Dive Brief:
- The Institute for Cancer Research (UK) has added 3D functionality to its canSAR database, used by 140,000 researchers worldwide.
- The canSAR database launched in 2011 with the goal of leveraging cutting-edge computational biological research. There are 110,000 molecules in the system and researchers can now view the nearly 3 million surface cavities on those molecules in 3D.
- Researchers can now visualize how faulty proteins are structured and better identify how communication pathways in tumor cells.
Dive Insight:
Databases like canSAR help to expedite the drug discovery process while also maximizing output for R&D time. Computational biology helps drive that process by allowing researchers to effectively cull through large amounts of data and identify targets.
Adding 3D functionality to the canSAR database is particularly powerful because of the size of the underlying database, as well as its vast scope.