SUBJECT:

Establishment of the Center for Drug Discovery Innovation (cDDI) as an Organized Research Unit at UC San Diego

Following consultation with the Academic Senate and campus administrative officials, I am pleased to announce the establishment of Center for Drug Discovery Innovation as an Organized Research Unit reporting to Vice Chancellor Sandra Brown. Michael K Gilson, Professor and Chair in Computer-Aided Drug Design at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Thomas Hermann, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, will serve as founding co-Directors.

The cDDI will foster innovation by stimulating exciting new approaches to the challenges of drug discovery within an academic research environment. The cDDI will be a resource assisting UCSD faculty engaged in drug discovery projects anywhere on campus. Research outputs will include advanced computational design methods and systems pharmacology tools and databases; drug delivery platforms; pharmacogenomic insights and integration of clinical and drug-related databases; crystal structures of therapeutically relevant macromolecules; novel drug targets and assay technologies; and bioactive compounds for use as probes, development leads and candidate drugs.

Membership in the Center is open to all interested faculty members and research scientists/scholars. If you would like additional information or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Professors Gilson (mgilson@ucsd.edu) or Hermann (tch@ucsd.edu).

Suresh Subramani Executive Vice Chancellor Sandra A. Brown Vice Chancellor for Research