The Drug Discovery for the Nervous System Special Emphasis Panel [ZRG1 MNPS-C (09)F] reviews pre-clinical applications with the ultimate goal of discovering new pharmacotherapeutic and immunotherapeutic agents for treating or preventing disorders of the nervous system, including drug abuse, that will eventually lead to clinical trials and approval by FDA. Specific areas covered by ZRG1 MNPS-C (09)F include:

• Medicinal chemistry focusing on the discovery and refinement of molecules as a prelude to clinical use; the design and synthesis of receptor agonists or antagonists and modulators of enzyme activity, second messenger systems, ion channels or the blood brain barrier, combined with biological evaluation to determine their potential as therapeutics.
• Development of protein–based therapies including drug specific metabolizing enzymes, drug-protein conjugate vaccines, and drug-specific antibodies.
• Isolation, characterization and refinement of promising natural products to identify potential uses for disorders of the nervous system.
• Development of screening assays and preclinical animal models or their use to evaluate candidate therapeutic compounds for future drug development.
• Development of delivery systems that target compounds to the brain, including gene vectors, stem cells, protein and peptide delivery systems, and nanoparticle delivery systems.
• Pharmacokinetic approaches in drug discovery, including the determination of blood brain barrier permeability of candidate compounds, pro drugs, pharmacokinetic modifications and new formulations  including controlled release dosage forms. 

Study Sections with most closely related areas of science listed in rank order are:

Molecular Pharmacology and Signaling [MNPS]
Cellular and Molecular Biology of Neurodegeneration [CMND]
Neural Oxidative Metabolism and Death Study Section [NOMD]
Biophysics of Neural Systems [BPNS] 
Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior Study Section [NMB]