Conditions for service (German): download.pdf
Contact address: screening(at)fmp-berlin.de
The Screening Unit of the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, FMP serves as an open platform for academic projects searching for small synthetic molecules as tools to explore biological systems. The projects apply with a short proposal describing the established basic experiments, the biological context and potential perspectives.
The results of academic screening projects have to be submitted to the central database of the ChemBioNet, where they are in general published after patent protection or by publication through the research teams. The staff of the Screening Unit provides compound collections for screening and automation for transfer of lab scale assays towards HTS. Compound collections of about 40.000 small molecules and natural products (size of library increasing) are offered for screening (see also Screening Collections).
Furthermore HTS-analysis software and experience for hit clustering are provided. Automated data processing from detection sytems allows initial data analysis within less then one hour. The thresholds for hit selection are set by the projects. Automated analysis of HTS data includes z-value calculations for every test plate, z-value calculation of overall assay quality,hit clustering and ranking of hits by chemical properties of compounds.
The research projects pay for consumption of compounds of the ChemBioNet collection. This money is used for reordering and maintenance of compounds. The projects reproduce their test system in the Unit. Consumeables and reagents for HTS are payed by the projects. On the basis of scientific collaborations with shared funding for the Screening Unit and the project, screening costs including the costs for support by staff and costs for maintenance of platform technologies are shared. If the projects use the platform without shared funding, they pay total costs based on a full cost model for support by staff and equipment.
IP rights of the projects are not affected by usage of the platform. But projects will have to inform their local agencies for contacting interested biotech or pharma companies.