Center for Innovative Drug Discovery: Expansion of a Highly Productive Shared Cancer Drug Discovery Resource for Texas

This renewal proposal outlines the expansion of the existing Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD). a truly first of its kind resource of core facilities and capabilities in South Texas to better support the discovery and development of new cancer therapeutics. The CIDD. which is comprised of two integrated core facilities for Medicinal Chemistry at UTSA and High Throughput Screening at UTHSA. has been providing researchers in San Antonio and South Texas access to coordinated technologies. services and expertise that advance drug discovery and development.This renewal proposal seeks to expand our CIDD capabilities into new areas of growth and emphasis in the cancer drug discovery field. including novel PROTAC (Proteolysis-targeting chimeras) platforms. siRNA/CRISPR screening for target identification and validation. new chemical libraries (Covalent inhibitors and macrocyclics). and new screening modalities (Microscale Thermophoresis. Surface Plasmon Resonanceand Protein Thermal Stabilities) that will allow us to screen novel cancer targets that have previously been considered undruggable. These objectives will encompass tangible metrics of success. including number and scope of cancer projects. advancement of cancer projects to pre-clinical or IND-enabling studies. as well as additional non???state funding. intellectual property. scientific publications and service to the pharma industry of South Texas.