Manipal: Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, and Schrödinger, LLC, New York, USA, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up a ‘Centre of Excellence in Molecular Simulation’ at Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Manipal.

MAHE Vice Chancellor Dr H Vinod Bhat and Schrödinger vice president Raghu Rangaswamy signed the MoU, and inaugurated the centre.

Executive vice pPresident and Managing Director Schrödinger GmbH Dr Jörg Weiser was unable to attend the event, so a recorded video message from ‘hi’ was played before the MoU was signed.

Dr Weiser in his message said, “We are very pleased to establish a ‘Centre of Excellence at Manipal Academy of Higher Education’. By working together, we hope to uplift Manipal’s scientific research activities, and to train a new generation of researchers on the most advanced molecular simulations.”

After inaugurating the Centre Dr Bhat said, “The MoU with Schrodinger and the establishment of the Centre of Excellence would further strengthen MAHE’s research capabilities to improve the quality of the research output.”

The centre is named ‘Manipal – Schrödinger Centre for Molecular Simulations’. This is the first such MoU being signed by Schrödinger, LLC with a University in India.

The objective is to provide guidance and training to the scientists of MAHE in the University’s efforts towards becoming a pioneer in the field of molecular simulations.

The centre also aims to develop New Chemical Entities (NCEs) for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer’s and take them to clinical trials in the next five years.

Besides, the centre will provide opportunities for faculty members, research scholars and postgraduate students to get trained in the area of molecular simulations through workshops and seminars.