The CCTS, in partnership with the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and as part of the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance (ADDA), announced the selection of two recipients for the 2016 Drug Discovery Research Award:

Markus Bredel, MD, PhD, professor, UAB Radiation Oncology
Project: Inhibiting PTBP1 to Reduce EGFR Signaling in Glioblastoma

Javier Campos-Gomez, PhD, infectious disease research biologist, Southern Research
Project: High Throughput Screening of Small Molecules Targeting Oxylipins Production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa as Novel Candidates for Anti-Virulence Therapy

Drs. Bredel and Campos-Gomez will each receive $50,000 per year for two years to fund their research on new therapeutic targets. Southern Research will cover the cost of the researchers’ high throughput screens at its facility as well as any medicinal chemistry needs.

The two winning proposals were among the 15 pre-proposals submitted in response to the annual ADDA RFA. Of these, six applicants were invited to submit full proposals. Five of the six engaged CCTS PDQ panels to help hone their applications, a process the applicants rated highly. The ADDA Advisory Board made the final decision, which was announced last week.

“Drug discovery projects are very different in execution than hypothesis-driven research, which is why the PDQ panels were so helpful to these PIs,” noted CCTS Drug Discovery & Device Development Associate Director Maaike Everts, PhD. “The CCTS was able to assemble experienced drug discovery experts to help the applicants ‘sharpen their science’ and make sure the research was addressing the right questions in the right order, with appropriate timelines.”

Eligibility for the 2016 ADDA award was for scientists affiliated with UAB or Southern Research. Efforts are underway to explore how partner institutions can work together with Southern Research to initiate similar research initiatives and high throughput screening campaigns for novel targets of interest.