University and Pharmaceutical Company Create New Drug Discovery Tools - Science and Technology Research News

"The open platform bioRxivrecently published one of the first fruits of a partnership between the Brazilian pharmaceutical company Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos and the Protein Kinase Chemical Biology Center at the University of Campinas (SGC-UNICAMP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, supported by FAPESP.

The article describes a chemical compound that could be used in future research as a selective inhibitor of the enzyme AAK1 (AP2-associated kinase 1; also known as adaptor-associated protein kinase 1), which is considered a potential target for drug development.

[...]

One of the key principles of the SGC’s partnership model is open science, meaning that all members of the consortium strive to make their research findings public as soon as possible. As Couñago explained, this is why the article was posted on the internet even before it had been peer reviewed.

'We believe this increases the number of people who can comment on the paper, so that we can make the necessary corrections and enhance the impact of the discoveries,' he said.

While the small molecule showed potential to become a chemical probe, he added, more studies will be necessary for quality-control purposes.

'We’re now at the stage of finding collaborators who are interested in studying the endocytosis pathway and the function of AAK1 in this process. The SGC doesn’t have the capacity to work with a variety of biological models, and for this reason, it tries to reach the scientific community as soon as possible in order to attract collaborators,' Couñago concluded."