Description:
This course provides a deep dive into Ligand-Based Drug Design (LBDD), a powerful method for discovering and optimizing new drug candidates based on known active molecules (ligands). LBDD is used when the 3D structure of the target protein is unavailable, but knowledge about the ligands that bind to the target is known. The course will cover the core tools and techniques used in LBDD, such as pharmacophore modeling and Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis, which allow researchers to predict the activity and binding affinity of new compounds based on existing ligand data.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Understand the principles of Ligand-Based Drug Design (LBDD).
Construct and use pharmacophore models to predict the binding affinity of new drug candidates.
Apply QSAR techniques to correlate the chemical structure of ligands with their biological activity.
Use LBDD tools to predict and refine drug candidates when protein structure data is unavailable.