Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology A – DMPA

Topics

• Discovery of novel anti-infective agents including small molecule inhibitors, natural products, therapeutic peptides, adjunct therapeutics, drug combination regimens, repurposed drugs, phage therapy, and probiotic/microbiota-based approaches
• Molecular characterization of anti-infective agents, including mechanism of action, structural characterization, and confirmation of target engagement
• Optimization of anti-infective agents, including structure-guided drug design and hit-to-lead optimization
• Discovery of novel agents for host-directed therapies, including immunotherapies, to counter infections
• Development of novel assays and models to test drug efficacy, including cellular, organoid, and animal model systems

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests in drug development with Advancing Therapeutics [MCST (81)]. Applications that emphasize late-stage drug development efforts such as diversification, optimization and preclinical toxicity and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies may be reviewed in MCST (81). Applications that emphasize early-stage drug development, such as discovery of novel agents and characterization of mechanism of action may be reviewed in DMPA.

There are shared interests in infectious disease drug discovery with Anti-Infective Resistance and Targets (AIRT). Applications that emphasize biologically-focused approaches may be reviewed in AIRT. Applications that emphasize chemistry-focused approaches may be reviewed in DMPA.

There are shared interests in drug design with Chemical Biology & Probes (CBP). Applications that emphasize drug synthesis with limited biological assessments may be reviewed in CBP. Applications that emphasize drug function and anti-infective potential may be reviewed in DMPA.

There are shared interests in pathogen biology with Prokaryotic Cell and Molecular Biology (PCMB), Bacterial-Host Interactions (BHI), Bacterial Virulence (BV), Molecular and Cellular Biology of Virus Infection (MCV), Viral Dynamics and Transmission (VDT), Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity (VPI) and Pathogenic Eukaryotes (PTHE). Applications that emphasize understanding fundamental processes or pathogenesis mechanisms, or that use known drugs as probes, may be reviewed in the relevant pathogen-focused study section. Applications that emphasize developing new anti-infective drugs may be reviewed in DMPA.

There are shared interests in the early stages of anti-infective therapeutic drug development with Chemical Synthesis & Biosynthesis (CSB).  Applications that emphasize synthetic and biosynthetic approaches with limited biological assessments are reviewed in CSB. Applications that couple synthetic approaches with extensive biological analyses may be reviewed in DMPA.