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September 28, 2007 > News > Welch Foundation donates $1.6 million for drug research

Welch Foundation donates $1.6 million for drug research

By Sarah Rutledge | Thresher Editorial Staff

The Welch Foundation donated $1.6 million to the University of Texas Medical Branch this August for research on drug discovery. The donation made on behalf of the Dunn Gulf Coast Consortium for Chemical Genomics could lead to increased collaboration with Texas Medical Center in the future, Dean of Natural Sciences Kathleen Matthews said.

This donation was awarded to the GCC for its collaborative research efforts of the past seven years, Matthews said.

Since the Welch Foundation’s donation was made to the GCC as a whole, Rice will work in tandem with researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Houston.

The GCC has several branches devoted to different areas of research, among them magnetic resonance and computational chemistry, the primary interest of the Welch Foundation, Matthews said. The donation will bring together computational chemists, synthetic chemists and biologists in medical research.

Matthews said this donation will promote a specific brand of drug research concerned with computational chemistry and reactions. The GCC’s current research uses screening techniques to track how small molecules and small RNA interfere with various cell processes. It tests different compounds and whether they enhance or impede cell pathways. Viewing these interactions enables researchers to better predict drug interactions, Matthews said.

“It would be related to drug discovery in terms of finding compounds that would be useful in certain kinds of diseases,” she said.

Current research at Rice involves the observation of small molecules and biological processes and protein interaction, so this research is similar to the GCC’s project, Matthews said. This may lead to further collaborative research ventures, she said.

“I think in terms of results we just have to see what emerges from the projects,” Matthews said. “There are people in different pockets of Rice interested in this, but this work is undertaken in the larger context of collaboration with the medical center.”

Martel College senior Alexandra Bacalao said the possibility of collaborative research will allow Rice access to more resources.

“I think it’s a really great opportunity if the money is used wisely,” Bacalao said. “[The Texas Medical Center] is an epicenter of drug research in the world, and lots of really important work is going on here. Hopefully undergrads who are interested in research can get involved, too.”

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