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The drug discovery industry holds a wide range of research opportunities and varied tracks for career advancement, while staying focused on high-quality research just like academia.

Pharmaceutical companies have ongoing needs for biochemists, organic chemists, cellular biologists, molecular biologists, microbiologists, genetic biologists, and in vivo pharmacists at both the basic and applied research levels.

As already mentioned, the creation of new drugs is a risky, time-consuming and expensive business. So it may take up to more than 10 years to bring a new drug to market, which in turn requires the effort of thousands of people from many scientific disciplines.

In such a huge and complex organization, young scientists have the option to select from many different career options.

The pharmaceutical industry is no longer limited to biology and chemistry, but can  also offer long-term careers in various disciplines and subdisciplines. In fact, “cross-functional” scientists are actually becoming an increasingly valuable commodity.

Systems biology is beginning to take hold, and this is going to increase the opportunity for scientists with multiple degrees, pharmacology with genomics, information technology with biology etc.

Among the many opportunities, some common drug discovery disciplines related to Biology are : 

• Assay development
• Cellular biology
• Electrophysiology
• Genomics and molecular biology
• Medicine
• (Behavioral) pharmacology
• Physiology
• Protein biochemistry, expression, and synthesis
• Protein engineering and biopharmaceuticals
• Proteomics
• Structural biology and crystallography
• Veterinarian services.

Disciplines related to chemistry are Analytical Chemistry, Medicinal and synthetic chemistry, Rational design, Computational chemistry, In silico and de novo design and High-throughput screening.

The biggest motivation for drug discovery scientists is to find out a novel medicine. Imagine what it will be like to be the first one to synthesize an important new treatment for Alzeimer’s disease, what it will be like to discover a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer, and see it work! This desire and excitement is what is the most that industry scientists are working for.

Additionally, the pharmaceutical industry also offers a substantially higher salary (most of the times double the academic level), provides better working conditions, plentiful equipment and a superior work environment. Needless to say, it is of course a prestigious career option as well.

There are many scientists who want to stay in the science world, but don’t like the idea of a lab-based career. Drug discovery is unique in a way that it offers multiple career options that let you stay close to science without the daily grind of laboratory life.

A basic course in the related areas can be a stepping stone to careers in :

• pharmaceutical patent law
• business planning and strategy
• project management
• operations management
• publishing, media
• regulatory support
• business development (setting up alliances with biotechnology partners)
• communications and promotional activities
• management consulting and competitive research.

These disciplines are all critical to drug discovery, are intellectually stimulating, and give a great opportunity to stay within science while leaving the lab behind.

Some other career areas to opt for are:

• Molecular drug targets
• proteomics
• bioinformatics, and drug design
• Delivery systems and formulation design
• Pharmacokinetics
• pharmacodynamics
• Pharmacogenetics
• pharmacogenomics
• and clinical evaluation.

This course will help you to develop your knowledge and understanding of how drugs and medicines are discovered, the steps and the technology involved. In addition to these, some research methods are also dealt with, which are key to understanding modern drug discovery and development. Attendees not only get to learn about the major aspects of the drug discovery process, starting with target selection, to compound screening to designing lead candidates, but also can increase their understanding of the various drug discovery tools and methods that are used for finding, identifying and designing a new drug.

Drug companies are always aiming to attract and recruit the best scientists.

What they look for is a solid university track record, good publications, evidence of good communication, team, and leadership skills, and most importantly, sound knowledge of the subject and the recent updates in the related area.

If you are looking at making a career in this field, then you will definitely benefited by this course.

One of the major focus of drug discovery in recent years has been the generation of more physiologically relevant models, which could provide better correlation to the clinical setting and thereby reduce candidate drug attrition.

CRISPR/Cas9, as discussed in this course, represents a significant opportunity in this area, which is used to efficiently and precisely edit a cell’s DNA to generate both in vitro and in vivo models.

CRISPR/Cas9 technology is soon going to become an indispensable part of genome editing. These nature’s very own tools are creating wonders when it comes to gene cutting, nicking, knockin, knockout as well as expression activation and inhibition. Attendees taking up a basic and an advanced course in this technology will be able to understand the importance of this technology in Drug discovery. This course bridges the gap between these two processes and points out the precise genome editing applications in various steps of drug development such as in animal model creation and in precision medicine.

Eligibility :

• Students in their B.Sc / B.Tech / M.Sc / M.Tech / PhD who aspire to work on cutting-edge research technologies used in drug discovery.
• Aspiring scientists who look forward to innovating novel methods to develop new drugs with advanced technologies.
• Science enthusiasts who like to stay updated about the recent research updates using the most talked about processes.
• Any candidate who is looking for a career in the pharmaceutical industry

The Drug Discovery is a process, in which substances are screened & evaluated for therapeutic use, has generated safe and also reliable therapies for a variety of conditions. Nonetheless, evaluations of new substances for drug advancement are substantially long & expensive; they usually extend more than a decade and also surpass a billion bucks when it comes to its manufacturing. Furthermore, only a tiny percentage of prospective drugs make it to the market.

High expenses involved in the process make the designing of brand-new medicines a risky target for pharma companies and consequently may hinder the exploration of new medicines. Eliminating these barriers making use of new modern technologies like CRISPR- Cas9 key to increasing drug discovery.

The preclinical phase of drug discovery counts significantly on the capability to alter genomes. By modifying the series or expression of genes, researchers can create a variety of assays to determine disease targets and also restorative examination efficacy. Nonetheless, the capability to perform genomic controls in a quick, exact, as well as the cost-efficient way has actually usually been limited by technology.

The extensively used RNA interference (RNAi) screen, for example, commonly just partially silence genetics expression as well as are accompanied by a high incidence of off-target effects. First-generation gene-editing tools, such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), have actually made it possible for total knockouts but are time-consuming and also costly since they call for specialized protein design. The difficulties presented by RNAi, ZFNs, and also TALENs have restricted the adoption of genome editing in the medicine exploration process.

This picture is rapidly transforming, with the discovery of the recent gene-editing technology: CRISPR. It stands for- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, composed of only a nuclease (typically CRISPR-associated protein 9, also known as Cas9) as well as a guide RNA (gRNA). CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing systems are much simpler to develop and also utilize than conventional gene-editing technique. Deliberately a brief guide series, scientists can target basically any kind of genetics or hereditary locus for Cas9 to induce a double-strand break in the DNA.

Subsequent cellular repair work assists in a knockout, knock-ins, or the exchange of nucleotides. Since these kinds of adjustments are made endogenously, scientists can study the subsequent changes to mRNA and protein at native, physiologically relevant levels.

Variations of CRISPR-Cas9 technology can be utilized for various other alterations, including the activation as well as inhibition of gene expression. As a result of its boosted ease and also adaptability, CRISPR gene-editing technology shows assurance in eliminating many of the technical difficulties of medicine exploration.

Drug discovery Process

This process often starts with basic research & involves a variety of steps before new therapeutics are approved for clinical use. While each pharma company approaches the discovery and development of new drugs in a different way, the significant steps common to most preclinical processes during the drug discovery process are listed below:

Target Identification & Validation

The procedure of drug exploration starts with establishing a drug target (a gene, an RNA transcript, or a healthy protein) that is connected to the disease of interest. Putative targets are determined through numerous methods of the clinical research study.

CRISPR-based high-throughput screens are typically utilized to systematically knockout, prevent, or trigger large numbers of prospect genes. Perturbations that hinder a condition can expose prospective drug targets.

When a target is determined, further useful information is accumulated via in vivo research studies. CRISPR may aid in these procedures by assisting in gene knockouts or protein overexpression in cell lines. If a causative connection between a target and disease is established and also if the target can be targeted, post this procedure, a testing campaign is launched to search for the potential drug candidates.

Compound Screening

After a target is recognized and confirmed, the following step is to validate numerous compounds (usually thousands) using high-throughput screens. This may often include biochemical screens that measure the interactions & also binding affinities between compounds as well as the target.

CRISPR has actually boosted cell-based screens by allowing researchers to accurately generate cell lines with anomalies pertinent to the disease of interest. For example, with CRISPR, several mutations can be caused all at once to much better resemble condition genotypes. With much better cellular models, these initial screening process can accurately eliminate ineffective compounds & identify the most effective ones early in the drug discovery process. This leads to saving time and also minimizing cost. Hit particles that pass this screening step are subject to extra extreme scrutiny in the next phase of the drug discovery process.

Hit Validation

Hits determined with initial screens are verified via a range of cell-based assays. CRISPR has exceptionally impacted this stage of preclinical development by promoting the generation of versions that accurately recapitulate illness.

As opposed to being limited to immortalized cell lines, researchers can produce primary cells, stem cells, and organoids with appropriate cellular and also genetic backgrounds. For example, human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from people of diverse ethnic cultures and also various backgrounds can be used to produce virtually any kind of cell type. From these types of stem cells, isogenic cell lines can be conveniently generated, and the genetic variation connected with a disease can be recreated via precise genome design. The capacity to create such practical disease models has actually significantly boosted the effectiveness of hit validation, making it possible for potential medications to be examined accurately.

Lead Identification & Optimization

The recognition of hits narrows the pool of prospective drug candidates. At this moment, the remaining compounds are optimized and also tested for safety and efficacy. This includes characterizing absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME), checking chemical stability, and evaluating toxicity.

Clinical trials and FDA approval

Following optimization & safety testing, the few remaining candidate compounds proceed to the clinical trial phase. Only the drug candidates that prove to be safe and effective in humans are finally approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for approval.

Information gathered from this phase is quite useful. For example, if resistance to a compound is observed, then compounds that counteract the resistance can be explored in subsequent studies.

Conclusion & Future Directions

CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology holds enormous potential in advancing pharmacological research. CRISPR’s impact spans the entire preclinical drug discovery process. Since the CRISPR Cas-9 technique makes gene editing more tractable and precise, drug targets can be identified faster, and realistic disease models can be generated.

Recently, there has been an increasing number of collaborations between industry, and scientists will make sure to further advance the role of the CRISPR Cas-9 technique in drug development. Pharmaceutical companies are also investing in CRISPR facilities and equipment to develop the next generation of drugs.

Lately, CRISPR technology is also being used to develop gene and cell-based therapies that modulate genes directly within the patient. For instance, chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells are being engineered to target cancer.

CRISPR holds promise for developing therapies faster and at a lower cost. Also, it would prove to be crucial in the advancement of personalized medicine. In the near future, the tailoring of therapies to individual patients may no longer be just an idea, but a distinct reality.