|
The complete sequencing of the human genome serves as a reminder that the application of emerging technologies to problems that appeared insurmountable only a decade ago are, in time, rendered manageable. Using the Human Genome Project as a guiding example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) is being established as part of the Molecular Libraries Screening Center Network (MLSCN) [grants1.nih.gov], an NIH Roadmap initiative. (See NIH Roadmap [nihroadmap.nih.gov]).
The mission of the NCGC is to apply the tools of small molecule screening and discovery to the development of chemical probe research tools, for use in the study of protein and cell functions, and biological processes relevant to physiology and disease. NCGC will optimize biochemical, cellular and model organism-based assays submitted by the biomedical research community; perform automated high-throughput screening (HTS); and perform chemistry optimization on confirmed hits to produce chemical probes for dissemination to the research community. State-of-the-art cheminformatics methods will be applied to the discovery and characterization of the chemical probes. Pharmacological, transcript/proteome profiling and genetic approaches will be taken to understand the activities of small molecule probes in biological systems.
|
