North Carolina Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center

Stephen Frye, PI

The North Carolina Comprehensive Chemical Biology Screening Center joins together existing facilities, staff, equipment and expertise of three local partners: The University of North Carolina (UNC), North Carolina Central University (NCCU), and the Hamner Institute for Health Sciences (the Hamner). The participating research centers within these organizations possess considerable cancer research and medicinal chemistry drug discovery expertise. Specifically, the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) has a strong track record of target discovery, characterization, validation and basic oncology biology; the UNC Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (CICBDD) has expertise in assay development, computational chemistry, cheminformatics and high-throughput medicinal chemistry; and the NCCU Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) has created a state-of-the-art HTS and medicinal chemistry group. The CICBDD and BRITE have both recruited highly experienced drug discovery scientists from the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery (CNDD) within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has capabilities for preclinical and clinical formulation development with expertise in targeted delivery and formulation of drug candidates with challenging physical-chemical properties. The Hamner is an independent, nonprofit organization that specializes in toxicology and translational research. Taken together, these organizations create a highly integrated oncology drug discovery team to contribute significantly to the NCI’s vision for delivering new cancer therapeutics.

UNC LCCC – 277 total faculty – 45 faculty in molecular therapeutics program; Protein Expression Core, Structural Biology core facility, Mouse Phase 1 for drug testing in genetically engineered mouse models of human cancer (GEMM) and RNAi facilities; 80,000 ;sq.ft. research and administrative building.

UNC CICBDD – 5 research and 2 tenured faculty positions supported by 12 staff scientists; extensive industry expertise and capabilities in assay development, medicinal chemistry and drug design; 100,000 compound drug-like small molecule library; 5000 member kinase inhibitor focused screening set; >5000 sq.ft. of laboratory space with cell culture and chemistry hoods (10) and equipment for assay development, screening and medicinal chemistry.

UNC CNDD – 5 faculty members focused on nanotechnology and advanced drug delivery systems to decrease attrition of drug candidates caused by poor absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity; delivery approaches include, for example, micellular solubilization and nano-entrapment methodologies; >5000 sq.ft. of laboratory space with cell culture and chemistry hoods (10) to facilitate application of nanotechnology to drug formulation.

NCCU BRITE – 12 faculty members supported by 9 staff; extensive industry expertise; fully operational HTS facility with medicinal chemistry team; 52,000 sq.ft. facility opened in spring 2008; equipment and labs for both HTS and medicinal chemistry; 55,000-member drug-like small molecule library.

Hamner – 20 senior scientific staff; facilities and equipment to support preclinical in vivo and molecular toxicology, PK and dynamics; extensive animal model capabilities for preclinical studies; 138,000 sq.ft. of administrative and laboratory space.