NEW TECHNIQUE FOR DRUG DISCOVERY

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A new technique has been developed for drug discovery, by the Pune based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL). For this, the NCL has set up a state-of-the-art Resource Centre to facilitate the rapid generation of organic molecules with a wide range of structural diversity. This, when coupled with the natural product libraries and high throughput screening will accelerate new drug discovery and utilisation of the vast natural bio-diversity of India, for value-added products. The Research Centre has been created by the CSIR and NCL, at an investment of over Rs.8 crore.

The Facility called "Combi-Chem-Bio-Resource Centre is unique in the sense that all the major essential components of modern drug discovery platform are located under one roof, with additional support system such as Mass Spectroscopy, DNA sequencing etc. It’s high throughput screening system is capable of screening over 5000 compounds per day and is a fully automatic robotic system.

To derive maximum benefit from such a Facility, a programme is being launched to initiate a symbiotic relationship with pharmaceutical-industrial outfits as well as Research and Development Institutions. The pharmaceutical industry has welcomed the establishment of the Facility saying that it will go a long way in meeting its requirements and facilitate Industry-Research lab partnership for common good. The NCL also proposes to set up a Repository for new molecules.