Drug discovery platform technology

5-1. Drug formulation

5-1-1. Technologies that enable high-dose subcutaneous administration of antibody drugs

Out of interest:

• Technologies subjected to modify the antibody itselfn

Other requirements:

• The expected mechanism must be already demonstrated with some antibody.

5-1-2. Technologies that improve drug retention in the lungs

Research interests:

• Oral inhalationd

Other requirements:

• Retention in the lungs must be already demonstrated to be improved with some drug that is rapidly transferred into the blood by oral inhalation.
• Preferably, additives are in clinical use or GRAS certified.

5-1-3. Technologies that enable the oral administration of peptides

Research interests:

• Technologies that enables increased intestinal absorption through the oral administration of peptides by formulation, DDS technology or modification of the peptide itself.

Other requirements:

• The capability must be already demonstrated with some peptide.
• Technology applicable to cyclic peptides is desirable.

5-2. Analysis methods

5-2-1. Molecular dynamics methods to estimate the binding pose of small molecules to protein

Research interests:

• Methods applicable to membrane protein systems

Other requirements:

• Method must be theoretically applicable for membrane proteins.

5-2-2. Structural analysis methods for long RNA strands

Research interests:

• Methods that can experimentally analyze the secondary or tertiary structure of over 300-mer RNA

Out of interest:

• Predictions using computational methods only (e.g. in silico simulation)
• Methods using large-scale experimental equipment

Other requirements:

• Preferably, the comparative data with the SHAPE-MaP or dimethyl sulfate method is already obtained.

5-2-3. Structural analysis methods for middle-sized molecules

Research interests:

• Methods that enables structural analysis of middle -sized molecules (molecular weight 1000-3000) such as peptides even when crystals cannot be obtained

Other requirements:

• The structural analysis data on some middle -sized molecules must be already obtained. Or, capability of the method to middle-sized molecules must be supported with theoretical rationale.
• Methods that can be performed with generic tools and equipment are desirable.

5-2-4. A solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods that can obtain dynamics information of the interaction between drug candidates and targeted biomolecules

Research interests:

• Methods utilizing the state-of-the-art techniques (e.g., Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST), Carr Purcell-Meiboom Gill (CPMG), and order parameter)
• Method that has a capability to observe protein side chain dynamics.

Other requirements:

• The analysis of some biomolecule, including nucleic acids or proteins with a molecular weight of over 20 kDa, must be already succeeded.

5-3. Organic synthesis

5-3-1. Organic synthetic reaction technologies with On-DNA applicable to DNA-encoded synthesis

Research interests:

• Synthetic reactions under nonacidic conditions (pH 4–12) at non-high temperatures and in water-containing solvents

Other requirements:

• The organic synthetic reaction must be already demonstrated by some experimental results, but not necessarily with On-DNA.