University of Dundee
The School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee is a world-class academic institution with a reputation for the excellence of its research, its high-quality teaching and student experience, and the strong impact of its activities outside academia. With 900 staff from over 50 countries worldwide, the School provides a dynamic, multi-national, collegiate and diverse environment with state-of-the-art laboratory, technology and teaching facilities.
The innovative work carried out at the University is recognised by external rankings, including ‘The State of Innovation’ report by Clarivate Analytics that ranks Dundee as the most influential scientific research institution in the world for pharmaceuticals for the period 2006-16. This is due in part to the world-leading Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) that bridges gap between academic scientific research and commercial drug discovery and the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy which, founded in 1998, is the world’s longest running collaboration between academic research laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry.
The DDU is a fully integrated drug discovery group established in 2006 to translate world-class biology research into novel drug targets and candidate drugs. Housed within purpose-built facilities at the School of Life Sciences, the DDU has the full repertoire of professional, industry-standard expertise and infrastructure required for early stage, small molecule drug discovery. The DDU employs experienced, highly skilled scientists from the pharmaceutical industry and academia who have a professional, pioneering approach to small molecule drug discovery. Cumulatively, the 95 scientists of the DDU have more than 675 years of pharmaceutical drug discovery experience and have collectively supported the delivery of 67 clinical candidates and 10 marketed drugs. The DDU’s integrated structure allows it to synergise academic and industry experience and allocate resources effectively across our priority focus areas
- Diseases of the Developing World including kinetoplastid diseases, malaria and TB
- Innovative Targets and Pathways across a broad range of indications, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory diseases and central nervous system (CNS) diseases.
