About us
Drug discovery at Griffith combines the research expertise of two key research centres:
The Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies, directed by Professor Ron Quinn, is undergoing a $17 million expansion, adjacent to the existing laboratories, supported by a $12 million investment from the Queensland Government.
Eskitis Institute research works towards the development of new drug and cell therapies to target disorders such as: neuro-degeneration, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory disease and cancer.
Revolutionary cell therapies to cure or prevent spinal paralysis, Alzheimers, Parkinson’s and other debilitating conditions are being studied. The Institute uses its biota resources, together with its screening and chemical expertise, to contribute to the discovery of new entities to combat Neglected Diseases, such as malaria and other diseases affecting a large proportion of the world’s population.
The Eskitis Institute will expand further with the development of two major research initiatives: the Queensland Compound Library and the National Adult Stem Cell Research Centre. $22 million has been committed by the Australian Government to establish the National Adult Stem Cell Centre as a major component of the Institute, under program director Professor Alan Mackay-Sim. The Institute will also be home to the Queensland Compound Library, supported in its initial stages by $3 million from the Queensland Government. The Eskitis Institute’s expertise and infrastructure enables the transformation of lead compounds into potential development drug candidates.
The Institute for Glycomics, located at the Gold Coast campus, is led by the designer of anti-flu drug RelenzaTM, Professor Mark von Itzstein. It has re-invigorated the science of glycomics, studying the role of carbohydrates (sugars) in health and disease. This study is driven by the rational design of powerful new drugs that target the mechanisms allowing diseases to strike and spread, not just the individual disease-causing agents themselves. Work is currently focused on diseases including cancer, influenza, TB, food poisoning, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Set up in 2000 with an initial investment of $13 million by Griffith and the Queensland Government, the Institute is about to launch its second stage of expansion with another $22 million from Griffith and the State.
The Strategic Research Program in Drug Discovery at Griffith University has strong capacity for the identification and improvement of new therapies for disease. As the University’s medical capabilities increase in coming years, there will also be growing opportunities to extend into the clinical evaluation that is required to bring them to market.
What is drug discovery?
There are four stages to the drug discovery pathway prior to clinical trials commencement. These are target identification, target validation, drug discovery and design and drug optimisation.
Target identification and validation
Successful therapeutic drugs work by interacting with molecules in our bodies and altering their activities in a way that is beneficial to our health.
Target based drug discovery begins with the identification and validation of the key molecule (often a protein) involved in a particular metabolic or signalling pathway that is specific to a disease condition. This is the drug target.
Drug discovery and design
New drugs are 'discovered' mainly in two ways – either by High-Throughput Screening of natural products or libraries of compounds, or by structure-based drug design.
High Throughput Screening is an automated system for testing hundreds of thousands of compounds extremely rapidly and is highly effective for eliminating ineffective compounds and identifying potentially useful ones. Natural product screening involves searching for potential new therapeutic drugs that occur naturally in plants and animals and testing their effectiveness against diseases.
Structure-based drug design involves the design and synthesis of new drugs. In this approach, the biological and physical properties of the identified target are studied and a prediction is made of the sorts of chemicals that might affect that drug target.
Drug optimisation
Drug optimisation is critical to maximising the likelihood of bringing the new drug successfully to market.
Here, lead compounds are further refined and a smaller number of potential leads are identified. These optimised leads are tested for such attributes as absorption, duration of action and delivery to the target. The results of these tests determine which compounds will then be proposed for drug development.
Strengths of the Strategic Research Program in Drug Discovery
All aspects of the drug discovery pathway are well catered for at Griffith.
The Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies at Nathan, Brisbane and the Institute for Glycomics at the Gold Coast, have taken leading roles in three specialised areas within the drug discovery landscape:
- natural product discovery,
- glycomics (the study of carbohydrates, or sugars) and
- cell therapies.
The Eskitis Institute and the Institute for Glycomics share the same goal of developing new drugs and therapies and address this aim via complementary approaches, thus increasing overall capability at Griffith.
The Eskitis Institute searches for novel compounds from the massive chemical diversity of natural products and has made breakthroughs in cell therapy using autologous human stem cells, with some therapies already in clinical trials. The Institute for Glycomics takes a rational approach to drug design based primarily on carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry.
A wealth of research experience and state-of-the-art platform technologies are firmly established at the Eskitis and Glycomics Institutes.
The Protein Factory at the Institute for Glycomics has the capacity to produce large quantities of proteins, quickly and cheaply, that are the vital ingredient both for rational drug design and for natural product screening.
The Eskitis Institute Mass Spectrometry facilities are revolutionising the identification of compounds that bind to molecular targets. This technology may also slash the time and cost to identify new drug leads from natural product extracts by allowing subsequent automated purification of the identified binders. Affinity Mass Spectrometry also speeds rational drug design by helping to isolate and identify carbohydrates in the cell walls of disease-causing bacteria and parasites that can be attacked (or kept at bay) by the new drugs.
The Eskitis Institute is home to Australia’s first dedicated compound management facility, the Queensland Compound Library, and also incorporates the recently established Adult Stem Cell Research Centre.
The two Institutes have developed world-leading expertise in lead generation approaches, including structure-based design, affinity screening (using mass spectrometry) and High Throughput Screening. By combining their complementary skills and resources, Griffith’s drug discovery capability is greatly enhanced, as is the ability to expand collaborations with research institutions across Australia and worldwide.