Latvijas Organiskas Sintezes Instituts (OSI)
Partner description and expertise
The core competences of OSI are medicinal chemistry and innovative drug discovery with outstanding expertise in molecular modelling, organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry and preclinical drug development for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and CNS disorders. Route scouting in chemical synthesis processes towards various versatile molecules is one of the key know-how areas of the IOS. All activities are strongly supported by the instrumental analytical techniques ranging from structure elucidation methods to quantification of minor amounts of organic compounds in complex matrices.
The quality of OSI research has resulted in discovery of almost 20 original medicines since the establishment of the institute. More than 70 original preparation methods of existing active pharmaceutical ingredients have been developed to suit the needs of pharmaceutical industry.
The researchers of OSI annually publish about 100 papers in peer reviewed journals. The institute has significant expertise in IP protection of research results, and more than 250 patent applications have been filed together with industrial partners within the last 5 years.
OSI is an EU project partner for drug design and medicinal chemistry tasks, organic synthesis, pharmacological studies of metabolic pathways and metabolites, and pharmacokinetics/toxicology of lead compounds.
Role in the BATCure projectÂ
Within the BATCure Consortium, OSI will be responsible for:
1) design and synthesis of compounds targeting pathological pathways, enzymes and other emerging drug targets;
2) medicinal chemistry to improve ADME/tox profile and brain bioavailability of active compounds;
3) pharmacokinetic analysis and development of bioanalytical assays.
Dr. pharm. M. Dambrova, the Head of the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Pharmacology of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis and Associated Professor in Riga Stradins University (Latvia), will coordinate the project activities in the OSI. She will ensure day-to-day management, work planning and monitoring of progress of the deliverables, update timetables, set and revise deadlines, oversee the overall dissemination and exploitation strategy of the project in Latvia, ensure the collaboration between IOS and other partnering organizations. She will be responsible for organizing experiments to obtain PK profiles, brain bioavailability, and in vivo toxicity data in mice for newly designed and synthesized most active compounds.
Dr. chem. V. Kauss, the Head of Laboratory of CNS Active Compounds of OSI, will be responsible for management of project medicinal chemistry group, design and handling of compounds. His responsibilities will include validation of initial hits, assuming chemical transformation to get easy to modify. Dr. Kauss will design and develop structurally diverse scaffolds as well as synthesis approach towards. He will perform lead optimization including multiparameter analysis and design of strategy for lead property optimization. Dr. Kauss responsibilities will also include design and organization of synthesis of small library of compounds, repetition of data analysis and optimization cycles. According to PK data he will optimize pharmacokinetic properties and BBB penetration of hits and leads identified from known drug libraries.
Dr. chem. Solveiga Grinberga, the Heads of the Mass Spectrometry Group in OSI, will be in charge for development of bioanalytical assays for pharmacokinetics, bioavailability and metabolome applications. Her responsibility will be collection and assessment of results, work coordination of analytical group with chemistry and pharmacology experts.
