The upcoming eCheminfo workshop will apply a variety of computational 
methods to novel anti-malarial drug design.

We will make use of OpenTox resources and applications in generating 
evidence on potential toxic liabilities in the decision making framework.

More information is provided below.

Barry

The Scientists Against Malaria (SAM) initiative was formed with the goal 
of designing novel drug candidates against malaria 
(http://www.scientistsagainstmalaria.net/). During its first phase 
participants progressed target selection and modelling, computational 
screening, biological materials and assay preparation, through to the 
completion of initial experimental testing in the laboratory. The 
project has been initially focused on parastic kinases as novel targets 
for the potential development of a new class of anti-malaria drugs.

SAM is now being expanded as case study work supported by the eCheminfo 
community of practice which brings practitioners together with interests 
in the development and application of drug design methods. eCheminfo 
workshops provide an opportunity for scientists to participate in the 
modelling and design of libraries of molecules as potential lead candidates.

The next eCheminfo community of practice activity will involve a 
hands-on drug discovery workshop taking place in Oxford the week of 21 - 
25 July. This workshop activity was initiated in 2006 to provide a 
setting where participants could learn and apply computational methods 
to drug design.

As in previous workshops the emphasis is on problem solving, practical 
hands-on use of methods and software, and working together throughout 
the week. In addition to the faculty-guided learning and exercises, this 
year's workshop will also offer a neglected disease case study focused 
on the discovery of new inhibitors of malarial kinases. Different 
methods will be applied to malarial proteins throughout the week to 
build and refine protein structures, carry out virtual screening, 
examine protein-drug interactions, form consensus models and include 
molecular properties such as potential toxic liabilities in the decision 
making framework.

More information on the program is available at 
http://www.douglasconnect.com/events/echeminfo-2014