The Chemical Genomics Core Facility (CGCF) provides instrumentation and expertise for investigators who are interested in high-throughput screening, cheminformatics, and medicinal and analytical chemistry. The staff scientists can help with the drug development process, as well as the study of individual diseases before drug discovery begins. Even though many major educational institutions have some kind of chemical screening core, the CGCF is one of only a handful that are also able to optimize specific compounds through medicinal chemistry.
“The technology is absolutely necessary,” said Quyen Hoang, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at IU School of Medicine. “Without this core, drug discovery cannot move forward to get a small molecule and optimize the compound. If this weren’t here, we’d probably have to go somewhere else to use the same technology, making the core a huge asset to IU School of Medicine in relation to translational research.”
Perkin Elmer EnVision Multilabel Reader – high throughput biochemical assay detection system
The CGCF owns special tools that investigators can be trained to use which can help with the drug discovery process, including high-throughput screening robots, high-resolution mass spectrometers, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance instrument, multimodal plate readers, and a high-throughput microscope that can help investigators see work from the cellular level. The core is also able to utilize new services that incorporate CRISPR-based gene editing screening.
aapptec Vantage Parallel Synthesizer – high throughput synthesis of peptides and peptomimetics
“Such gene editing is the next frontier in applications of chemical biology to precision health,” said Michael Weiss, MD, PhD, Director of the Core and Chair of IUSM Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
In the most recent fiscal year, CGCF analyzed more than 3,000 small and large molecule samples, provided 710 services and supported 36 grants from 18 different departments.
For more information about equipment and services or to contact the core, visit the CGCF website.
