New Role to help Drive AI and Cheminformatics

Drug discovery software solutions provider Optibrium has announced Dr Rae Lawrence as Director of Software Development to focus on accelerating its artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and in silico drug discovery platform, maintaining operational excellence across a rapidly expanding team. The position was created through portfolio success and the recent backing by Kester Capital.

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. Rae has a background in theoretical chemistry, gaining her PhD in this discipline from the University of Missouri. 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.”

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.”