
The freedom of academic research
We get projects requiring high-throughput screening of small molecules from a wide variety of areas. This reflects the eclectic nature of projects that the team has been working on. While cancer-related projects still represent about 40% of the unit’s work-load, some projects relates to inflammation, neurodegeneration, metabolic disease, and other areas.
This is typical of an academic environment, where free and unencumbered thinking allows scientists to tackle interesting basic research questions underlying disease mechanisms. Such research would be prohibitive in a biotech or Pharma environment, which has more constrained goals related to marketing and production. This is one reason Pharma turns to academia for fresh ideas in areas of unmet medical need.