Open Philanthropy recommended a grant of $1,500,000 over five years to Purdue University to support research led by Dr. Douglas Brubaker on developing a computational model to translate preclinical data in mouse disease models to humans. It is not uncommon that preclinical data from mice fail to translate to similar preclinical results in humans, limiting the applicability of mouse data to human medicine.{footnote_1} Dr. Brubaker intends to use this funding to develop a computational model that uses mouse data from an Alzheimer’s disease study conducted by Washington University to attempt to predict the study’s human trial outcomes.{footnote_2} Open Philanthropy’s scientific research team believes that Dr. Brubaker’s computational model, if successful, could improve drug discovery and reduce reliance on mouse experiments.
This falls within Open Philanthropy’s work on scientific research, specifically within its interest in advancing tools and techniques.