About
The Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry (PPGFQM) commemorated in 2019 its forty-fifth anniversary. Initially nominated Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutic, it was restructured in 2008 with the aim of modernizing and uniting two fundamental subjects for the drug discovery & development (DDD) processes, namely Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry. PPGFQM is the first graduate program in Latin America adopting these interdisciplinary approaches and objectives, which contributes to the formation of qualified human resources for the discovery of new drugs and medicines in the university, trying to overcome Brazil’s technological dependency on foreign drugs and medicines. Research developed in the scope of PPGFQM has a range of action fronts: identification and validation of new targets, studies on mechanisms of action, drug design, hit-to-lead optimization, and even preclinical studies. All these are necessary steps towards knowledge, which, at this level, could only be achieved through continuous collaboration among researchers working both in academia or in pharmaceutical industries.
In this scenario, the 2nd International Symposium on Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry was proposed not only as a way of commemorating the Program’s 45-year-old scientific legacy, but also as a way of outlining new strategic scientific partnerships and of diagnosing what the challenges to be faced passed ten years since its restructuration.
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Organization
Prof. Lídia Moreira Lima, Ph.D.