The aim of NCATS' Chemistry Technology program is to provide cutting-edge resources to enable the broader biomedical research community to pursue basic and translational studies in a faster and more in-depth manner. To achieve this, chemistry technology scientists at NCATS engage in a variety of innovative translational research activities, including:
- Design and synthesis of bioactive small molecules.
- Development of mechanistically defined small molecule libraries to analyze the concurrent biological pathways of drug signatures and to understand the molecular basis of drug response.
- Design and implementation of systems-based phenotypic drug screening, which seeks to identify substances that can alter the observable characteristics of a target of interest.
- Identification of genetic predictors (e.g., somatic mutations, amplifications) of drug sensitivity and/or drug resistance.
The program is highly collaborative and supports projects and platforms that are currently underdeveloped or brand new. Learn more about these projects.
The development of high-quality molecular probes is an integral effort of chemical biology, a rapidly developing field aimed at better understanding the molecular basis of diseases. The modification of bioactive molecules can also lead to the development of reagents designed to identify the target(s) accounting for a specific observed phenotype.
