EU‐OPENSCREEN: Discovery and development of novel chemical probes through an international, collaborative model
Bahne Stechmann · The FASEB Journal · 2022
The majority of molecular biologists does not have ready access to suitable drug screening platforms and compound collections, which are generally expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. This represents a major limitation in the field to advance innovative drug discovery projects and chemical probe discovery projects in academia. With the aim to address this need, researchers from >20 institutions have joined forces to launch ‘EU‐OPENSCREEN’ ( www.eu‐openscreen.eu ), which offers international scientists access to a wide range of state‐of‐the‐art technology platforms, resources and expertise. This publicly funded initiative integrates high‐throughput screening (HTS) platforms and medicinal chemistry groups throughout Europe on a not‐for‐profit basis. The aim of EU‐OPENSCREEN is to collaboratively develop novel chemical probes together with external biologists and to support researchers seeking a better understanding on cellular phenomena by using chemical probes. Molecular biologists and biochemists who have a robust and HTS amenable assay, and are interested in developing novel potent chemical probes for their target of interest, can access EU‐OPENSCREEN's screening platforms on a collaborative basis and screen comprehensive, rationally designed screening collections with >100,000 compounds. After the primary screening, EU‐OPENSCREEN's medicinal chemists optimise the identified ‘hit’ compounds during the hit‐to‐probe program. I will explain how international biologists can access and collaborate with EU‐OPENSCREEN to advance their research projects, and highlight some recent collaborative research projects.