Harnessing polypharmacology in precision oncology

The discovery of better drugs is crucial to improving the treatment of disease. Currently, drugs are designed to inhibit a single protein believed to be responsible for a given disease. However, recent research has started to question our understanding of drug action by revealing that drugs often bind to more than one protein, a behaviour called polypharmacology. In clinical trials of new drugs some patients have an exceptional response to a given drug or show side-effects that we cannot currently explain. It is essential that we gain a better understanding of how drugs work to make the most of them and benefit the largest number of patients.

My research will use computational methods to analyse clinical, biological and chemical data in order to better understand drug efficacy and safety. I will analyse biological data to identify which new patients could benefit from treatment with currently available drugs based on the polypharmacology I have discovered.

This new approach offers an unprecedented and timely opportunity to better understand how drugs work and will enable us to make the most of the drugs we currently have to improve human health.