Drug Discovery

Drug discovery begins with the process of target selection and validation through the selection of a development candidate.  Our strength in drug discovery is largely based on the strength of the number three ranked (based on NIH funding) School of Pharmacy and the collaborative opportunities with the Stowers Institute of Medical Research.  Drug discovery projects are initiated through collaborations between molecular biologists, structural biologists, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemists, including researchers who work in established cores and centers. 

KU has strong capabilities in high throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, imaging, analytical and process chemistry as a result of three NIH funding grants awarded to researchers in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, and KU.

In particular, the NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Cancer Experimental Therapeutics grant supports the interface between chemistry and biology to pursue cancer related drug discovery.  University Distinguished professor, Barbara Timmermann, PhD serves as the principal investigator of the grant.

The Office of Therapeutics, Discovery and Development leverages the above strengths to ensure all discovery capabilities are incorporated into project teams.