Medicinal chemistry is at the heart of the drug discovery process. Defined as a chemistry-based discipline, involving aspects of biological, medical and pharmaceutical sciences, it is concerned with the discovery, design, and preparation of bioactive compounds, their structure-activity relationships, metabolism and the mode of action interpretation at the molecular level, its role in the post-genomic era is evolving with inclusion of new disciplines.
The long-term goal of Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry is discovery of new bioactive small molecules with a potential for development to drugs in important therapeutic areas through combined medicinal chemistry approaches. Our goals are (i) discovery and rational design of bioactive molecules exerting their action on validated drug targets (ii) their synthesis and (c) biological evaluation, aiming at discovery of new antimicrobial, anti-neurodegenerative, immunomodulatory and anticancer agents of importance for public health due to increasing bacterial resistance and aging population.
Research work at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry includes:
-computer-aided drug design of new biologically active compounds (molecular docking, virtual screening, molecular dynamics, homology modelling)
-structure-based design of enzyme inhibitors, receptor agonists and antagonists, ion channel modulators
-hit-to-lead optimisation of affinity and selectivity
-optimisation of physicochemical properties while maintaining affinity
-optimisation of particular chemical reaction
-checking of described (patented) synthetic procedure
-proposal of patent-independent synthetic pathways
-synthesis of standards or intermediates in short time
-synthesis of natural products
-custom made fluorescent labels and probes
-structure determination
-in vitro assays on various enzymes and receptors
-antibacterial activity evaluation
-molecular toxicology
For further information about research activities at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry please visit the following pages:
Research fields
Research program
Research projects
Bibliography