Can computer algorithms divine Ebola treatments?

The Ebola crisis in West Africa has turned the spotlight back on drug development research organisations, who are responding to the rallying cry in different ways. One firm says it is bringing a new approach to the table: computer algorithms.

US-based research group Intellimedix is turning away from what it terms ‘classical methods’ of drug development, saying that they involve performing too many experiments for a relatively low return on outcome – especially when time is critical.

Instead, the firm has proposed using computer algorithm technology to expedite the process; the claim is that new algorithms may be able to determine targets within the cell and then identify compounds that act on those targets.

In theory, the algorithms could give scientists a vision of what is happening inside the Ebola-infected cell, possibly leading to new methods of finding experimental treatments. The research team behind Intellimedix claim to have “a technology capable of computationally screening compounds for potential inhibitory activity against the Ebola virus.” If so, it says that this methodology can be used to suggest drugs that may directly act on the Ebola proteins or on the human proteins needed by the virus in order to reproduce.

The project is being undertaken in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Skolnick at Georgia Tech, along with Intellimedix.