Achieving international recognition
TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is a contagious and potentially life-threatening disease transmitted through the air. It is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that attacks the lungs and can also damage other parts of the body.
In 2017, Multidrug Resistant (MDR) and Extremely Multidrug Resistant (XDR) tuberculosis recorded a mortality rate of 40% and 60% respectively.
In Malaysia, the incidence of tuberculosis is on the rise with 26,168 cases reported in 2017, of which 45% are resistant to first line drugs, leading to MDR/XDR TB.
The biggest challenge in tuberculosis drug discovery is to reduce the treatment period from more than six months to just one week.
In view of the alarmingly high incidence and mortality rate, the Bioactive Molecule and Drug Delivery (BMDD) team under the Institute of Research, Development and Innovation (IRDI) at the International Medical University (IMU) is aiming to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cheminformatics in the search and design of novel drugs as potential new therapeutics in treating tuberculosis.
The BMDD centre is currently headed by Prof Mallikarjuna Rao Pichika who is also the School of Pharmacy associate dean (Research and Consultancy) and Pharmaceutical Chemistry prof at IMU.
Together with IMU Pharmaceutical Chemistry alumna, Mak Kit Kay, they formed a team and submitted a few research proposals about integrating AI and cheminformatics approaches to design novel drug-like molecules for tuberculosis.
The team secured two Artificial Intelligence Molecular Screen (AIMS) Awards from Atomwise, USA, which allows the team to carry out the proposed AI-powered virtual screening.
A similar research proposal, using cheminformatics approach was applied for the International Scientific Challenge organised by BioSolveIT, Germany. It became one of the selected five research proposals, where the team was given access to use BioSolveIT’s computational drug discovery software to design novel drugs.
Riding on the same wave, the team also has a scientific paper published in a high impact factor journal Drug Discovery Today (Impact factor: 6.84; Tier: Q1) focusing on the present status and future prospects of AI in drug development.
AI is a promising advanced tool in drug development that should be utilised to leapfrog the medical industry forward by improving the efficiency of the drug development process.
Mak is a lecturer in the School of Pharmacy currently pursuing her PhD. She was an alumna of IMU who completed her undergraduate in BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Chemistry and MSc (Medical and Health Sciences) specialising in Medicinal Chemistry and the organising chairperson for the sixth International Postgraduate Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences (6th IPOPS) in 2018. She has published seven papers with a cumulative impact factor of 28.6 in 2018.
The pharmaceutical chemistry degree from IMU is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK. The course is undertaken entirely at IMU and completed in three years (six semesters). Upon completion of the degree, graduates can enter the workforce and begin their career as chemists in pharmaceutical and other chemical industries.
After obtaining the IMU BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Chemistry degree, those who meet the academic criteria can also continue to pursue the Master of Pharmacy programme at the University of Sydney or Curtin University in Australia. They are given credit exemptions in the Master of Pharmacy programmes.
Graduates of the Master of Pharmacy degrees from these universities can register as practising pharmacists in Australia and Singapore, but not in Malaysia currently.
If you have just completed your SPM and do not have a pre-university qualification, consider enrolling in the one-year IMU Foundation in Science (FiS), the direct route into any of the university’s degree programmes.