Drug Discovery
Drug discovery is the process of identifying and developing new therapeutic compounds to treat diseases, involving stages from target identification and validation to lead optimization and preclinical testing. It integrates biology, chemistry, and computational methods to find molecules that interact with biological targets, such as proteins or genes, to modulate disease pathways. This multidisciplinary approach aims to produce safe and effective drugs for clinical trials and eventual market approval.
Developers should learn drug discovery methodologies when working in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or healthcare technology, as it enables the creation of software tools for data analysis, molecular modeling, and clinical trial management. Specific use cases include developing algorithms for virtual screening of compound libraries, building bioinformatics pipelines for genomic data, or designing platforms for drug repurposing and personalized medicine. This knowledge is crucial for roles in computational biology, cheminformatics, or AI-driven drug development.