Winter School on Computer Aided Drug Design: Hands-On Workshop at UIPS, PU 
CHANDIGARH: January 25, 2013: A Winter School on the theme “Computer Aided Drug Design: 
Hands-On Workshop” is being organised from 28th January to 9th February 2013 at 
University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS), Panjab University for the 
Pharmaceutical professionals drawn across the country under the initiative of UGC 
Networking programme and co-ordinatorship of Professor Manoj Kumar. Professor K. K. 
Bhutani, Director NIPER, Mohali will be the Chief Guest on the occasion and will deliver 
the Key Note Lecture on ‘Predictivity for Druggable Properties in Drug Discovery and 
Development Ventures’. The school will commence on Monday, 28th January at 9:30 am in 
ICSSR Seminar Hall of Panjab University Campus. UIPS is the first and the only Pharmacy 
Institute in the country selected by MHRD for creating UGC Networking Resource Centre to 
promote research in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Computer Aided Drug Design 
became an invaluable tool for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery applications since 
it often dramatically reduces the overall cost of drug discovery and accelerates the 
design of newer leads for the life threatening diseases like cancer, AIDs, tuberculosis, 
diabetes etc. The aim of the course is to make the participants familiar with a variety 
of computational methods used in the area of rational drug discovery and intensive hands 
on training would be imparted during the course using various  available software”, said 
the Coordinator Prof. Manoj Kumar. 
Eminent speakers with expertise in diverse disciplines of Computer Aided Drug Design 
together with the in-house faculty of UIPS will train the participants from all over the 
country. Resource persons from various academic institutions like Sinhgad Institute of 
Pharmacy, Pune; Bombay College of Pharmacy, Mumbai; Punjabi University, Patiala; MSU, 
Baroda; MDU, Rohtak; NIPER Mohali, IMTECH will deliberate upon various methodologies 
involved in computer aided drug design. These include ‘New generation molecular 
descriptors for accelerating drug discovery process’, ‘Exploring QSAR for lead 
optimization’, ‘Virtual library generation and screening’, ‘Ligand and Structure Based 
Drug Design for TACE Inhibitors’, ‘Mathematical methods used in QSAR analysis-MLR, PLS 
and PCA’ etc. Hands-on training on tools used in CADD will also be imparted to the 
participants. 
A visit to NIPER, Mohali for exposure of participants to National centre for 
Pharmacoinformatics is also scheduled during the school. Valedictory programme has been 
scheduled on February 9th, 2013.   
Press Release No-31                         MMK