SBIR Phase I: OpenBio Workbench for Sharing of Mathematical Models in Drug Discovery

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will test the feasibility of a software platform called OpenBio Workbench that will enable researchers in drug discovery to easily access and share mathematical models and model results. Modeling is becoming increasingly important, motivated by the FDA's drive to modernize the drug discovery process and the advent of emerging fields such as Systems Biology. A broad adoption of modeling has been limited, however, because the current practice requires programming and computational skills not typically possessed by researchers in biological sciences. As a result these researchers, who hold the vast biological information needed to make models and would immensely benefit from the insight gained from modeling studies, rarely participate in modeling studies. This project will address this limitation by developing a novel code-generation technology that will transform models from diverse heterogeneous sources into a Web-enabled GUI-driven form that can be readily used without the required modeling skills. The commercial value of this workbench is significant as the pharmaceutical industry is investing in mathematical modeling and Systems Biology aiming to overcome both the sky-rocketing costs of drug development and the stagnation in the discovery of new drugs since the 1990's. The market for Systems Biology products and services is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 66% exceeding $1 billion by 2009. Further, aging populations in developed countries are going to cause sharp increases in health care costs, while at the same time there are serious budgetary pressures (both from government and private insurers) to keep health care costs under control. Thus, methods that speed up the research cycle and reduce development costs for new drugs and treatments are going to become increasingly important.