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Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology A – DMPA
Dr. Bidyottam Mittra
Scientific Review Officer
The Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology A (DMPA) study section reviews applications that are concerned with the identification of novel therapeutic agents to combat bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral infections using biochemical, pharmacological, structural, cell-based, and animal model approaches. Emphasis is on initial discovery methods.
Review Dates
Topics
- Discovery of novel anti-infective agents including small molecule inhibitors, natural products, therapeutic peptides, and adjunct therapeutics directly inhibiting the pathogen’s lifecycle
- Molecular characterization of anti-infective agents, including mechanism of action, structural characterization, and confirmation of target engagement of the identified lead molecule(s)
- Development of novel assays and models to test drug efficacy, including cellular, organoid, and animal model systems
Shared Interests and Overlaps
- There are shared interests in drug development with Infectious Disease Drug Development and Molecular Pharmacology [DDMP] and with Advancing Therapeutics B (ATB) . Applications that emphasize late-stage drug development efforts such as diversification, optimization and preclinical toxicity and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies or early-stage clinical trials of novel therapeutic and drug-delivery strategies may be reviewed in ATB. Applications that emphasize optimization of lead therapeutics may be reviewed in DDMP. Applications that emphasize initial discovery methods may be reviewed in DMPA.
- There are shared interests in early-stage drug characterization with Discovery and Optimization of Immunotherapeutics and Biological Therapeutics [DCAI (82)] . Applications that focus on the discovery of novel immunotherapies, host-directed therapies, and living/replicating agents (i.e. phages, engineered bacteria, probiotic yeast/fungi…) may be reviewed in DCAI (82), whereas applications that focus on the discovery of other agents may be reviewed in DMPA.
- There are shared interests in infectious disease drug development with Anti-Infective Resistance and Targets (AIRT) . Applications that emphasize the initial characterization of drug targets with a major emphasis on resistance mechanisms may be reviewed in AIRT. Applications that emphasize drug discovery may be reviewed in DMPA.
- There are shared interests in drug design with Chemical Biology & Probes (CBP) . Applications that emphasize drug synthesis with limited biological assessments may be reviewed in CBP. Applications that emphasize drug function and anti-infective potential may be reviewed in DMPA.
- There are shared interests in pathogen biology with Bacterial-Host Interactions (BHI) , Bacterial Virulence (BV) , Molecular and Cellular Biology of Virus Infection (MCV) , Viral Dynamics and Transmission (VDT) , Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity (VPI) and Pathogenic Eukaryotes (PTHE) . Applications that emphasize understanding fundamental processes or pathogenesis mechanisms may be reviewed in the relevant pathogen-focused study section. Applications that emphasize developing new anti-infective drugs may be reviewed in DMPA.
There are shared interests with Bacterial Innate Immunomodulation and Pathogenesis (IIDC (81) )in investigating efficacy or impact of therapeutics during host-bacterial interactions at the level of the innate response. Applications that focus on identifying novel drug targets or emphasize developing new antimicrobial drugs may be reviewed in DMPA. Applications focused on targeting bacterial factors that alter/affect innate host cells or the host innate responses due to host-bacterium interaction during therapeutic intervention may be reviewed in BHI or IIDC (81).