CGL participates in the GENIUS PHARMA project, an initiative funded by the CENIT Programme

The Chemogenomics Laboratory (CGL) of the Research Unit on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB - IMIM/UPF) will participate in the CENIT Program, an initiative of the Spanish government to promote public and private cooperation in R&D.

CGL, leaded by Dr. Jordi Mestres, will benefit from the CENIT Program participating in the GENIUS PHARMA project, aiming at developing common technological platforms and protocols to identify new safer drugs.

Specifically, the Chemogenomics Laboratory will dedicate its efforts to applying its biochemoinformatics tools in the identification of new chemical entities acting on therapeutically relevant biological targets for pain and obesity.

The GENIUS PHARMA project is one of the 16 projects approved by the CENIT Program. In the framework of the Spanish government initiative INGENIO 2010, this program wants to promote the collaboration between the public and private sectors to develop new products, processes or services in different key areas such as biomedicine, energy, transports, or security.

The Spanish government will finance the CENIT Program with 200 million Euros, with the private sector complementing this initiative with an additional 230 million Euros. More than 175 companies and more than 200 research groups will benefit from the CENIT Program in the four-year period between 2006 and 2009. The total funding for the GENIUS PHARMA project reaches 34 million Euros.