Drug design applied to COVID-19 - now on YouTube

A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.

Overview

The discovery of drugs, either novel compounds or existing ones approved for other indications (repurposing), are central to the fight against COVID-19. One way to support these efforts is through computer-aided drug design, the process of using computational resources to help finding molecules that are potent pharmacological agents, while presenting all properties to become an actual drug.

This webinar explains — and demonstrates — the use of web-based tools to perform computer-aided drug design. It supports the discovery of small molecules tailored to target specific viral or host proteins.

The SwissDrugDesign collection of web-based tools covering all aspects of computer-aided drug design (CADD) is compiled by the Molecular Modeling Group of SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. This webinar is given by Vincent Zoete, Group leader, and Antoine Daina, Senior Scientist.

Structure

This webinar describes how to apply drug design tools to design treatments against COVID-19, by targeting virus or host related protein targets.

This will be followed by a Question and Answer (Q&A) session.

Audience

PhD students, postdocs and other researchers, from any scientific environment (academia, facilities, companies, etc.) interested in computer-aided drug design and in strategies to discover COVID-19 treatments.

This webinar should be of interest to any researcher who aims to use drug design tools, including experimental and computational researchers. It will be of particular interest to researchers involved in drug discovery programs, notably against COVID-19.

Learning objectives

At the end of this webinar, the participants will be able to:

• Access the 3D structures of macromolecules relevant to COVID-19.
• Understand the basic steps in drug design.
• Use publicly available, CADD web-based tools.
• Appreciate the factors critical to tailoring drugs to targets.

Prerequisites

Knowledge / competencies

No particular bioinformatics competencies are required.

Participants may wish to view the:

• SwissDrugDesign web page
• YouTube video SwissDrugDesign a free web based environment for docking, virtual screening, target prediction and more design tools

Technical

This webinar will be streamed via Zoom, you are thus required to have your own computer with an internet connection, Zoom installed and Firefox, Chrome, or Safari web browser installed.

Venue and Time

This webinar will be streamed to registered participants, and more information will be sent in due time.

The webinar will start at 14:00 CET and end around 16:00 CET.

Application

Attendance is free-of-charge, however registration is mandatory.

You will be informed by email of your registration confirmation.

Additional information

Coordination: Monique Zahn, SIB training group.

You are welcome to register to the SIB courses mailing list to be informed of all future courses and workshops, as well as all important deadlines using the form here.

SIB abides by the ELIXIR Code of Conduct. Participants of SIB courses are also required to abide by the same code.

For more information, please contact training@sib.swiss.