Small molecule high throughput screen using AstraZeneca facilities

This funding opportunity provides academic researchers with unprecedented access to AstraZeneca's compound library of over two million molecules and state-of-the-art high-throughput screening facilities at their Discovery Centre in Cambridge. The Medical Research Council (MRC) will fund up to four projects per year to support the discovery of potential starting points for small molecule medicinal drugs. Academic researchers will benefit from advanced compound management facilities, a large compound collection, advanced screening robotics, and multiple state-of-the-art assay platform technologies. AstraZeneca will provide technical input to support assay optimisation, investigation of alternative readout technologies, and pilot HTS screen prior to transfer of the assay to the HTS platform. Depending on the results of the optimisation, a compound set of between 100,000 and 1,000,000 of the library will be screened. This round has a thematic focus on mental health or dementia (including Parkinson's and Huntington's), with applications in these areas receiving a strategic uplift at ranking.