Cellworks Group setsup R

Bangalore, Nov 14: Cellworks Group Inc (CRIL), a California based company, has set up its research and development centre here to develop and provide technology based solutions that hasten drug discovery research and development.

CRIL's new facility in Bangalore is STPI approved and has the necessary infrastructure to house 110 scientists the company said in a release here.

CRIL's research focus would be in the areas of oncology, inflammation, metabolic disorders, CNS and Skin. This research based on the Systems Biology approach involved development of in silico platforms of disease physiology at the metabolic and bio-chemical pathway level to enable drug discovery teams use them as a virtual experimental system. Thus the drug discovery teams would have the benefit of using the in silico system in conjunction with currently used in vitro and in vivo techniques. This besides offering big improvement in productivity would also provide new differentiating capabilities the release added.

Hailing CRIL's foray into India, Karnataka Information Technology and Biotechnology Secretary M N Vidya Shankar said ''the need to integrate drug mechanism and toxicity within the context of human cellular bio-chemical pathways makes new drug design and discovery a very challenging process and one that is very high up in the pharmaceutical value chain''.

Cellworks with its advanced R&D centre here was at the forefront of facilitating this paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical industry. Its unique world class team which was a blend of expertise in systems biology, chemistry, computational mathematics, pharma and semiconductor design automation, was perfectly suited to take the lead on this highly innovative initiative, he added.

UNI