Brain Drug Discovery Center | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Brain Drug Discovery Center

BDDC unifier image

The Brain Drug Discovery Center (BDDC) aims to serve a unifying mechanism to engage drug discovery efforts throughout TTUHSC and beyond. The BDDC works to generate, coordinate and facilitate multidisciplinary efforts in medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug delivery, formulation, and repurposing in effort to translate basic science at TTUHSC into therapeutic intervention for human and animal disease. The main emphasis is on establishing a robust pipeline of projects with School of Pharmacy (SOP), School of Medicine (SOM), and School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). The center is primarily based in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy.

Message from the Director

Academic drug discovery efforts are increasing in the US and around the world as technology evolves to allow effective drug discovery outside of big pharma. Notable drugs have been developed in the academic setting, Pregabalin (Northwestern), Emtricitabine (Emory), Carfilzomib (Yale), and Loteprednol (University of Florida). In total, 31 novel chemical entities entered the clinic between 1997-2007 were discovered in university research labs.

However, the ability to screen, generate and synthesize novel chemical entities is a complex undertaking that any single TTUHSC research is not capable of achieving. TTUHSC scientists have engaged in research to identify and validate novel disease targets. The translation of these finding to interventional therapeutics proves much more challenging.

The Brain Drug Discovery Center will facilitate the generation of biologically active small molecules to engage a variety of protein targets. The BDDC is not limited to a specific indication, it is able to provide expert support in a breadth of brain disease areas. It is here to help incubate collaborative translation research projects. Federal funding favors collaborative multi-principal investigator grants that emphasize translation of research findings into new therapeutics.

School of Pharmacy researchers specialize in brain drug delivery and understand how to model the blood-brain barrier for robust drug screening of neurotherapeutics. We plan to capitalize on this expertise and collaborate with other faculty interested in brain drug discovery, including the School of Medicine based Center for Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics.

Developing a new drug takes a decade or more, mainly due to bottlenecks in the therapeutic development process. These delays mean the translation of a promising molecule into a approved drug is serious endeavor. The BDDC is developing strategies that reduce this time frame, decrease costs, and improve success rates, building infrastructure, and solidifying current expertise to help remove obstacles in the process of bringing a new drug to market.

Dr. Abbruscato

Tom Abbruscato, Ph.D.
Director, Brain Drug Discovery Center
TTUHSC Grover E. Murray Professor and Douglas M. Stocco Research Chair
University Distinguished Professor and Chair, Pharmaceutical Sciences, TTUHSC Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy
Senior Associate Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Mission

The Brain Drug Discovery Center is devoted to finding new cures for a wide range of brain disease including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, neuropathic pain, addiction, obesity and metastatic cancer by developing viable small molecule probes and preclinical drug candidates for researchers and clinicians of the Texas Tech System and Beyond.

Rationale

The ability to screen, generate and synthesize novel chemical entities is a complex undertaking that any single TTUHSC researcher is not capable of achieving. TTUHSC scientists have engaged in research to identify and validate novel disease targets. The translation of these findings to interventional therapeutics proves much more challenging. The BDDC will facilitate the generation of biologically active small molecules to engage a variety of protein targets. As the BDDC will not be limited to a specified indication, the center will be able to provide expert support for faculty in a breadth of brain disease areas. Academic drug discovery efforts are increasing in the U.S. and around the world as technology evolves to allow effective drug discovery outside of big pharma. Notable drugs that have been developed in the academic setting include Pregabalin (Northwestern), Emtricitabine (Emory), Carfilzomib (Yale) and Loteprednol (University of Florida). In total 31 novel chemical entities entered the clinic between 1997-2007 discovered in university research labs.

Federal funding favors collaborative multi-principal investigator grants that emphasize translation of research findings into new therapeutics. The BDDC will incubate collaborative translational research projects. SOP researchers specialize in brain drug delivery and understand how to model the blood-brain barrier for robust drug screening of neurotherapeutics. We plan to capitalize on this expertise in Amarillo and collaborate with other faculty interested in brain drug discovery, i.e., the Center for Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics based in the SOM. Additional benefits include expansion of GSBS Ph.D. and M.S training with an emphasis on brain drug discovery and partnering with TTU SVM and the One Health Ph.D. program, West Texas A&M University, and Amarillo College.