March 2010

The quest for potential new drugs and molecules that can serve as probes of biochemical processes is a major effort at the University of Minnesota. At the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development (ITDD), directed by internationally known medicinal chemist Professor Gunda I. Georg, researchers conduct highly interdisciplinary research in drug discovery and development and provide scientific services to research and business communities. The discovery and development of new therapeutics requires specialized software not normally found in an academic setting. Researchers at the ITDD employ MSI-hosted resources to (1) design and model new compounds to help medicinal chemists select compounds to prepare and test, (2) track information on the over 200,000 compounds currently in the GPHR compound screening collection, and (3) safely and securely record and manage the enormous amount of biological data that is generated during the drug discovery process.