EuroQSAR 2024: State of the art Drug Discovery back at home – a blogpost by ESR14 David Sotillo Núñez

​Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to return not only to Barcelona but more specifically my hometown neighbourhood, where I attended the EuroQSAR 2024 conference.

The event covered a wide range of topics within the Drug Discovery field, including advancements in AI and machine learning for QSAR modelling, 3D-QSAR techniques, molecular dynamics simulations, and cheminformatics integration. The conference also explored emerging technologies like multi-omics integration, ligand-based virtual screening, and the ethical implications of AI in drug discovery, alongside workshops and discussions on practical applications, data transparency, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

During that week, I had the opportunity to present my research to my peers in a poster session, where I received very interesting feedback from colleagues and members of my former research group who were also attending the event.
Of course, no conference would be complete without a gala dinner, and we were taken all the way up to Tibidabo mountain, to the Observatori Fabra.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with the best possible view of Barcelona, followed by a guided visit to the observatory. To culminate the night, we had the chance to observe Saturn through the 120-year-old telescope and take in a 360-degree view of the city as we walked around the dome.
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I felt extremely lucky to be back home and enjoy my city while also enjoying the best science.