Research Program

ChemNET trainees will be registered at one of the host institutions and will be expected to complete all departmental requirements for a chemistry degree. ChemNET will augment the institutional training programs by:

  1. Technical and Theoretical Training:
    1. ​Structural and chemical biology “Bootcamp”: This intensive course will provide hands-on and theoretical modules in:
      1. ​protein expression and purification;
      2. chemical screening; and
      3. structure-based drug design
    2. Online Seminars: Advanced Case Studies in Medicinal Chemistry (10 lectures): ChemNET will host a seminar series with a lecture from each of ten different academic and industry mentors. This course will be delivered “live” through a webcast, allowing for interactive Q&A session with the trainees.
       
  2. Interdisciplinary knowledge:

    Industry internships provide trainees the opportunity to work on their collaborative projects at our partner pharmaceutical companies. Participating companies include GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Pfizer. Students will spend 6-12 months in the laboratories of their industry sponsors where they will continue working on their collaborative project. At the companies, they will be embedded within the “epigenetics collaboration team” and examine how university-industry collaborations function from the industry perspective. ChemNET post-doctoral fellows, registered at the University of Toronto, will spend at least 50% of their training period in industry. The project will be selected collaboratively between the University of Toronto and the company.

    At the SGC, the fellows will carry out chemical assays or determining the co-crystal structures of their molecules with their protein targets, and in industry the fellows will design, synthesize and characterize the chemical probes.
     
  3. Professional Development
    ChemNET will ensure that the trainees meet the needs of industry by:
    1. Becoming familiar with “industry standards” during their internships
    2. Completing a course in Project Management. This course will be modeled on existing workshops offered by the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD): Managing drug development projects: http://www.cdrd.ca/trainees
    3. Requiring each trainee to present their results informally at the regular project meetings and at the yearly ChemNET Research Symposium
  4. ​Med Chem Resources
    1. ChemicalProbes.org
    2. Pubmed references
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