In an attempt to provide a deeper understanding about different methods in computational drug discovery, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management - Kerala (IIITM-K) would organise a four-day national workshop on 'Computational Chemistry and Chemoinformatics Approaches in Modern Drug Discovery' at IIITM-K, Nila Building, Technopark, Trivandrum, Kerala from March 18, 2009.

"Drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed. Computational chemistry and chemoinformatics approaches are found to be very effective tools in modern drug discovery. The workshop is planned to give a deeper understanding about different methods in computational drug discovery," said the organisers of the event.

The sessions of the workshop would be handled by Dr K A Prince Xavier and Dr T K Manojkumar, who have Ph. D. in Computational Chemistry and good experience in the applications of different computational techniques in computational biology and drug discovery.

The workshop would cover topics like force field and molecular mechanics, chemoinformatics: drug databases, tools to accelerate hit and lead identification, target identification and validation, preparation of protein targets and molecular docking and protein ligand docking.

"Faculty, students and teachers from educational institutions and professionals from industry are welcome to attend the workshop. The number of seats is limited to 40," apprised the organisers.