Dassault Systemes Partners in Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020

Dassault Systèmes has partnered in the Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020), a joint initiative of AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) and supported by the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor, Government  of India, NIC (National Informatics Centre) and MyGov.

Under the partnership, Dassault Systèmes is offering academic researchers, faculty and participants of the hackathon, access to BIOVIA Discovery Studio powered by 3DEXPERIENCE platform to assist in the search for rapid, safe and effective therapeutic drugs against COVID-19.

Dassault Systèmes is also offering technical video trainings and demonstrations on in silico drug discovery that include target identification and modeling, virtual screening, pharmacophore screening aiding discovery of novel candidates, bioactivity predictions, and toxicity assessment with machine learning algorithms to the participants and researchers of the hackathon.

The Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020) vision and mission is to establish an “open innovation model” for in silico drug discovery against COVID-19 and will cover the various processes in drug discovery including, but not limited to, in silico screening of molecules, lead optimisation and identification of druggable non-toxic targets. The targets, tools or lead molecules identified through the process of DDH2020 will be taken forward for synthesis followed by subsequent steps in a routine drug discovery programme.

“We are extremely delighted to have Dassault Systèmes as our esteemed ‘Partner’ for our Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020,” said Dr Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), Innovation Cell – Ministry of HRD, Government of India.  “Dassault Systèmes’ BIOVIA packages like Modeler, Topkat and CHARMm are hugely popular in the global drug discovery community and availability of these packages for the participants of the Drug Discovery Hackathon will certainly help in expediting our efforts in identifying lead molecules against COVID-19.”

As an active supporter of the scientific community worldwide that is collaborating on COVID-19 solutions, Dassault Systèmes has developed BIOVIA Discovery Studio. This world-class life sciences modeling and simulation environment brings together over 30 years of peer-reviewed research and in silico technique. It provides researchers with a complete toolset for use, from target identification through lead optimisation including tools for biologics design and analysis, classical simulations, structure- and fragment-based design, virtual ligand screening, as well as ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion) and toxicity prediction.

As the world has come together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we at Dassault Systèmes are fully committed to enabling the ecosystem in its endeavor to find effective cures and vaccines at the earliest,” said Deepak NG, Managing Director, India, Dassault Systèmes. “Our partnership in the Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 represents this unwavering commitment to empower Life Sciences industry and the broader healthcare ecosystem, from those working in research and clinical development, to manufacturing and patient care, at the forefront of the race to contain and fight COVID-19.”