Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolWelcome to the Institute for Drug Resistance!
The Institute for Drug Resistance (IDR) was created to serve the drug resistance research and clinical communities. Founded upon the observation that close parallels can be drawn between resistance seen in one disease state and resistance seen within another, the IDR believes that cross-disciplinary collaboration and discussion could allow for a better understanding of resistance and result in real clinical benefits.
Our goal is to shift the paradigm of drug resistance research by putting drug resistance first in drug design strategies and realizing the parallels of quickly evolving diseases. We plan to achieve this through interdisciplinary communication and synergistic collaboration. The Institute will:
- Facilitate connection of existing expertise,
- Provide infrastructure for targeting quickly evolving diseases, and
- Enable collaborations between research and industrial scientists and clinicians.
IDR Initiatives
IDR Second Workshop Event a Success!
The IDR’s second workshop titled "Approaches and Technologies to avoid Drug Resistance" was held on May 18, 2010. Attended by 45 scientists from Academia, Industry, and the Clinic, the workshop featured two keynote speakers providing engaging talks on different aspects of drug resistance. Daria Hazuda, Ph.D., Vice President Worldwide Discovery at Merck Pharmaceuticals spoke about HCV antiviral drug resistance, specifically addressing lessons and opportunities from this work, as well as parallels with HIV research. Roy Kishony, PhD., Associate Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School addressed the topic of inverting selection for antibiotic resistance through the use of suppressive drug combinations.
Based on a survey of attendees, almost 80% of respondents indicated they left the meeting having identified individuals or groups with who to initiate collaborations. Why not consider attending the next IDR event on October 4th in Worcester, MA? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.
IDR Website
The IDR website has undergone evolution! There are numerous new features, including:
The site is structured to serve drug resistance researchers of every discipline seeking a single site that unifies the connections, resources, and community resources drug resistance researchers need.
Gordon Conference Proposal
In May, representatives of the IDR were involved in the development of a proposal for a Gordon Conference to be held in 2011. We will keep you abreast of this exciting possibility as it develops.
Workshop I Summary Report
The IDR’s first workshop titled: “Shifting the Paradigms of Drug Resistance” is available for download here. Attended by over 50 research scientists and clinicians representing multiple disciplines, the workshop focused on challenges faced by researchers across the breadth of drug resistance and allowed participants to recognize commonalities across disciplines. Dr. John Coffin of Tufts University gave the keynote address, predicting that engaging experts in the different disciplines involved in resistance research will likely discover common mechanisms and strategies that could lead to novel solutions.