Closing Date: 30/11/2020 (refer Contest Link)
Contest Outline:
The Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (#DDH2020) is a joint initiative of AICTE, CSIR and supported by the Office of the Senior Scientific Advisor, Govt. from India, NIC and MyGov, welcomes all those who wish to join the Open Source Drug Discovery Hackathon against Covid-19. The vision and mission of DDH2020 is to establish an `` open innovation model '' for drug discovery in silico against the Covid-19 virus and will cover the various drug discovery processes, including but not limited to it, in silico screening of molecules, lead optimization and identification of toxic non-toxic target drugs. The targets / tools / lead molecules identified by the DDH2020 process will be pursued for synthesis, followed by the later stages of the routine drug discovery program.
Objective:
Identification of drug candidates effective against SARS-CoV-2- coronavirus using a hackathon for drug discovery in silico, followed by chemical synthesis and biological tests.
It is well known that drug discovery is complex, time-consuming and requires interdisciplinary teams to discover new molecules. In silico approaches to drug discovery not only accelerate drug discovery, but can also be the subject of a hackathon.
As a principle of Open Innovation, a complex task could be broken down into MORE SIMPLE missions for community participation. Consequently, the Hackathon will start by launching specific challenges or a declaration of a problem or which can then be dealt with by several teams around the world.
The results of these teams can then be evaluated by a clear definition of the criteria of effect achieved or not. Teams arriving at the endpoints for the first round of the Hackathon will then be engaged in the next round with the mentorship of experts in the field from around the world.
These specific results will then be progressed to the next level of parameters and so on until a lead molecule is identified and ready to be tested in several models in the experimental laboratory.
Hackathon Methodology:
This hackathon is said to have two major tracks Track-1- will primarily deal with drug design for anti-COVID-19 hit/lead molecule generation using tools such as molecular modeling, pharmacophore optimization, molecular docking, hit/lead optimization, etc.
Track-2- will deal with designing/optimizing new tools and algorithms which will have an immense impact on expediting the process of in silico drug discovery. Novel or refined tools/algorithms from Track-2 will help develop better models for predicting ADMET in silico, thus improving screening efficiency. Track-1 and Track-2 will be further subdivided into very concrete multiple Problem statements (PSs) with the help of an expert panel.
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Phases of Selection Process:
Phase I - Screening the teams will compete to propose the putative hits with serious potential. The hits will highest potential will be shortlisted and used for the next stage.
Phase II - Improvisation the teams will compete to further improvise on the selected hits from phase-1. The better performing improvised hits will be shortlisted and will be used for phase-3 challenge
Phase III - Finalization phase, In this teams will again compete for further optimization of candidates from phase-2. The selected candidates for phase 3 which have crossed 3 level screening and optimization ‘may’ be taken for phase-4 (optional: depending up to outcome and confidence level of phase-3). On completion of phase-3/4, the molecular hits/tools/algorithms will be announced for further validation in the laboratory using in vitro and later in vivo assays.
Phase IV is optional and decisions in this regard will be taken by organizing committee based on the outcome of Phase-III. The best performing teams will be announced for each phase and given prizes will be transferred to them after completion of that phase provided they are ready to compete in the next phase.
Timelines:
Also Read: App Innovation Challenge 2020
Who Can Apply:
Researchers-The hackathon is an international initiative and all researchers/faculty across the world are eligible to participate.
Students- All students studying in India and all Indian students (holding Indian Passport) studying abroad are eligible to participate in this competition.
Reward
The number of prizes and the cash prizes will be separated for each phase. The amount of the prices will increase considerably from phase 1 to phase 2 to phase III.
The identified potential hit / lead SARS-CoV-2 compounds can be tested in the laboratory and further used for clinical development and by CSIR and other interested organizations.
The winning hackathon products / results / tools will be submitted to CSIR for further laboratory testing and validation.
Additionally, this whole exercise will help India establish an open innovation platform for drug discovery using the Hackathon methodology to tackle Covid-19 and future epidemics.
............INNOVATE TO WIN............
For more details and applying click the contest link below:
Category of contest: hardware, government, hackathon
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