Academic Collaborations

STARS: Scientific Training in Antimicrobial Research Strategies

The Scientific Training in Antimicrobial Research Strategies, or STARS, is a European Initial Training Network Funded under the Marie Curie Actions of the Seventh Framework Programme for Early Stage Researchers who wish to undertake post-graduate training in antimicrobial research and development.

There is a growing problem of antimicrobial resistance, and thus an urgent need to redress the balance between this emerging drug resistance and currently available antimicrobial and anti-infective therapeutic options.  STARS has two sub-programs on emerging drug targets, one found in a group of pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria, and the other focussing on the malaria parasite.

The partners in STARS are:

• InhibOx Ltd, UK
• Medical Research Council, National Institute for Medical Research, UK
  
• Ferrer Group, Spain
  
• Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, Spanish National Research Council, Spain
• Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Spanish National Research Council, Spain
• Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvia
  
• Wageningen University, Host Microbe Interactomics, The Netherlands (Co-ordinator)
• Biaqualis, The Netherlands (Associated Partner)
• University of Siena, Italy
  

InhibOx is contributing through developing novel drug design technology and applying these methodologies to the drug targets of interest to the network.

University of Oxford SABS-IDC

InhibOx is a founder member of the Systems Approaches to Biomedical Science Industrial Doctorate Centre, or SABS-IDC, an industrial doctoral training centre run by the University of Oxford. The Oxford Industrial Doctorate Centre  provides a comprehensive training program to graduates from mathematics, engineering, the physical and life sciences who wish to undertake research careers at the industrial interface in this exciting new inter-disciplinary field.

InhibOx contributes to the teaching component of this program, and benefits from the interaction with excellent students, staff and the wider departmental network.

DeZnIT

DeZnIT is a European Union FP6 funded consortium.  The partners in DeZnIT are:

• InhibOx Ltd, UK
• Biochemical Institute, University of Kiel, Germany
• University of Naples, Italy
• Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvia
• University of Tampere, Finland
• University of Florence, Italy
• University of Oxford, UK 

The goal of DeZnIT is to develop and apply new methodology for the rational and accelerated design of novel drugs targeted against zinc-containing enzymes. These enzymes are key modulators of many serious human diseases including cancer, glaucoma, obesity, and rheumatoid arthritis. Despite some successes, many major technological challenges remain in the development of effective drug therapies against this enzyme family.

DeZnIT is addressing these challenges by developing and integrating key technologies from pharmacogenomics, computer modeling, structural and molecular biology and chemistry, combined with drug discovery infrastructure and expertise.

The Role of InhibOx in the DeZniT consortium is to develop new methods for prediciting the activity of inhibitors of zinc enzymes and, together with its consortium partners, to identify new lead compounds for drug development.