Drug Discovery & Development and Health Sciences

It's a brave new world. Biologists are talking to computer scientists, who are partnering with geneticists. Medical device engineers are collaborating with materials scientists. At SRI, which has long been at the forefront of interdisciplinary R&D, we're really talking.

SRI researchers are addressing critical health issues for our government and commercial clients through a wide range of research projects and development services. Our Biosciences Division, for example, assists clients at all stages of drug discovery and development to move new drug compounds through preclinical development. SRI's Center for Health Sciences is studying aging, addiction, and other critical health risk factors. In medical product development, we are catapulting new devices into commercialization. SRI is also a key player in the emerging field of computational biology.

Biosciences

SRI's Biosciences Division is a unique organization of approximately 200 people, with all of the resources necessary to take chemical and biological research programs from "idea to IND"™ -- from initial discoveries to investigational new drug applications to start human clinical trials. The Biosciences Division performs basic research on disease mechanisms like an academic institution; drug discovery and the development of biologics like a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company; and full-service nonclinical contract research and development like a CRO (contract research organization).  

To date, SRI has developed nine drugs internally that have entered clinical trials, with several more currently undergoing preclinical evaluation. Marketed examples of these drugs include Targretin® (bexarotene) and Halfan® (halofantrine). Additionally, working with government and industry partners, SRI has helped advance more than 100 drugs into clinical trials, and more than 30 drugs onto the market. Through collaborations with other divisions at SRI, Biosciences is also working at the interfaces of science to create technical platforms for the next generation of drug discovery and development in areas such as drug delivery, diagnostics, medical devices, and systems biology.

Center for Health Sciences

The Center for Health Sciences applies a multidisciplinary approach to complex issues at the interface of the basic sciences, clinical medicine, health care economics, and the regulatory and legal environments. The group conducts projects in a wide range of areas, including research to understand the basis and treatment of tobacco addiction, as well as studies in neuroscience, genetics, behavioral pharmacology, human sleep and aging. The Center also emphasizes the dissemination of information to researchers and practitioners. The Center's goal is to understand the factors that contribute to disease and illness, so that more effective treatments and prevention efforts can be developed.

Medical product development

To succeed, medical device companies need a much wider spectrum of talents than most can afford to maintain in-house. SRI has an amazing array of experts from which just the right team can be assembled to meet specific project needs. Our medical product development teams have worked on biosensors, ultrasonic scanners, blood pressure instruments, blood and tissue sampling devices, insulin delivery systems, digital X-ray systems, MRI, and more.

Computational biology

Acceleration of biological discovery can profoundly affect our ability to combat disease, cancer, hunger, and problems associated with aging. Bioinformatics and other new tools at the intersection of computing and biology are creating new collaborative opportunities for research. SRI is a key player in this important and growing area. As lead integrator for the revolutionary DARPA-funded BioSPICE program, SRI is providing an open-source environment that biologists can extend, modify, and control based on their individual needs. SRI also curates the BioCyc collection of pathway/genome databases, and the associated Pathway Tools software for pathway analysis of genomes. Pathway Logic, our approach to modeling biological entities and processes based on a simple but powerful logic, is being used to develop a new science of symbolic systems biology.