Optibrium, a developer of software for drug discovery, has announced the appointment of Dr Rae Lawrence as director of software development. Rae will focus on accelerating the development of Optibrium’s range of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and in silico drug discovery platform.
Rae joins Optibrium from Cancer Research UK where she was Head of informatics and modelling at its Manchester Institute. She has considerable experience in software solutions development and computer-aided drug discovery gained in technical and commercial management roles at Chemical Computing Group (CCG), Advanced Chemistry Development (ACD/Labs) and Cresset.
Dr Rae Lawrence, Director of Software Development at Optibrium, said: ‘I am a long-time admirer of Optibrium and thrilled by the potential of their ground-breaking artificial intelligence technologies. I would have loved to have had access to AI technology like Cerella in my previous roles, and I am excited by the wealth of next-generation technologies Optibrium has in its pipeline. I look forward to making them available to former colleagues, collaborators and customers.’
Rae has a background in theoretical chemistry, gaining her PhD in this discipline from the University of Missouri. In her role at Optibrium, Rae will apply a combination of software project management and drug discovery expertise to ensure Optibrium’s continued focus on intuitive, elegant software products tailored to the industry’s critical needs, across an expanding product portfolio.
Currently, more than 150 organisations worldwide deploy the Company’s technology in their research programs, including five of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies. Optibrium’s lead products are StarDrop and Cerella, part of its Augmented Chemistry AI technology platform. StarDrop is a comprehensive suite of integrated software for small molecule design, optimisation, and data analysis that enhances the drug discovery process’s speed and productivity. The Cerella platform delivers sophisticated and proven AI technology that learns from complex drug discovery data to target high-potential chemical compounds.
Edmund Champness, CSO at Optibrium, said: ‘We are excited to welcome Rae to our senior management team and to gain such a seasoned executive to guide our fast-growing team of developers. Having doubled our development resources in recent years, Rae’s leadership will be invaluable as we continue delivering a rapidly growing portfolio of industry-leading solutions for the benefit of our global customer base.’
