Computer-Aided Drug Design

This course introduces computer-aided drug discovery, cheminformatics, drug discovery and development, drug-target interactions, protein structure, structure-based drug design, homology modeling, molecular docking, ligand-based drug design, QSAR, pharmacophore modeling, and virtual screening.

Course code: CADD

Instructor: Dr. Ahmed El Kerdawy

Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Drug Design, Faculty of Pharmacy-Cairo University; Head of Chemistry Department, School of Pharmacy, Newgiza University.

Workload: 12 weeks plus end-of-course assessment. Theory 1-2 hours and practical 1-2 hours.

Entrance requirements: Not specified

Used media: Course slides and practical CADD software/tools

Objectives

• Understand the drug discovery and development process
• Learn computer-aided drug design approaches
• Understand drug-target interactions and protein structure
• Apply structure-based and ligand-based drug design methods

Competences to be Developed

• Use databanks for drug-like molecules and protein structures
• Apply homology modeling and molecular docking simulations
• Use similarity search and target prediction tools
• Build QSAR and pharmacophore models
• Perform virtual screening

Assessment

• End-of-course assessment
• Graduation project discussion

Assessment and completion

• Quizzes: 20%
• Assessments: 30%
• Final / Graduation Project: 50%
• Overall passing grade: 60%
• Minimum project grade: 50%
• All mandatory components must be completed
• One reassessment or resubmission opportunity is available for a failed mandatory assessment or final project