Academic DNA-Encoded Library Resource
Year of award: 2020
Grantholders
- Prof Michael Waring- Newcastle University, United Kingdom 
- Prof Martin Noble- Newcastle University, United Kingdom 
- Dr Andreas Brunschweiger- TU Dortmund University, Germany 
- Dr Sam Butterworth- University of Manchester, United Kingdom 
- Dr Andrew Leach- University of Manchester, United Kingdom 
Project summary
Scientists are constantly making new discoveries about how specific proteins can contribute to human diseases. Once these connections have been identified it is often necessary to find new 'tool compounds' that can be used to test whether drugs that affect these proteins could have beneficial effects for patients.
Unfortunately, due to technical challenges and high cost, the technology needed to find such compounds is currently hard to access. DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening utilises the power and precision of molecular biology to find active compounds from mixtures of millions of different structures. This has been shown to be a successful alternative to the traditional methods, but the technology is not available to university researchers.
We will establish a centre that will use DEL technology to identify tool compounds for more than 20 new targets, allowing researchers to take next step towards the discovery of new drugs.