Global Positioning System for Small Molecules - Accelerating Lead Discovery

This project aims to shift the paradigm in the identification of small molecules that can serve as lead compounds for the development of specific probes or drugs. The key aim is to establish a tool to accelerate lead generation from very small molecules (fragments). The approach is based on installing a molecular-scale global positioning system on protein targets to record fragment binding and determine their binding site and orientation in a single experimental setup. The intended outcomes are new methods to label biomolecules and a pioneering protocol to determine the binding mode of fragments directly from a library screen. Both outcomes stand to have immediate benefits for drug discovery and imaging techniques.