications Closed