BTG: The development of just in time synthesis of novel therapeutic agents using lab-on-a-chip technology

Medicinal chemistry traditionally operates using discrete synthesis and testing processes. This traditional and fragmented approach to drug design is laborious, slow and expensive. This proposal will harness lab-on-a-chip technology to synthesise and test new chemical entities in a single process. The integrated synthesis and testing campaign can be achieved in a parallel fashion, enabling rapid design and optimisation of novel drug candidates, with concomitant cost savings achieved through the additional benefits associated with miniaturisation. We will exemplify this using the important regulatory enzyme Autotaxin as a target system, which is therapeutically relevant to a number of diseases, including fibrosis and cancer.