Life Sciences Institute Profile: Dr Darren Fayne
Dr Darren Fayne, DCU School of Chemical Sciences
“Our goal is to identify a molecule with real promise, possibly even a single molecule that can block multiple disease-related proteins at once, and then collaborate with chemists, biologists and toxicologists to move it toward something that could eventually help patients.”
'My research uses computation to help identify the design of potential new drugs. I focus on figuring out how potential drugs could interact with proteins.
'Think of proteins as tiny machines running the body. We have around 20,000 of them, and normally they work fine. But disease can show up when one or more of these machines stop working properly.
'Drug design is about finding a small molecule that fits into a faulty protein like a key into a lock, either to switch the protein back on or, more often, to block it.
'There are trillions of possible "keys," and, as another layer of complexity, proteins aren't static, they constantly shift shape. That means testing each potential key physically against a protein to see if it held promise as a new drug would take decades.
'To speed things up, we use computers to predict which molecules are likely to fit a given protein's shape and charge. This narrows an impossible search down to a manageable shortlist of molecules that are worth actually making and testing.
'Developing and running the computer models involves a lot of organisation and finding computing resources to be able to manage the simulations. But it keeps me motivated to see students develop the skills to run their own calculations and interpret real results. There's also the thrill of being the first person ever to find that a particular compound blocks a particular protein.
'Our goal is to identify a molecule with real promise, possibly even a single molecule that can block multiple disease-related proteins at once, and then collaborate with chemists, biologists and toxicologists to move it toward something that could eventually help patients. Some of the areas we are working in include lung disease, COVID-19 and various cancers.
'My interest in this area started with a love of chemistry at school, long before any career plan existed. That interest carried into an applied chemistry degree at DCU, where I got a placement year in a research lab in the University of Amsterdam.
'Working alongside PhD students and postdocs, it was clear to me that a PhD was my next step. I did that in DCU and combined wet-lab organic chemistry with computational modelling. Then I spent two years at a pharmaceutical company in Germany learning how chemists, biologists and toxicologists all work together before a drug ever reaches a patient. More recently I was a senior researcher at Trinity College Dublin before returning to DCU in January 2024.
'You really need an ecosystem to design a new drug and bring it to the clinic. Being part of DCU Life Sciences Institute connects me and my research with other experts such as biologists and chemists and toxicologists who can enrich it and make it more impactful.
'My part is to look for small molecules that fit with a protein in a way that can hopefully treat that disease in the future, and engaging with people from other disciplines gives that molecule more of a chance of making it through the testing process and having an impact on patients.
'Without funding, none of this could happen, so I would also like to thank Research Ireland, DTIF, Enterprise Ireland, RSC and DCU funding initiatives with Notre Dame and Rutgers–New Brunswick for supporting my group’s work.'