Emerging drug discovery ecosystems in Virginia

Oak Brook, IL – A Special Issue of SLAS Discovery, Emerging Drug Discovery Ecosystems, is new for September. Volume 28, Issue 6 features three perspectives, one original research article and one protocol that align with the Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium (VaDDC) and its efforts to enhance and promote drug discovery and development in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Perspective

• An acute respiratory distress syndrome drug development collaboration stimulated by the Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium
  This perspective highlights the collaboration between the University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, and KeViRx, Inc., to develop potential therapeutics for acute respiratory distress syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic through NIH funding to demonstrate the partnerships inspired by public sector funding.
• Merging cultures and disciplines to create a drug discovery ecosystem at Virginia commonwealth university: Medicinal chemistry, structural biology, molecular and behavioral pharmacology and computational chemistry
  The authors look back on the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), which, despite limited institutional support, has developed a unique drug discovery ecosystem that's made a significant impact in the areas of neurology, psychiatry, drugs of abuse, cancer, sickle cell disease, coagulopathy, inflammation, aging disorders and others.
• Drug discovery efforts at George Mason University
  The drug discovery efforts of George Mason University, the largest R1 research university in Virginia, are the subject of this perspective, including the development of self-assembling DNA nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery and vaccine design.

Original Research

• High content screening miniaturization and single cell imaging of mature human feeder layer-free iPSC-derived neurons
  The research article discusses the development of a miniaturized, feeder layer-free culturing system and image analysis algorithm to decrease neuronal clustering, enhance single-cell identification and reduce edge effects typically observed after extended neuronal cell culture.

Protocol

• Assay of Sphingosine 1-phosphate Transporter Spinster Homolog 2 (Spns2) Inhibitors
  The authors investigate the development of a mammalian cell-based assay for inhibiting S1P transport by targeting the transporter Spns2, a potential therapeutic target in autoimmune diseases, to gain insight into this approach for drug discovery.

Access to the September Special Issue of SLAS Discovery is available at https://slas-discovery.org/issue/S2472-5552(23)X0007-0

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SLAS Discovery reports how scientists develop and use novel technologies and/or approaches to provide and characterize chemical and biological tools to understand and treat human disease. The journal focuses on drug discovery sciences with a strong record of scientific rigor and impact, reporting on research that:

• Enables and improves target validation
• Evaluates current drug discovery technologies
• Provides novel research tools
• Incorporates research approaches that enhance depth of knowledge and drug discovery success

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, 2022 Impact Factor 3.1. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Redona Therapeutics, Watertown, MA (USA)

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