On 29 January 2013, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - Open Source Drug Discovery (CSIR-OSDD). The MoU, spanning three years, aims to address a common objective of the CSIR and RSC: to raise awareness of the importance of cheminformatics (eScience) to accelerate the discovery of novel and more effective therapies for neglected diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria.
The MoU was signed at the CSIR headquarters in New Delhi by RSC Immediate Past President Professor David Phillips and OSDD Project Director Zakir Thomas. The agreement was signed in the presence of:
Shri. Jaipal Reddy, India's Minister for Science & Technology
Professor Samir Brahmachari, Director General of CSIR and the driver behind OSDD
Mark Sinclair, Head of the UK Science and Innovation Network
Vijay Raghavan, Secretary to the Indian Department of Biotechnology
Since the initial meeting between the RSC and OSDD (an initiative of the CSIR) in October 2012, the partnership has developed quickly. It was immediately clear there was a great connection between the RSC and OSDD and huge potential for joint collaborations. The agreement through the MoU envisages workshops and conferences to build links between experts and leaders. It will focus on building an online repository of real and virtual molecular structures along with developing free-to-use software tools for drug discovery and development. It also aims to explore the possibility of advancing OSDD’s e-learning program for students.
Through this agreement, the CSIR and RSC are responding to the challenge of ‘lost data’ – that is the 90% of research output that never gets published. Professor Phillips said “That data, that information, that knowledge, is lost to society. But it has enormous value to the chemical science research community and by using new tools and new disciplines, like cheminformatics or e-Science, we can recapture that lost information. The importance of cheminformatics in addressing this challenge cannot be underestimated.”
During his scientific talk, Professor Brahmachari said that since its foundation, the OSDD had grown with great support from both inside and outside India and the scope of the work has expanded tremendously. “What we cannot do alone, we with complementary skills, need to work together. Finding new drugs for TB is a major challenge. We are joining hands to find New Chemical Entities which could be potential anti-TB drugs.”
The MoU was signed at the CSIR headquarters in New Delhi by RSC Immediate Past President Professor David Phillips and OSDD Project Director Zakir Thomas. The agreement was signed in the presence of:
Shri. Jaipal Reddy, India's Minister for Science & Technology
Professor Samir Brahmachari, Director General of CSIR and the driver behind OSDD
Mark Sinclair, Head of the UK Science and Innovation Network
Vijay Raghavan, Secretary to the Indian Department of Biotechnology
Since the initial meeting between the RSC and OSDD (an initiative of the CSIR) in October 2012, the partnership has developed quickly. It was immediately clear there was a great connection between the RSC and OSDD and huge potential for joint collaborations. The agreement through the MoU envisages workshops and conferences to build links between experts and leaders. It will focus on building an online repository of real and virtual molecular structures along with developing free-to-use software tools for drug discovery and development. It also aims to explore the possibility of advancing OSDD’s e-learning program for students.
Through this agreement, the CSIR and RSC are responding to the challenge of ‘lost data’ – that is the 90% of research output that never gets published. Professor Phillips said “That data, that information, that knowledge, is lost to society. But it has enormous value to the chemical science research community and by using new tools and new disciplines, like cheminformatics or e-Science, we can recapture that lost information. The importance of cheminformatics in addressing this challenge cannot be underestimated.”
During his scientific talk, Professor Brahmachari said that since its foundation, the OSDD had grown with great support from both inside and outside India and the scope of the work has expanded tremendously. “What we cannot do alone, we with complementary skills, need to work together. Finding new drugs for TB is a major challenge. We are joining hands to find New Chemical Entities which could be potential anti-TB drugs.”
