Yogyakarta, June 25, 2026 — The Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), organized a series of webinars and workshops titled “Digital Transformation: Exploring Bioinformatics and AI in Accelerating Modern Drug Discovery” as part of its efforts to strengthen the understanding and skills of academics and pharmacy practitioners in leveraging digital technologies for drug research and development.
The rapid advancement of digital technology, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence (AI) has brought significant changes to the pharmaceutical sector. The integration of these technologies opens new opportunities in protein target identification, drug repurposing, big data processing, and the acceleration of new drug discovery in a more efficient and precise manner. Through this program, the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy sought to create a learning space that brought together academics, researchers, students, and pharmacy practitioners to both understand and practice the use of cutting-edge technologies in modern pharmaceutical research.
The webinar, attended by lecturers, researchers, students, and pharmacy practitioners, featured three speakers from the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy whose topics complemented one another within the computational drug discovery workflow. Prof. Dr.rer.nat. apt. Adam Hermawan, M.Sc. delivered a presentation on Bioinformatics-Based Identification of Anticancer Protein Targets, highlighting the role of bioinformatics analysis in identifying potential molecular targets for cancer therapy. Dr. apt. Soni Siswanto, M.Biomed. discussed Drug Repurposing Innovation: Accelerating Therapy Discovery through Data Mining, emphasizing the use of data to uncover new therapeutic potential in existing drugs. The third presentation was delivered by Dr. Cintya Nurul Apsari, S.T.P., M.Si., who presented on Database Implementation in the Drug Discovery Workflow, introducing the use of various databases as an essential component of digital drug discovery processes.
As a follow-up to the webinar, the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy also held a two-day hands-on workshop at the Faculty’s Computer Laboratory. The workshop was designed to provide participants with direct practical experience in using software and databases commonly employed in modern pharmaceutical research. Through practice sessions, participants were guided through stages of molecular data processing, protein target exploration, and the use of databases to support the drug discovery process.
This webinar and workshop series was intended not only to provide conceptual understanding of digital transformation in the field of pharmacy, but also to equip participants with technical skills relevant to the current needs of research and industry. By combining scientific presentations with hands-on practice, the program is expected to strengthen participants’ capacity to address the challenges of modern drug development, which increasingly relies on computational approaches and data analysis.
This initiative aligns with the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy’s commitment to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) through strengthening learning and training capacity in pharmacy, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) through the use of bioinformatics and artificial intelligence to drive research innovation and drug discovery, and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through collaboration among academics, researchers, students, and practitioners in developing a sustainable science and technology ecosystem.
Author: Rizqi Vazrin | Editor: Fathul | Photo: Tiara
