Course Curriculum
1. Introduction to Drug Discovery
- Overview of the drug discovery and development process
- Stages from target identification to clinical trials
- Role of computational approaches in modern drug discovery
2. Basics of Bioinformatics for Drug Design
- Understanding genomics and proteomics
- Use of biological sequences in drug discovery
- Importance of biological databases in CADD
3. Fundamentals of CADD
- Introduction to Computer-Aided Drug Design
- Types of CADD: Ligand-based and Structure-based
- Applications and significance in pharmaceutical R&D
4. Ligand-Based Drug Design
- Pharmacophore concept and modeling
- Basics of QSAR (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship)
- Similarity search, clustering, and compound analysis
5. Protein Structure and Target Preparation
- Structure of proteins and their role in drug binding
- Active site and pocket identification
- Basics of homology modeling and target preparation
6. Structure-Based Drug Design
- Introduction to molecular docking
- Steps in protein and ligand preparation
- Analyzing interactions: hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions
7. Lead Optimization and ADMET
- Drug-likeness and optimization strategies
- Lipinski’s Rule of Five
- Introduction to ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, Toxicity)
- Predicting potential drug behavior in the body
8. Case Study & Career Guidance
- Complete walk-through of a sample CADD project
- How to interpret and present your findings
- Career paths in CADD and drug discovery
- Resume building and industry expectations