IT solutions 'could help drug design process'

Developing new drugs may be made easier through the implementation of computers, according to scientists at Ohio State University.

Scientists at the academic institution are currently exploring ways of speeding up the design process through innovative IT solutions.

The organisation claimed that most medications work by acting on malfunctioning proteins, with one particular ingredient molecule generally interacting with faulty cells.

However, it added that finding this particle is difficult and traditional search methods can often be a process of trial and error as lab experts try to discover the relevant therapeutic "fragments".

Using IT technology, the body noted that this process has become much quicker and could lead to faster development of drugs.

"We use ... massive computing power available to us to find only the good fragments and link them together," said assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy Chenglong Li.

Researchers from Ohio State University recently developed a new dementia test that people can perform on themselves to see whether they are experiencing early symptoms of the disease.