GSK Announces Winners of 2016 Discovery Fast Track Boston Challenge

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GSK has named two academic researchers winners of the 2016 Discovery Fast Track Boston Challenge. The Challenge is sponsored by GSK's Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc) group to provide an opportunity for academic researchers to collaborate with the pharmaceutical company and explore ideas for novel medicines.

For the recent Challenge, regional investigators submitted proposals for screening specific drug targets to treat disease. After a rigorous review process, selected finalists presented their proposals to a panel of experienced drug discovery and therapeutic area experts from GSK.  The winning proposals describe cutting-edge science with the potential to impact disease areas with unmet medical need. The winners will collaborate with GSK scientists and have access to discovery resources, including GSK's proprietary DNA-Encoded Library Technology platform, to pursue further investigation of their winning concepts.

The 2016 Boston Challenge winning investigators are:

• Maria Kontaridis, PhD, Associate Professor, Interim Director of the Basic Cardiovascular Research Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
• Daniel Tenen, MD, Professor, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School; Director of the Blood Program of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute; Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore; and Director, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore

Carolyn Buser-Doepner, Vice President and Worldwide Head of DPAc, said, "We look forward to working closely with our two outstanding winners and effectively marrying the in depth knowledge around target biology within the academic team to the expertise in ELT screening by GSK scientists."

Christine Donahue, Vice President, New Chemical Entity Molecular Discovery, said: "We see this as a terrific opportunity to build on GSK's presence in the Boston area and collaborate with local academic labs to find medicines for patients in need."

About Discovery Partnerships with Academia (DPAc)

Launched by GSK in late 2010, the DPAc initiative harnesses the deep biological and disease expertise of academia and the drug discovery know-how of GSK to form collaborative, integrated teams that can discover new medicines for patients. GSK and the academic partners share the challenges and reward of innovation, with GSK funding activities in the partner laboratories and providing in-kind expertise and resources to progress programs from idea to medicine.

GSK – one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com.

SOURCE GSK

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