Medicinal Chemistry Research Laboratory

     PeQuiM®, Laboratory of Research in Medicinal Chemistry, was founded on September 21, 2015, housing a research group established at the Institute of Chemistry of the Federal University of Alfenas since August 2006.
Since its creation in 2006, the research group has been dedicated to research in Medicinal Chemistry, exploring the rational design of new drug prototype candidates, as well as their synthetic obtainment and pharmacological evaluation in in vitro and in vivo models. The main focuses of interest for PeQuiM® are neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases), analgesia, inflammation, cancer, mental illnesses, neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis, and more recently antiviral compounds, especially anti-COVID-19.
     The research projects are based on the most modern concepts that guide the search for new bioactive chemical entities, emphasizing the use of molecular hybridization, molecular simplification and bioisosterism as design tools and structural optimization. Computational chemistry is used as an accessory tool in the planning of bioactive ligands, as well as in the understanding of their molecular interactions with target biomacromolecules, in addition to the biological evaluation and as a pharmacodynamic profile optimization strategy. More recently, aligned with the recent paradigm of multi-target directed ligands (MTDLs – Multi-Target Directed Ligands), several projects have sought to discover rationally designed synthetic molecules capable of exerting their biological properties as a result of the concomitant interaction with multiple molecular targets, in an innovative therapeutic strategy for multifactorial diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, among others.
     In this more than 15-years period of existence, the Research group, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Claudio Viegas Jr., have been dedicated to training qualified human resources in the field of Medicinal Chemistry and Synthetic  Organic Chemistry, establishing a wide network of scientific collaborations in several Research Institutions in Brazil, such as UFRJ, UFRRJ, UFBA, UFMG, UNICAMP, UFU, USP-RP, FIOCRUZ, UnB, UNESP, UFAL, and abroad, with Universities housed in Bologna (Italy), Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Porto (Portugal), Adelaide (Australia) and Czech Republic.