ACS AMA: We are Mat Todd and Alice E. Williamson, respectively founder and principal synthetic organic chemist for the Open Source Malaria (OSM) Consortium. Ask us anything about open source drug discovery, OSM’s recent paper and malaria medicines!

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Hello Reddit!

We work at The University of Sydney in Australia, and we’re the core of a worldwide research consortium called Open Source Malaria (OSM) – we’re trying to find a new antimalarial medicine with a new completely open model for drug discovery inspired by how open source software is made. All the data and ideas are shared online in real time, anyone may participate and there will not be any patents – OSM just published its first paper in ACS Central Science (there’s also an explainer and a backstory blog post - here and here).

We are currently working on a potent class of antimalarials thought to target an ion pump in the malaria parasite. Matt teaches organic chemistry, and Alice has a particular interest in open undergraduate laboratory courses where students can crowdsource real research projects. In addition, Alice hosts a weekly science segment on FBi radio in Sydney and enjoys communicating science to the public.

We can’t wait to read and answer your questions about open drug discovery.

We'll be back at 4 pm EST (1 pm PST, 9 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask us anything!

">ACS AMA: We are Mat Todd and Alice E. Williamson, respectively founder and principal synthetic organic chemist for the Open Source Malaria (OSM) Consortium. Ask us anything about open source drug discovery, OSM’s recent paper and malaria medicines!