Graduate School for Drug Exploration Participants Research groups of the Graduate School for Pharmacy (GUIDE/GRIP) of the University of Groningen, and of the University Medical Centre Groningen (GUIDE/UMCG). Mission The mission of GUIDE is to promote innovative drug research. This is done by combining in-depth studies into the pathophysiology of (chronic) disease with advanced knowledge on how to develop new drugs. Besides, GUIDE offers a full-fledged educational programme for young researchers, to prepare them for their research tasks Research Strategy Within the research programs translational research is carried out, in which patient-oriented research leads to new pathophysiological concepts (from bed to bench). In a reverse manner, newly obtained insights into the pathophysiology of disease are translated into new treatment options (from bench to bed). The basic philosophy of GUIDE starts from the idea that new concepts for treatment of disease are most fruitfully initiated and explored by combining knowledge concerning the pathophysiology of a collection of related diseases with knowledge concerning drugs. In line with this, the strategy of GUIDE/UMCG is to facilitate cooperation between clinical and preclinical researchers in the Faculty of Medical Sciences (organised in GUIDE/UMCG) with pharmaceutical and biomedical researchers within the Pharmacy Department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (organised in GUIDE/GRIP) within the context of its mission. This is a unique approach in The Netherlands. In line with its focus, GUIDE pursues three general lines of research: i) the study of the pathophysiology of a number of selected diseases to discover new targets for (drug) therapy (6 disease oriented programs), ii) the development of novel medicines (3 expertise oriented programs), iii) epidemiological evaluation of medicines and their use (1 program). Research Area GUIDE/UMCG contains and bridges two sub-areas, i.e. patient-oriented and biomedical research. This allows a multi-disciplinary approach of a selected number of disease-related research questions. Patient-oriented research is done within the research groups embedded in the clinical disciplinary departments, whereas biomedical research is done both in the clinical and the so-called preclinical departments. Through the cooperation with GUIDE/GRIP this is further supplemented with pharmaceutical research and know-how. Diseases that are studied are primarily complex, multifactorial diseases that are often characterised by a chronic course of illness. The selected diseases are in the area of kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, liver & metabolic disease, asthma & COPD, transplant dysfunction, autoimmunity, infection and cancer. GUIDE has also a strong tradition in research directed at cell- or tissue-specific delivery of medicines. Carrier systems are synthetic amphiphiles, liposomes, virosomes or antibody derived recombinant proteins. The synthesis, analysis, production, and formulation of both chemically and biologically produced medicines are done mainly at GUIDE/GRIP. Legislation with respect to the production and evaluation of new medicines asks for the establishment of adequate facilities (GMP/GCP). Post-marketing studies on new medicines and medication are carried out through epidemiological evaluation. This is done in cooperation with Graduate School SHARE (Graduate School for Health Research). Key words Inflammation, transplantation, cardiovascular diseases, liver-, gastro-intestinal and metabolic diseases, asthma/COPD, renal diseases, cancer, drug targeting, drug delivery, pharmaceutical technology, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmaceutical biology, medicinal chemistry, receptor pharmacology, bioanalysis and toxicology, pharmacoepidemiology, drug policy. Research capacity Scientific staff: 72 fte (full time equivalent); Post-docs: 50 Ph.D. students: 250;. Research budget approx. M€ 25 (approx. 8% supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and 52% by third parties). Research directorate prof.dr. H Moshage - director prof.dr. B.H.C. Westerink – deputy director Address Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen; Postbus 196, 9700 AD Groningen tel: +31 (0)50 363 3163/4167 fax: +31 (0)50 363 2612 internet: www.rug.nl/guide