High-Throughput Small Molecule Screening, Spring 2021

The Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) aims to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries at Stanford University into new therapeutics that impact human health. Adaptation of laboratory-grade assays to high-throughput screening formats is a key bottleneck in this process. IMA is accepting proposals for assay development projects to create and optimize miniaturized assays in 384-well microplate format for use in high-throughput, small-molecule screens. Competitive projects will have a strong, novel therapeutic hypothesis and aim to identify small molecule leads for a molecular target or cellular phenotype. Projects that aim to develop an assay that is not highly scalable to screen a few thousand compound clinical collection will also be considered. More than one-half of the projects selected by this program last fall have successfully miniaturized their assays and are on track to run a high-throughput screen.

Selected projects will receive access to the IMA High-Throughput Screening Knowledge Center (HTSKC) facility, which includes instrumentation fees, associated consumables, and expert training and advice in assay development for high-throughput screens (384-well microplate format).

Faculty must provide a student, postdoctoral fellow, staff scientist, or research associate with dedicated time for the project, which s/he will pursue in the HTSKC under the mentorship of the Center’s staff. Salary support is not provided.

It is anticipated that most selected projects will receive in-kind support for ~6 months with critical go/no-go decision points defined for this project period. The specific level of support will vary by project need. Projects with successful outcomes will be eligible for continued support from the HTSKC for a high-throughput screen.