The Chemical Biology Core Facility (CBCF) offers the infrastructure and expertise for assay development, small-molecule screening and use of medicinal chemistry to optimise compounds against novel targets for ‘biotool’ or early drug development.

The facility is set up as a collaboration between EMBL and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to provide the infrastructure and expertise to open up small molecule development to research groups at these institutions.

Our aim is to enable research groups to:

• Explore the biology-chemistry interface by complementing excellence in biology with innovative chemistry
• Identify novel low molecular weight compounds for use as ‘biotools’ to probe biological function
• Generate added value on in-house targets for basic research and for Intellectual Property

Our key services

• Application of high-throughput screening approaches to identify biotools or hit compounds
• Computational screening using ligand-based and structure-based design strategies
• Medicinal chemistry optimisation of hits to generate high-quality tool compounds

Steering Committee

The overall direction of the facility is overseen by a steering committee which has senior members of staff from the EMBL and DKFZ. The projects are considered on a case-by-case basis, following preliminary evaluation for suitability and amenability to screening. The committee further reviews and assesses technical difficulties and determines priorities for new projects.

Please contact us to submit a project proposal.