Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

General

Contribution

Participants

History of OSDD

Join OSDD/CRDD

Etc

General

What is CSIR?

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is the premier industrial R&D organization in India. CSIR was constituted in 1942 by a resolution of the then Central Legislative Assembly. It is an autonomous body registered under the Registration of Societies Act of 1860.CSIR aims to provide industrial competitiveness, social welfare, strong S&T base for strategic sectors and advancement of fundamental knowledge. Today CSIR is recognized as one of the world�s largest publicly funded R&D organizations having linkages to academia, R&D organizations and industry� (more)

What is Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD)?

OSDD is a CSIR-led initiative with a vision to provide affordable healthcare to the developing world by providing a global platform where the best minds can collaborate & collectively endeavor to solve the complex problems associated with discovering novel therapies for diseases like Malaria, Tuberculosis, Leshmaniasis, etc. It is a concept to aggregate the biological and genetic data available to scientists in order for them to use it for the discovery of drugs. This will provide an opportunity for scientists, doctors and technocrats with diverse expertise to work for a common cause� (more)

What does Open Source mean?

Open source is a development methodology that harnesses the power of distributed peer-review and transparency of the project. The term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, LINUX OS and more recently, in biology with the Human Genome Sequencing Project (HUGO initiative). Open source is expected to provide better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to close-door activities which increases the drug discovery cost to a great extent� (more)

Is there any significance of the OSDD logo?

Yes. The Logo, the shapes, and the colors have been deliberately used in various arrangements to signify the freedom of expression, radical thinking, youthfulness, controlled chaos and moreover, indicate, how many smaller things can co-create something path-breaking & how collaborative efforts can add far more meaning & provide simple solutions for complex problems.

The Shapes in Blue & Green are simple cut-outs which graphically denote the Letters O, S, D, D (Abbreviation for Open Source Drug Discovery).

1st Shape O � stands for Open � Inspired from India�s contribution to the world O (zero) & the Shape O in itself is endless, indicating mankind�s eternal pursuit for perfection.

2nd Shape S � stands for Source � Inspired by a simplistic view of a drop of water (life) & the Shape is a combination of two shapes (straight & inverted) to signify resourceful collaboration, a melting pot of Ideas.

3rd Shape D � stands for Drug � Inspired by a big stylized bubble & the Shape in itself stands

for an Idea, an answer to a problem, a drug.

4th Shape D � stands for Discovery � Inspired by a bubble for creation and growing of Ideas with a well defined perpendicular corner indicating strong foundation for a growing Idea, a

systematic discovery process.

Colors

� Green & Blue are definitive colors used for indicating Life, Energy & Growth

� Pristine White borders are used to exhibit the sanctity & clarity of purpose

What is Computation Resource for Drug Discovery (CRDD)?

CRDD is the key module of OSDD and is designed with the objective to provide computational resources related to drug discovery on a single platform.

What are the disease targets of OSDD?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a ravaging dreaded disease killing one person in every 1.5 minutes in India. Nearly 2 billion people are infected, i.e., 1 in 3 of global population. 8.9 million new cases have been reported in 2004 of which 80% are from the 22 high-burden countries alone. Global incidence of TB is increasing by 0.6% per annum. (Ref: WHO Global Report, 2006). An estimated 370,000 deaths due to TB occur each year. This amounts to over 1000 deaths a day or 2 deaths every 3 minutes (Gopi P et al (TRC), IJMR, Sep 2005). TB is the leading cause of death from bacterial infection, it is spread person to person, and is a particular threat for nosocomial transmission, with a potentially lethal impact on health care workers. For life-style diseases, pharmaceutical companies actively scout advances in basic research on search of new and potentially lucrative drug targets. For TB, this is not the case. Early stage drug discovery is a key bottleneck in the pipeline to find novel drugs for TB. Thus, development of a TB drug pipeline is essential after decades of lack of attention in this area. The OSDD concept aims to bring in the power of genomics, computational technologies and participation of young and brilliant talent from Universities and Industrial partners with a strong inclination to apply a concerted effort to address this important scourge.

Why is the cost of drug discovery so high?

The market size has been a major driving force in selecting the human disease for new drug discovery programs in major pharmaceutical companies as the discovery and development of a new drug costs approximately between US$ 250-800 million and about 12 yrs. Such companies do not intend to invest money in diseases of the third world. Secondly, the prohibitive cost of IPR protection and maintenance, and confidentiality of drug development which does not allow collective efforts of the best brains of the world at National Laboratories and Academic institutions to work together with industry. A decentralized web based community wide effort, where students, scientists from different laboratories, universities, institutes and corporations could work together for a common cause to bring down the cost of drug discovery by knowledge sharing and collaborations. OSDD aims to discover new chemical entities and to make them generic as soon as they are discovered, thus expediting the process of drug discovery.

Who is funding OSDD/CRDD?

CSIR. OSDD seeks to raise funds from Developmental Agencies and Global Healthcare NGO�s. The funds raised would be used for conducting Quality Control Activities, tests and rewards and scholarships for contributors, etc.

The OSDD movement required strong commitment from sponsors which are both individuals and corporate to contribute significantly as part of their corporate social responsibility. This funding would help encourage the young budding minds and also contribute towards propelling the OSDD movements and making it self-sufficient.

What can be funded?

In-kind donations of databases

Laboratory access

Computing time

Acknowledging the OSDD contributors by way on monetary or in-kind rewards.

Are there other programs of similar nature going on?

The Tropical Disease initiative program initiated by WHO has been very useful in supporting several field projects as well as offering datasets of potential drug targets on a variety of pathogens. This initiative has been a good facilitator for research as well as service projects. The ideas and experiences are openly shared and are available freely without any trade barriers.

What are the types of computational resources integrated in CRDD?

Are there any terms or conditions to access/use resources at OSDD/CRDD?

Contribution

What is a contribution?

An idea, software, an article or a lead molecule that helps in expediting the process of drug discovery will be treated as a contribution. In OSDD, the entire process of drug discovery would be divided into problems open for the entire community to contribute. Each of the solutions to these problems would be peer-reviewed and solving which the contributors would get rewards in form of Credit Points. Also, appropriate prizes will be announced for the best solutions.

Who can contribute?

Universities, academic students, Scientists � Anyone who wants to solve challenging problems in drug discovery.

How can I contribute?

For contributing to OSDD you will need a login followed by acceptance of �terms and conditions�. You may contribute in your area of expertise that may range from in silico target identification to protein purification to clinical trials. Please provide citations, wherever available.

Do I need to register before I can contribute?

Yes. This will help us in tracking your contribution and assigning credit points. Based on the points acquired, you would be rewarded three levels of Membership cards (Platinum, Gold and Silver). Each type of card entails a certain sets of rights and privileges for moderating the challenge.

Can students contribute?

The contributors can be graduate or post-graduate students, Scientists, Researchers, individuals passionate about science or looking to make a difference.

Is monetary contribution possible?

Yes.

Do I need to have special training or expertise in any research area before I may contribute?

The answer is both �yes� and �no�. It is more or less decided by the type of challenge posted and the solution provided. But to ensure maximum participation, software may be contributed in all popular programming languages.

How my contribution is acknowledged or rewarded?

As mentioned above, each of the solutions to the problems would be peer-reviewed and solving which the contributors would get rewards in form of Credit Points. Also, appropriate prizes will be announced for the best solutions. Each activity or a defined problem will have a pre-determined set of points associated to it. Further all probable prospective activity would also be given prior rating in terms of weightage, for example, Lead optimization would have higher weightage (100 points) than Protein expression (30 points). So in case a contributor submits protein expression for three samples, he accrue 90 points as against a contributor who submits lead optimization data (100 points).

Can I contribute my M.Sc or Ph.D thesis or presentations and what are the conditions?

Yes, provided they follow the points mentioned in �terms and conditions�.

Can I work from home?

Yes. You may work from home.

Will I be paid if I offer to contribute?

Yes you will be paid provided your contribution gets positive comments from the reviewers.

How my contribution will be judged/Who will judge my contribution?

As described above, each contribution would be tracked and credited. The contribution may be judged in two ways � By the community and by reviewers.

Will I get a certificate stating my contribution?

Yes, students who contribute to OSDD as a part of their projects may get certificated depending on the contribution.

Can I share or donate my IP to OSDD/CRDD?

Participants:

Who are the people involved in developing OSDD/CRDD?

How many people designed OSDD/CRDD?

Do they belong to a research group?

Who is the administrator of OSDD?