Small Molecule Drug Development Core

Small Molecule Drug Development Core Facility (SMDD Core) has the automation equipment, libraries, and experienced personnel to support a wide range of assay development projects, including target-based/biochemical and cell-based/phenotypic assays. 

SMDD Core provides access to a high-throughput platform that integrates robotics, detection systems, and chemical compounds libraries. This core enables investigators to optimize robust assays in 384-well format and screen these assays across large chemical libraries to identify new small molecules as starting points for innovative therapeutics. SMDD Core leaders have significant experience with cell-based and biochemical assay development and validation, as well as high-content and high-throughput screen approaches. This allows them to guide small-molecule discovery projects from the earliest stages of assay conceptualization all the way through medicinal chemistry optimization of promising leads.

Supporting publications: 

• High Content Imaging Instruments
• BioTek Synergy Neo2 Hybrid Multimode Reader
• BioTek Imaging and Microscopy
• Echo Liquid Handlers

Recent publications from the core: 

• Suppression of proteolipid protein rescues Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease
• Cell Type-Specific Intralocus Interactions Reveal Oligodendrocyte Mechanisms in MS
• Non-canonical Targets of HIF1a Impair Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Function
• Pervasive environmental chemicals impair oligodendrocyte development
• C646 degrades Exportin-1 to modulate p300 chromatin occupancy and function

Organization Affiliations: Case Comprehensive Cancer Center