Drug Discovery, Development and Preclinical Research

Aims:

The Drug Discovery, Development and Preclinical Research Section aims to publish high-quality research that advances the discovery, design, development, and preclinical evaluation of novel therapeutic agents. It focuses on integrating pharmacological principles with drug development pipelines, from initial target identification and hit generation through lead optimization, preclinical pharmacology, and translational proof-of-concept studies.

Scope:

• Drug discovery and design: target identification and validation; high-throughput and virtual screening; AI/ML-assisted virtual screening and de novo drug design; structure-based, ligand-based, and fragment-based drug design; medicinal chemistry optimization (SAR, selectivity); and in silico ADMET prediction.
• Drug repurposing: systematic identification of new therapeutic uses for existing approved or investigational drugs; computational repurposing (network pharmacology, transcriptomic signature matching, GWAS-linked drug repositioning, and deep learning-based knowledge graph reasoning); phenotypic and target-based repurposing screens; and mechanistic validation of repurposed candidates.
• Therapeutics and translational studies: proof-of-concept studies in disease-relevant animal models (e.g., transgenic, xenograft, chemically induced, and spontaneous models); reverse translation from clinical observations back to preclinical models.
• Biopharmaceuticals (biologics and advanced therapies): development and preclinical evaluation of monoclonal antibodies, antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs), recombinant proteins, peptides, and enzymes; cell and gene therapies (CAR-T, CRISPR-based therapies, viral vectors, and stem cell therapies); nucleic acid therapeutics (mRNA, siRNA, antisense oligonucleotides); and bispecific and multispecific biologics.