Drug Discovery Initiative
The Drug Discovery Initiative will for the first time bring researchers broadly working
in drug discovery from across the University together, and this is really important as
drug discovery is one domain that really can result in innovative translational research.
So if we all work together and collaborate together in a focussed and strategic way,
the reach and impact of our research is much greater, positioning the University both nationally
and internationally.
The areas in which the Drug Discovery Initiative will focus on are those that are aligned with
the multidisciplinary initiatives that the University has already identified within the
health area, and those are: cancer, metabolic disorders, neuroinflammation, neurological
and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as infectious diseases.
For the Brain and Mind Centre and particularly for the research work I do on ageing and degeneration,
there are no drugs that the mechanism.
And without actually having a concerted effort with this and the Drug Discovery centre, I
don't think we'll get one.
For us, it's extremely important.
It will actually mean that we can take currently already identified drugs and repurpose them
to make it specific for the disorders, or develop new drugs.
And we're hoping develop new drugs that we can image, because we can't take the tissue
out to look at it.
I represent the Cancer Research Network, which is a big cross-University multidisciplinary
initiative, brings together everybody who is involved in cancer.
What we've really seen as we've reviewed our activities over the last few years is really
we have many powerful connections that make this University very effective particularly
at translation.
And then at the other side, really powerfully connected clinicians, public health researchers.
Bringing that evidence to change and to change what happens for patients.
A really critical part of that is the way we turn discoveries that are potentially exploitable
as drugs, turning that through drug development and clinical trials, to change at the bedside.
That's really a fundamental part of what University of Sydney cancer research has always been
about and it's great to see it being energised by this initiative.
The Drug Discovery Initiative is extremely important to us, because it will create a
perfect synergy with what we are doing here, what we're developing, especially in the area
of diagnostic and new tests for safety, efficacy or toxicity of drugs or new chemicals.
I'm really enthusiastic about the Drug Discovery Initiative, here at the Charles Perkins Centre,
because we work on metabolism - the set of processes that mediates the difference between
the environment and disease, whether that be obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.
Now we know that those same pathways can be targeted by drugs, so what we're trying to
do is understand the interplay between drugs and lifestyle impacting disease, and that's
to me the real promise of the Drug Discovery Initiative.
In cardiovascular medicine at Sydney Uni, we've got a lot of strengths in both clinical
research and also fundamental research in understanding the mechanisms of both atherosclerosis
- one of our biggest killers and causes of heart attack and stroke - as well as heart
muscle disease, so the cause of heart failure.
Our strengths, as I say, is often being in actually discovering the mechanisms.
To now be able to work with the Drug Discovery team and the Drug Discovery Initiative to
try to actually be able to specifically target these abnormalities gives us big hope to actually
make inroads relevant to these patients.
The Drug Discovery Initiative at the University of Sydney is a wonderful development, because
it will allow our work to progress more quickly.
Tuberculosis is a huge problem globally, and in our region, drug resistant tuberculosis
is a particular problem.
Working with people in Chemistry and other colleagues in the CPC, our group at the Centenary
Institute is developing and testing new drug leads for this human health problem.
The new initiative will bring new facilities and expertise, which will allow this work
to proceed more quickly.
The Drug Discovery Initiative is important in my own research, because it's going to
consolidate all the amazing expertise that we have here at the University, so it's going
to focus and be a central point of contact for expertise and collaborators that I can
go to, to accelerate and progress my research.
What's also really exciting about the Drug Discovery Initiative is the discovery aspect
- the ability to be able to make true discoveries, things that are unexpected, simply because
we now have the capacity and the facilities and the environment to enable that.
A key objective for the Drug Discovery Initiative is to provide training for researchers, postgraduate
students and undergraduate students in drug discovery and the drug discovery process.
It's important that we have training for the next generation of talent and leaders, but
also for the next generation of entrepreneurs.
I'm excited about this initiative with the power it gives us to make a real difference.