BioAscent, the UK's fastest-growing integrated drug discovery CRO, has appointed Dr Angelo Pugliese as Associate Director of In Silico Discovery and Data Analysis to lead the company's computational chemistry service. As well as enhanced computational chemistry capabilities, the medicinal chemistry team has also been strengthened with the appointment of Dr Duncan McArthur as Associate Director.

Computational chemistry, molecular modelling, CADD (Computer-Aided Drug Design), cheminformatics and data analysis applications help reduce R&D costs and time as well as adding valuable scientific insights. Our computational drug designers use a state-of-the-art hardware and software platform and can, for example, run ultra-large virtual screenings of billions of compounds in a ligand-based fashion, and millions of compounds in a structure-based fashion. Full computational chemistry services include: in silico target assessment; protein modelling; ligand modelling; library design; in silico hit finding; protein-ligand interaction analysis; fragment-based drug design; lead optimisation; cheminformatics; and machine learning and data analytics.

Dr Pugliese is a highly experienced computational chemist with over 15 years' experience working across different organisations in the US and UK. He has joined BioAscent to head up the computational chemistry team, working closely with the medicinal chemistry and biosciences groups to apply the computational methodologies required to drive successful drug discovery projects for our customers.

Dr Duncan McArthur has been recruited as Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry. He brings over 18 years' experience working across the pharmaceutical and not-for-profit sectors. He has broad scientific expertise in oncology and other therapeutic areas, working in both lead finding and lead optimisation project teams. Dr McArthur is an expert in fragment-based hit finding strategies and developing HTS campaigns.

Paul Smith, CEO at BioAscent says:

"Access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities is one aspect that sets us apart, however it's the calibre of our scientific team that's the real basis of our success. This is why we've moved to appoint senior scientists with the expertise of Angelo and Duncan. They join our team of over 50, dedicated to delivering successful drug discovery projects efficiently and cost-effectively for our clients."

Get in touch to find out how BioAscent can help you with your drug discovery project.