SwRI turbocharges drug discover using mobile phone technology

SwRI has tapped into mobile communications technology to turbocharge its custom Rhodium Drug Development System. Rhodium, SwRI’s proprietary docking simulation program for biostructure-based drug design, has improved its processing capabilities up to four times faster thanks to a new SwRI-designed and optimized “super computer” that uses the same technology found in mobile communications to enable faster streaming.

When designing a new drug, researchers must understand how a drug or series of similar compounds (known as ligands) will bind with, or inhibit, proteins. SwRI’s Rhodium software prescreens the three-dimensional structure of proteins and enzymes, accelerating pharmaceutical and biochemical research prior to drug development. Even with Rhodium’s rapid turnaround time, clients needed even faster processing capabilities.

Mobile technology is designed to be power efficient. Integrating this technology, SwRI designed and optimized a super computer about the size of a filing cabinet. The unit is secured, ensuring client information remains protected.

After undergoing pilot acceptance tests in early 2017, the processing system is now fully activated.

Rhodium can be used to develop and screen a range of drugs from antibiotics to treatments for diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s as well as vaccines. The software also predicts adverse drug reactions and side effects. Recently Rhodium was a topmost performer in a community-wide blind docking challenge for predicting drug potency hosted by the Drug Design Data Resource.