Bio Core Scope: COBRE for Translational Chemical Biology

Aim 1. Provide Expert Consultation and Infrastructure. Core leaders and staff will provide expert consultation to facilitate CTCB research study design, development, implementation, data analysis, and dissemination in publications and grants. The core will support enabling equipment, software, compound libraries, and the Collaborative Drug Discovery Vault® (CDD Vault) data-sharing platform, and provide user training and access to these unique core resources. Aim 2. Adapt and Implement State-of-the-Art Methods and Services for Project-Specific Applications. The core will adapt, validate, and implement existing assays, methods, and services to support CTCB research objectives and probe discovery and optimization efforts. For Phase 2 projects, near-term representative examples include target-based virtual screens (Project 7, Alam), pharmacophore-based virtual screens (Projects 7 and 9, Alam and Helmy, respectively), and wet-bench cytotoxicity and antimicrobial (Projects 7 and 9), thermofluor ligand-binding (Project 7), and GCPR reporter (Ignite Scholar Jaramillo) assays. Aim 3. Develop and Implement New Methods and Services for Project-Specific Applications. The core will develop, validate, and implement new assays, methods, services, and resources to support CTCB research objectives and probe discovery and optimization efforts. For Phase 2 projects, near-term representative examples include a new machine-learning-based method for virtual screening (Projects 7 and 9) and new wet-bench enzyme (CadA, Project 7), quorum-sensing (Project 9), human apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT, Project 8, Czuba), and calcium imaging (Ignite Scholar Tidgewell) assays. The core will also continue to grow and leverage the CTCB-exclusive Natural Products and Synthetics Repositories.