Researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow have designed a computer programme aimed at finding smarter drugs to treat major diseases, especially heart ailments.
The Shapeshifting Inspired Discovery (SID) is a new type of technology that is able to examine intricate shapes and understanding how the proteins can be altered by drugs.
The programme is able to decipher the ‘structures of proteins in human cells’ that scientists believe to be essential for new treatments. Shapeshifting also involves a completely different and more restrained mechanism than conventional drugs, which put a total stop to these proteins working.
The team, which created the SID is working with US firm Serometrix, to use the programme in drug discovery for a variety of diseases and conditions.
According to the University of Strathclyde’s department of pure and applied chemistry senior lecturer Dr Mark Dufton, finding conventional drug is costly, time consuming and often counts entirely on ‘lottery techniques’ to recognise useful drugs.
"The ability of SID to predict the scope for ‘shapeshifting’ enables us to probe large, complex biological molecules, which have evolved their intricate shapes over hundreds of millions of years, so that we can analyse where and whether they can be targeted to.
"In simple terms, these ‘shapeshifter’ mechanisms allow the proteins to modulate their biological activity by changing their surface character, rather like tectonic plates moving around the surface of the Earth."
The computer programme helps in the discovery of ‘shapeshifting medicines’, which can cautiously modify these biological molecules, bringing them under control and preventing them from causing issues.
The SID team will now working with US firm Serometrix to use the technology intended for discovering drugs to treat a range of diseases and conditions.
Image: A computer programme has been created to find smarter drugs that treat major disease. Photo: courtesy of Mikhail Popov.
