{"id":100634,"date":"2023-06-23T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=100634"},"modified":"2025-06-10T08:28:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:28:24","slug":"unmc-creates-new-center-for-drug-design-and-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/06\/23\/unmc-creates-new-center-for-drug-design-and-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"UNMC creates new Center for Drug Design and Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The University of Nebraska Board of Regents Thursday approved the establishment of a new UNMC Center for Drug Design and Innovation (CDDI) within the UNMC College of Pharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center aims to fill the gap left as drug research and development by the pharmaceutical industry has narrowed. A new \u201cmixed model\u201d of drug discovery has seen a dramatic increase in partnerships between biotechnology companies and the traditional large pharma companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, in the past 10 years, there also has been the development of industry-academia collaborations aimed at further filling this drug-discovery gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the CDDI. \u201cThe UNMC Center for Drug Design and Innovation will bridge the gap between drug discovery and drug development, improving lives,\u201d said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD. \u201cBringing these new inventions to the people also will invigorate our state\u2019s economy, through entrepreneurship and job growth based on the superb creativity and hard work of our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chancellor noted that patenting and licensing of these new inventions often leads to spinoff companies and STEM jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNMC\u2019s College of Pharmacy is uniquely positioned for the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur college is home to leading experts in medicinal chemistry, target discovery and biophysics, drug delivery and clinical pharmaceutical sciences, including drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics,\u201d said Keith Olsen, PharmD, the Joseph D. Williams Endowed Dean of the UNMC College of Pharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Olsen explained that CDDI will lay the foundation for seminal contributions from UNMC\u2019s research faculty, as well as the wider Nebraska system, and put the NU system on par with peer Big Ten institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost importantly, we believe this center will be a critical resource for the design of new therapeutics that provide new hope for Nebraskans facing challenging medical diagnoses,\u201d Dr. Olsen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And \u201cthe timing is perfect,\u201d as UNMC launches the Innovation Hub at Catalyst<\/a>, said Corey Hopkins, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences and CDDI\u2019s inaugural director. \u201cThe creation of the center will provide a jump start in the entrepreneurial and drug discovery innovation aspect of the Innovation Hub.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two entities will find synergy and build and grow together, Dr. Hopkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Hopkins has more than 20 years of experience in both the pharmaceutical industry and academic drug discovery. He was a project team leader at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, where he led projects that resulted in two clinical candidate designations. Dr. Hopkins then moved to the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, where he was responsible for multiple projects that were licensed to industrial partners and directly led to a compound being advanced into clinical trials. Since coming to UNMC in 2016, he has had one project licensed and has had two patents granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are two completely different beasts,\u201d he said of industry and academia. \u201cBeing able to see it on both sides has helped me know where to find that collaborator or find that missing piece that\u2019s needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDDI integrates and brings people into a larger team to better able to bring discoveries forward, Dr. Hopkins said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center would encompass any potential disease or therapeutic area because pre-clinical drug discovery often overlaps in many activities regardless of disease. Accordingly, there are many areas of research where UNMC excels, including cancer, infectious disease, neuroscience and others, that the CDDI would be able to positively impact, said Aaron Mohs, PhD, UNMC College of Pharmacy associate dean for research and graduate studies. \u201cThe center has drawn support from across campus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center\u2019s mission goals are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n