The University of Washington School of Pharmacy has expanded its longstanding partnership with Janssen Research and Development (a Johnson & Johnson company) through a focused collaboration within the School’s Institute for Innovations in Drug Disposition and Delivery (I2D3). The initiative reflects a shared commitment to strengthening the scientific foundations that enable more predictive, data-driven drug development.
At the center of the collaboration is an effort to design and experimentally evaluate a large number of peptides for cellular permeability. These high-quality measurements will form the basis of a robust dataset used to train artificial intelligence models capable of predicting cell permeability directly from molecular structure—an important determinant of whether potential therapies can move successfully through development.
“Predictive computational models require robust data,” said Rheem Totah, professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs at the UW School of Pharmacy. “By combining rigorous laboratory measurements with advanced computational tools, we can build models that are reliable and more informative in guiding therapeutic peptide design.”
The collaboration builds on years of engagement between J&J and the School through consortia participation and advisory partnerships. That sustained relationship has created a strong foundation of trust and scientific alignment, now extended through I2D3’s focused work in computational therapeutics design. I2D3 will bring together researchers from the School of Pharmacy, UW Medicine adjacent institutions and corporate partners to develop AI-powered models to predict drug safety and efficacy, accelerating the drug development pipeline while reducing development costs and reliance on animals.
Beyond advancing research, the initiative supports the School’s educational mission. Students and postdocs will gain hands-on experience working at the intersection of experimental pharmacology and advanced computational modeling—preparing the next generation of scientists to lead in an increasingly data-driven pharmaceutical landscape.
As I2D3 continues to grow, partnerships such as this underscore a central principle: durable progress in drug development depends on sustained collaborations between academia and industry that are grounded in strong science and shared purpose.