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Narrator: The Institute of Therapeutics Discovery and Development or ITDD strive to enhance
biomedical research at the University of Minnesota and create opportunities for drug discovery
and development through interdisciplinary research collaborations, headed by Dr. Gunda
Gayorg a renounced medicinal chemist who joined the University of Minnesota in 2007. The ITDD
brings together sophisticated technology and talented people from academia and industry.
The ITTD is apart of a larger effort by the University of Minnesota to support the translation
of new knowledge into better health. Partners who work closely with the ITDD include many
U of M departments and research centers the College of Pharmacy, the Center for Translational
Medicine, the Clinical and Transitional and Science Institute, and the office of Technology
Commercialization. The ITDD is made up of 4 scientific cores, Medicinal Chemistry, High-
Throughput Screening, Lead and Probe Discovery, and Chemical Process Development. The Medicinal
Chemistry core is lead by Dr. Gayorg, this core focuses on synthetic medicinal chemistry,
structure based drug design, and computational drug design. The priority of this lab is to
develop bioactive compounds and to improve potency, selectivity and pharmaceutical properties
of hit to lead compounds. The High- Throughput Screening core is lead by Dr. Derrick Hook
an experienced veteran of big pharmaceutical drug discovery; the screening core can identify
novel chemical structures that act as initial leads or pros for biological activity for
the ITDD library of over 200,000 compounds for biochemical and cell based targets. The
HTS lab utilizes an industrial strength secure relational database to register compounds
for screening and to store and process assayed data to provide reports at the completion
of projects. In addition to all this a modern BSL3 screening facility is available. The
Lead and Probe Discovery Core is directed by Dr. Michael Walters who has both academic
and big pharmaceutical discovery and development experience. This group can rapidly and effectively
optimize activity and property characteristics of hit from high therapeut screening campaigns.
New compounds are designed using advanced methods of computer modeling and chem. Informatics.
This evolution of hit to lead compound is the hallmark of the lead and probe discovery
group and sets the stage for the fine tuning of the activity and physical properties of
the best of these substances in the medicinal chemistry core. The chemical Process Development
core is headed by Dr. Vadem Gervich. This core provides chemical synthesis service up
to kilogram scale along with chemical process development. In this core analytical methods
are developed and implemented for the verification of identity and purity of drug substances.
This lab also has the ability to synthesize chemical compounds under good manufacturing
practices or GMP regulations. The ITDD capability’s are unique in an academic environment and
allow for rapid translation of the therapies developed by University of Minnesota scientists
into clinical trials and then to market. ITDD services are open to academic and industrial
partners alike.