Featured Story: The digital Petri dish/

MTBSS

02/28/2011

Watch the Interview with MTBSS project partners Patrick Groves and Shekhar Mande here!

 

Tuberculosis is a debilitating infectious disease that is a serious health threat, particularly in its multi-drug-resistant forms. We aim to combine bioinformatics tools and resources with NMR structural biology to identify and screen new drug targets against TB.
Chemical screening generates a large number of positive 'hits' that require time-consuming and expensive verification in cell and animal models before clinical trials can take place. Many 'hits' fail the toxicology screens. Using bioinformatics, we will use in-silico methodologies to identify the key proteins involved in the biochemical pathways of pathogen survival and evaluate their influence on human toxicity. We will develop chains of in-silico screening steps to apply to our positive, TB 'hits' against the identified tox-blocks. The molecular modelling methods will be verified by experimental NMR methods. Our second aim is to develop a rapid, inexpensive and computer-based filter within a self contained and narrow targeted pilot study that can be widely applied to the early stages of other drug screening projects.
Our consortium consists of bioinformatics and structural biology groups in India (CDFD), Portugal (ITQB, IGC) and Spain (CIPF). The bioinformatics studies will be carried out at IGC, CIPF and CDFD; NMR screening will be supported by established teams at ITQB and CIPF; structural biology at CDFD and CIPF will be supported by ITQB; molecular modelling will be performed at CIPF with support from IGC and CDFD. We plan two management meetings, in India and Iberia (Portugal/Spain) for the team leaders. Symposia, workshops and training sessions will be associated with the main exchanges: external experts will be invited and future collaboration discussed. Existing training programs will offer innovative opportunities for younger researchers in the scope of NewIndigo. The working methodologies will be evaluated and results published in established peer-reviewed scientific journals.

About/

Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica, Depot. Of Biological Chemistry

Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica, Depot. Of Biological Chemistry
Patrick Groves

The Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica, Depot. Of Biological Chemistry is a research and advanced training institute of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Its mission is to develop high-quality research in chemistry and life sciences, considering all levels of complexity and its potential applications, so as to contribute to the understanding of life’s mechanisms. Its highly multidisciplinary nature makes ITQB/UNL a leading centre for advanced training of researchers in Portugal. ITQB/UNL hosts 60 independent research laboratories grouped in five research divisions and forming a scientific staff of more than 350 researchers with different backgrounds and research interests. Researchers at ITQB/UNL can profit from outstanding research facilities, equipment, and scientific support services, some of which are unique in the country. Since 2001, the important contribution of ITQB/UNL in research and development has been maximized upon the foundation of a consortium with the neighboring Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and ITQB/UNL.

 

Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Dept. for Structural Biology

Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Dept. for Structural Biology
Shekhar Mande

The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics is an autonomous organization funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. CDFD receives funding also from other agencies on specific collaborative projects. In addition, DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics services provided by the centre support some of the activities. The Centre is recognized by the University of Hyderabad for pursuing Ph.D. programme in Life Sciences. The centre is equipped with world class state-of-the-art instrumentation and computing infrastructure to facilitate working in frontier areas of research in Life Sciences.

 

Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, Dept. Of Structural Biology;

Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, Dept. Of Structural Biology;
Antonio Pineda-Lucena

The Prince Felipe Research Centre is dedicated to biomedical research, created to undertake new challenges in the field of basic research and promote scientific excellence. Our research activity can be divided into: 1. The Regenerative Medicine Programme focused on cellular and molecular biology of stem cells, cell reprogramming, tissue engineering and cell therapy. 2. The Drug Discovery Programme, in which researchers endeavour to identify and validate new molecular targets in human pathology, and to design compounds with possible pharmacological activity. 3. The Biomedicine Programme, in which the different laboratories aim at gaining an in-depth knowledge of a wide range of diseases. In order to facilitate this research, the CIPF is made up of 34 laboratories equipped with the most advanced technology, in which a team of more than 450 researchers and research technicians of around 25 nationalities work.

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Dept. Of Bioinformatics

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Dept. Of Bioinformatics
Fernandes Pedro

The Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência was founded and is supported by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) to carry on biomedical research and education. The IGC operates as a "host institution", offering excellent facilities and services to foreign and Portuguese research groups or individual scientists, in particular to young post-doctoral fellows who are expected to develop their projects and form their groups in complete autonomy.