University of Surrey Explain Computational Approaches in ADMET

Within the last few years there has been a step-change in the use of computational approaches to examine biological processes. An important challenge is to use these new approaches to better predict drug action (both pharmacology and toxicology) as early in the drug pipeline as possible.

The University of Surrey will be providing a practicable session on computational approaches at SMi's 9th annual ADMET conference taking place on 30th June and 1st July in London. The post conference workshop due to be held on 2nd July, will cover both the theory of these new approaches and the application of them to real test case. No previous experience in computational modelling will be assumed!

Computational biology is a rapidly changing field, with new approaches being developed every day. This workshop will aim to help the non-specialist understand what they can expect from such approaches, why these approaches can be applied to ADMET and how they can apply them to their own projects.

Workshop Highlights Include:

- Session 1 Theory of Relational Databases
- Session 2 Practical Session on Relational Databases
- Session 3 Theory of Constraint-Based Models
- Session 4 Practical Session on Constraint-Based Models

The workshop will be hosted by Dr Nick Plant, Reader in Molecular Toxicology from the University of Surrey. Nick has nearly 20 years' experience researching the coordination of cellular responses, which balance the adaptation to altered chemical environments within the body, while maintaining core body functioning. His research has focussed on members of the super-family of nuclear receptors, which act as ligand-activated transcription factors, sensing their cellular surroundings and coordinating network responses. Utilising both small and large-scale computational approaches his lab aims to understand the coordination of body responses to both external perturbations (e.g. dietary and pharmacological) and during disease progression (e.g. breast cancer), as well as feasibility studies towards the reconstruction of the "silicon human."

ADMET 2014 will be chaired by Alan Wilson, Vice President from Lexicon Pharmaceuticals and Gerry Kenna, Safety Science Adviser and Network Partner from The Research Network. When asked about the conference Gerry said:

"The ADMET conference will enable leading scientists from academia and industry to discuss the key approaches that can be used to predict, assess and understand drug kinetics, drug-drug interactions and drug safety. A state-of the art overview will be provided of the value and limitations of methods which are used currently, while promising new emerging technologies will be highlighted."

Further details on the workshop and conference are available on the event website at www.admet-event.com