Interview for “Looking to gain time” initiative

From research to drug: it’s a matter of chemistry

LDS President Maurizio Botta and Anna Laura Brai, LDS Chemist, gave a short interview as part of “Looking to gain time” initiative by Toscana Life Sciences (TLS). The initiative intends to tell the stories about scientific research and innovation from the companies currently hosted in TLS.

During the interview, Maurizio Botta tells how the idea about LDS was born, its origin as a small University spin off in 2012 and how it now represents a successful institution involved in the discovery and development of new molecules of pharmaceutical interest. Anna Laura Brai explains then the researcher’s job in the company, from the first phase of identification of the target protein most indicated for the development of drugs, until drug synthesis and bio-distribution tests.

LDS is incubated in TLS since 2016. TLS is a non-profit organization active throughout the region in supporting research activities and promoting the creation of innovative companies in the Life Sciences field. Founded at the instigation of Tuscany’s principal university, clinical, industrial and financial institutions, the Foundation is based in Siena, in the historical “Torre Fiorentina” area, where Achille Sclavo founded the eponymous Istituto Sieroterapico e Vaccinogeno Toscano in 1904, and where important multinational vaccine companies now strategically choose to locate their primary research and development activities. An environment of excellence that is part of a regional panorama in which the Life Sciences play a strategic role.