The purpose of this notice is to facilitate access to MLPCN’s laboratory and technical resources for potential assay providers who intend to develop a high throughput screening (HTS) plan and grant application for the identification of small molecule probes (PAR-09-129 and PAR-08-024).

MLPCN support

The MLPCN centers will provide consultation via telephone, email, or lab visit arrangement to assay submitters to assist in HTS assay development and optimization leading to a plan for the identification of chemical probes.

Centers can provide advice on identification and selection of commercial HTS assay reagents and suitable assay format and readout; adapting assays to microplate format and in performing a pilot screen of a small library of compounds (e.g. the Library of Pharmacologically Active Compounds, LOPAC collection) to generate sufficient preliminary assay data to support a R03 grant application submission (PAR-09-129) by the assay provider; generating orthogonal assays to validate the hits. Overall, the MLPCN centers will provide needed assistance to assay submitters who are committed to preparing an adequate screening plan and grant application for the identification of small molecule probes.

How to apply for technical assistance for the MLPCN?

In the online request form, you will be asked to provide the following information:

1) Your contact information including your name, position and title, affiliated organization, email, and phone number.
2) Assay target molecule(s), signaling pathway, or phenotype.
3) Potential scientific and/or therapeutic impact of the assay (please provide up to three literature references).
4) The availability and suitability (or lack thereof) of existing small molecule modulators.
5) Preliminary low-throughput bench top assay data showing potential to be miniaturized for HTS.
6) Your secondary assays to rule out artifacts and to validate active compounds found in the primary assay as reproducible hits.

Notification of acceptance
You will be notified by email after your request is reviewed administratively by NIH staff. We will process and respond to your request in a timely manner.

Disclaimer
We may not be able to match all requests for technical assistance with a specific MLPCN center.

Inquiries should be directed to:

Yong Yao, Ph.D.
NIH Roadmap Molecular Libraries and Imaging
Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 7175, MSC 9641
Bethesda, MD 20892-964
Telephone: (301) 443-6102
Email: yyao@mail.nih.gov