Without doubt, most of the literature about the protein interactions of interest in drug discovery is dispersed among scientific journals. Integrating that information is one of the goals of OSDD, the open source drug discovery project being conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The project is attempting to create a more efficient means of discovery for tuberculosis drugs.
The council last week announced a partnership with software giant Infosys Technologies to help OSDD develop a gene map for mycobacterium tuberculosis. The idea is to develop an Internet-based Google Earth type gene map of the bug.
OSDD's objective is to systematically arrange information on each of the bug's genes and make the information publicly accessible in an easily searchable format via the Internet. The hope is that the map will increase the chances of researchers finding more likely drug targets than traditional means allow, and finding them more quickly and cheaper than before.
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