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ICT Support Role in Collaborative Drug Design and Predictive ADME/Tox projects

During April - October 2010 we will be running two pilots which will create two virtual organisations (VOs) of research partners who will collaborate on a drug discovery and a predictive toxicology project.

We are currently seeking Expressions of Interest in the ICT support role for the pilots which should be submitted by 17.00 CET, 19 February 2010 through the following form:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QSHKDCH 

The VOs will be created from partners from Douglas Connect Collaboration Pools, who will bring contributing knowledge, computational or experimental capabilities to the partnership for the duration of the projects:

a) Drug Design project will examine the application of a variety of leading modelling and design approaches to novel target kinases, to experimentally test predictions, and to initiate a best practices virtual screening resource.

b) Predictive Toxicology project will apply a combination of in silico and in vitro approaches to predict in vivo toxicity including exposure.

The ICT support role will support the informatics requirements of the researchers in organising, processing and sharing data, and in collaborative analysis and decision making.

The VOs will be supported by knowledge-oriented collaboration services developed under the FP7 Synergy research project, including a reactive complex event driven engine, collaboration moderator, collaboration pattern services and partner knowledge base.
Summary on Synergy project: http://barryhardy.blogs.com/theferryman/2008/02/knowledge-orien.html 

The Predictive Toxicology VO will be supported by distributed REST-driven web services for data management, model building, validation and reporting, developed under the OpenTox Framework (http://www.opentox.org/)

Barry Hardy PhD
Director, Community of Practice & Research Activities
and OpenTox Project Coordinator (www.opentox.org)
Douglas Connect
Switzerland

Tel: +41 61 851 0170
Email: barry.hardy -(at)- douglasconnect.com

eCheminfo Collaboration Pool Formation

We are establishing an eCheminfo Collaboration Pool of individuals and organisations who have an interest in collaborating together in areas of drug discovery. For example, a selection of Pool members could participate in a collaborative drug discovery or predictive ADME/Tox project, develop a funding proposal or response to a call opportunity together, or develop an innovation or best practice.

To join the eCheminfo Collaboration Pool please complete the short form located at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V6T2YSD 

Collaborations will take a virtual organisation approach, i.e., partners can bring contributing modelling or experimental capabilities to a partnership for the duration of a project or other endeavour.

We will run two such virtual organisation (VO) projects for the first time this year starting later this Spring:
A) Drug Design project which will examine the application of a variety of leading modelling and design approaches to novel target kinases, to experimentally test predictions, and to initiate a best practices virtual screening resource.
B) Predictive Toxicology project to apply a combination of in silico and in vitro approaches to predict in vivo toxicity including exposure.

Both VOs will be supported by a variety of leading modelling and design software, informatics infrastructure, and collaborative content management and electronic lab notebook systems.

The VOs will be supported by knowledge-oriented collaboration services developed under the FP7 Synergy research project, including a reactive complex event driven engine, collaboration moderator, collaboration pattern services and partner knowledge base.

The Predictive Toxicology VO will be supported by distributed REST-driven web services for data management, model building, validation and reporting, developed under the OpenTox Framework (http://www.opentox.org/).

We will also consider incorporation of Case Studies into the eCheminfo Drug  Discovery and Predictive ADME/Tox workshops to be held in Oxford this summer. See http://echeminfo.com/

Barry Hardy PhD
Director, Community of Practice & Research Activities
Douglas Connect
Switzerland

Bursary Award Applications, eCheminfo Oxford 2010 Workshops

We will be holding the eCheminfo workshops in drug discovery and predictive ADME/tox again in Oxford this summer.  In addition to exposure to a variety of methods, software and hands-on exercises, groups will work together on case studies throughout the workshop week.  This year we will also include the potential to be involved in collaborative case studies supported by the Synergy project and running for several months before and after the workshop, including the potential to participate in the development and use of OpenTox web services in predictive toxicology (http://www.opentox.org/)

The 5 day workshops take place in consecutive weeks.  The application deadline for the bursaries is February 12, 2010.

eCheminfo Drug Discovery Workshop, July 26-30, 2010
Drug Discovery Design Methods & Applications:  Virtual screening, structure-based drug design, cheminformatics and molecular modelling supporting drug discovery and design, a Hands-on 5 Day eCheminfo Workshop. Case Study approach including Kinases.

eCheminfo Predictive ADME/Tox Workshop, August 2-6, 2010
Applications of Predictive ADME and Toxicology methods, a Hands-on 5 Day eCheminfo Workshop. Case Study Approach on ADME and Tox endpoints, datasets and predictive modelling.

The workshops will be facilitatated by Barry Hardy, eCheminfo Community of Practice (http://www.echeminfo.com/). They will take place at the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre, Oxford University, Oxford, UK in a classroom of 45 dedicated workstations on which we will install a wealth of software for you to work with.

Bursary Award available (deadline February 12, 2010).

Bursary Awards will be used to support the attendance of a selection of academic participants at the workshops. To apply for the bursary please send an email with a) description of your research (ca. 500 words); b) your training needs (ca. 500 words), c) your CV to echeminfo -[at]- douglasconnect.com by 12 February 2010.  Please also specify which workshop or both you are interested in.

For further information and questions on the Workshop programs, please contact Dr. Barry Hardy at: echeminfo -[at]- douglasconnect.com, Tel:  +41 61 851 0170
For registrations, please contact Nicki Douglas, echeminfo -[at]- douglasconnect.com, Tel:  +41 61 851 0461