High Throughput Discovery

The project aims to expand the toolkit of chemistries that underpins the discovery of bioactive molecules, that can be used to modify proteins. The toolkit of reactions for medicinal chemistry, that underpins current drug discovery workflows, is dominated by a small number (<10) of reaction classes that have remained largely unchanged for 30 years. This limited toolkit has constrained the chemical diversity of known bioactive molecules and may have hampered innovation in drug discovery. The facility aims to disrupt molecular discovery practice by harnessing a broader range of chemistries, and by closer integration of the synthesis of molecules with their functional evaluation.

The facility has been designed to deliver a step-change in molecular discovery through integration of high-throughput chemical and biological experimentation with computational approaches. The facility will enable the discovery of new starting points for drug discovery and new methods for in vivo chemistry. Overall, this will enable us to better understand the biology of disease, and to efficiently discover new treatments that address unmet medical needs.