MSD partners with Queen Mary to develop the next generation of biological scientists in AI
?LONDON, JANUARY 2022, MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (NYSE: MRK)) is proud to be partnering with Queen Mary University of London, alongside Exscientia and Heptares Therapeutics, as part of an exciting doctoral training programme offered through Queen Mary’s new?Digital Environment Research Institute (DERI).
Artificial Intelligence is at the heart of the programme, which is designed to train a new cohort of scientific PhD level researchers to apply innovative AI insights to the discovery and development of new drugs.
This programme is part of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)’s Collaborative Training Partnerships (CTPs) scheme.?In total 21 researchers will be recruited on to the programme over 3 years.
The announcement of this CTP follows the publication of the Government’s national AI strategy, which recognises the power of AI to increase resilience, productivity, growth and innovation across the private and public sectors.
MSD is delighted to be able to offer industry-specific supervision to the students, to complement the academic support provided at Queen Mary. This will enable students to develop their expertise in AI, with a specific focus on drug discovery, whilst also enhancing their transferrable skills through an industry lens.
Conrad Bessant, Professor of Bioinformatics at Queen Mary University of London and Academic Principal Investigator for the new programme, said: “AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery, but progress depends on the ability to develop researchers with both a strong grounding in molecular bioscience as well as experience in data science and AI. We’re delighted to partner with MSD in the AI for Drug Discovery Collaborative Training Partnership that will train the next generation of interdisciplinary PhD researchers and play an important role in building the UK’s capacity in AI-based drug discovery bioscience.”
Victor Neduva, Senior Director, Genome and Biomarker Sciences at MSD’ said: “We are immensely proud to be participating in this industry-academia partnership to develop the next generation of AI scientists. The quality and combination of industry and academic support, as well as the expertise available to the students will make for a rich and unique programme that is sure to develop some talented researchers that will hopefully help to tackle the ongoing challenges in the drug discovery process. We can’t wait to meet the first cohort!”
For more details on the programme and details of how to apply, visit: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/deri/ukri-aidd-doctoral-training-programme/?
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About MSD
For more than 125 years, MSD has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives. ?MSD is a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc., with headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A. We demonstrate our commitment to patients and population health by increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, MSD continues to be at the forefront of research to prevent and treat diseases that threaten people and animals – including cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola, and emerging animal diseases – as we aspire to be the premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company in the world. For more information, visit www.msd-uk.com and connect with us @MSDintheUK on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook.
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