1. Protein – Protein Interactions
In the workshop we worked with in-silico drug discovery and development. In-silico is
drug development through several computer programs. For this we used a structure based-
drug design, which is a process that finds new drugs or medications based on knowing the
three-dimensional structure of a biological target. This process involves the design of small
molecules that complement the shape and charge of the target. There are other techniques
that can be used for drug discovery such as: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and, X-ray
Crystallography. All of these techniques are used for the purpose of finding possible drug
treatments for diseases. These programs help develop ideal environments to find possible drug
treatments; and simultaneously, reduces research time because it works as a filter eliminating
all incompatible drugs. For the workshop we went through the process of drug discovery. My
group was in charge of identifying and generating a pharmacophore model using the PyMol and
Ligand Scouts programs. Our purpose was to identify all the amino acid bonding areas and
develop a preliminary model for the drug, finding the most efficient path the drug needs to
bind properly.