Presented by Vini Mani, Ekaterina (Kat) Pak, and Dima Ter-Ovanesyan

In 2011, the FDA approved 35 new drugs–one of the highest approval volumes in the past decade. Drug development is a long and costly undertaking that involves integrated efforts from academia, industry, hospitals, and government agencies. This seminar will explain the process of developing new drugs and will focus on the concepts behind novel drug design. Technologies like high-throughput screening and 3-D protein modeling inform the design of small molecule-based drugs. Recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to make protein-based drugs. Emerging therapeutics like gene therapy and RNA interference hold possibilities for new treatment options. The biology behind drugs and examples of drug design will be covered.