As part of a $2.9 million national project, Monash University is partnering with key institutions to launch a robotic laboratory that, it says, is capable of drastically speeding up the invention, trials and commercialisation of medicines by Australian researchers. Source: Monash University“When we’re creating a new medicine, we need to design a compound to fit into a specific pocket of a protein, but the protein often changes shape in response. “Analysis of drug discovery projects successful in generating a clinical candidate showed 65% relied on structural information, most of which were derived from X-ray crystallography.” “Once we know which fragments stick, our medicinal chemists can pull that information together to build a single highly effective, custom-designed drug.” Source: Monash UniversityMonash said the platform will boost sovereign capability in therapeutics, supporting hundreds of researchers across the country investigating treatments for over 40 disease targets, including bacterial infections, cancer, HIV and neurodegeneration.