Compound Collections
The choice of which chemical libraries to screen should be guided by the goals of the project and the biological system of interest.
Biochemical screens seeking novel chemical entities capable of binding to a protein and modulating its function would be best served by diverse collections of drug-like small molecules such as the Maybridge HitFinder or the Chembridge MicroFormats. Confirmation and optimization of hits and can be managed by enlisting advice, collaborations, or through further contract work with the HTSC.
Cellular assays can reveal insights into the biological regulation of your phenotype with “known actives” and “approved drugs” collections. Screening characterized collections serves as a set of baseline controls to help hone the assay system and avoid false positives resulting from undesired biological effects. For example, one may wish to develop counter-screens to weed out cytotoxic compounds from consideration in a neuroscience screen. Many of the compounds in these collections have been validated in animals, allowing a progression to disease models by removing the hurdle of toxicology, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic studies.
If investigators would like to develop novel chemical compounds as hits with a long term view toward drug discovery, it is advisable to screen large and diverse collections of drug-like small molecules.
Compound Libraries (Commercial)
| Library | Source | Size | Compound Type | |
| 1 | Apoptosis | SelleckChem | 95 | Known |
| 2 | Autophagy | SelleckChem | 154 | Known |
| 3 | Bioactive Lipids | Enzo | 190 | Known |
| 4 | Epigenetics | SelleckChem | 151 | Known |
| 5 | GPCR | SelleckChem | 256 | Known |
| 6 | Ion Channel Ligand | SelleckChem | 56 | Known |
| 7 | Stem Cell Signaling | SelleckChem | 81 | Known |
| 8 | Kinase Inhibitors | SelleckChem | 436 | Known |
| 9 | ICCB Bioactives | Enzo | 480 | Known |
| 10 | Pharmakon | Microsource | 1,760 | Known Drugs |
| 11 | Spectrum Collection | Microsource | 2,560 | Known Drugs (Pharmakon)/ Bioactives/Nat Product |
| 12 | NCI Diversity Set | NCI | 1,584 | Diverse (request directly from NCI) |
| 13 | Cysteine-Focused | Life Chemicals | 3,200 | Cysteine-Focused Covalent Inhibitors |
| 14 | Maybridge Hit-Finder | Thermo | 14,400 | Diverse |
| 15 | Chembridge Microformats | Chembridge | 100,000 | Diverse |
The WashU NEON Compound Collection
The CDD has created a crowd-sourced small molecule collection, the WashU NEON collection, comprised of compounds synthesized or compiled for a variety of hit-to-lead and lead-to-candidate campaigns by CDD and/or other WashU investigators. This expanding chemical library is available free of charge, as pre-plated sets, to all WashU faculty with screen-ready assays to enable drug discovery research. Should hits be identified from primary screening, additional compound may be provided, upon request, for follow-up validation assays. It is the intent for NEON to generate chemical starting points for in-house medicinal chemistry and drug target potency optimization, and potentially foster collaborative research connections between Wash U investigators. All compounds have been approved by the respective P.I.s for inclusion in the NEON collection.
To request a copy of the NEON library, please fill out the required questionnaire.
Direct completed questionnaires and questions to Maxene Ilagan, Director of the HTS Core: ilaganmg@wustl.edu.