The Alliance will support promising early-stage-drug-discovery research with the help of a $100,000 grant from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
The grant was awarded to researchers working to identify new therapeutic agents for future drugs. Specifically, the grant will go toward researching drugs that heal cancer, drug-resistant infections and chronic pain.
The Indiana CTI was established in 2008 as a collaborative effort to facilitate scientific discoveries and new patient treatments statewide, according to an IU news release.
“Each of the projects funded under the inaugural Indiana Drug Discovery Alliance grants were chosen for their high potential to generate new intellectual property and yield discoveries that advance the fight against disease,” said Dr. Anantha Shekhar, director of the Indiana CTI and associate vice president for University Clinical Affairs at IU, in an IU news release.
The grant will fund projects that involve rapid analysis of tens of thousands of potential chemical compounds that could potentially affect diseases under investigation, according to an IU news release. Seven of the eight grant recipients are IU professors. More than 30 candidates applied for the Indiana Drug Discovery Alliance grant.
“Scientists are increasingly asked to present strong evidence for the effectiveness of proposed new therapies before they even begin to reach out to public or private partners for funds,” Shekhar said in an IU news release. “We want to provide the boost needed to generate evidence that attracts external support and results in new products that save lives in the near future.”
Lindsay Moore
