Imperial launch digital chemistry Institute

New initiative aims to 'transform' approach to chemistry.

Imperial College London, UK, has launched a new Institute for Digital Molecular Design and Fabrication.

Using automated and data-driven approaches, the Institute (known as DigiFAB), aims to accelerate the development of new chemicals and materials important for areas including agriculture, new energy systems, sustainability, and health, including new drugs.

In recent decades, few new classes of antibiotics have been discovered, and at the same time there has been a huge rise in antibiotic resistance.

Director of DigiFAB, Professor Yaliraki explains, ‘Discovering and developing chemicals with desired properties, whether these are medicinal, materials, or other chemicals, is a very slow and expensive process. For example, for a drug to go from discovery to market, it usually takes more than a decade and US$1bln. If anything, the past year has brought to the fore that we can no longer accept such timescales.’

You can watch the virtual launch of the Institute here.