New Drugs for Neglected Diseases

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions in 149 countries and affect more than one billion people, costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. They mainly affect populations living in poverty, without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infectious vectors and domestic animals and livestock.

Quantitative structure–activity relationship models (QSAR models) are regression or classification models used in the chemical and biological sciences and engineering. Like other regression models, QSAR regression models relate a set of "predictor" variables (X) to the potency of the response variable (Y), while classification QSAR models relate the predictor variables to a categorical value of the response variable.

QSAR can be used to plan new drugs to be used against NTDs. In order to do so it is pivotal to have minimum computational resources. Science funding in Brazil is precarious and Big Pharma are not very interested in spending billions on drugs for the poor. The objective of this funding is to obtain a couple of computers to process LQTA-QSAR methodology created by the authors of this GoGetFunding page (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19422246). If you have spare computers with good processing power or funds to enable their acquisition it would be of great help.