The Molecular Targets Initiative announced by Dr. Richard Klausner last summer has evolved into the Molecular Targets Faculty. A Steering Committee has been formed and one of its first recommendations—creation of a molecular targets program—has been implemented, as announced by Dr. Carl Barrett at a recent Steering Committee meeting. The Molecular Targets Discovery Program (MTDDP), headed by Dr. James McMahon, will serve as a resource for:

• advising CCR scientists on molecular targets and drug discovery;


• developing screening assays for biomolecules that interact with molecular targets;


• conducting initial screens of pure compound libraries for potential bioprobes and inhibitors of molecular targets;


• identifying novel leads from natural products and combinatorial libraries of chemicals;


• characterizing and validating hits from these screens;


• evaluating and facilitating the development of potential new research reagents;
and

• advising and assisting in preclinical and clinical development of promising lead compounds.

In addition to the MTDDP, other subcommittees are focusing on clinical infrastructure, an interdisciplinary training program in chemistry, and activities related to the vaccine trials.

Clinical Infrastructure. This subcommittee has identified four areas of focus: imaging, pharmacokinetics, clinical trial design, and tissue acquisition and has also formed several other advisory groups to further identify the needs of the clinical community and improve infrastructure and core support in these areas.

Program for Interdisciplinary Training in Chemistry (PITC). Dr. Chris Michejda is heading this subcomittee, which is developing a training program that will serve as an interface between the disciplines of chemistry and biology at the NCI.

Vaccine Working Group. This group has led an effort to develop immunoassays for vaccine trial endpoints that will be available to the broader research community through the SAIC Clinical Support Program (CSP).

2001 Faculty Retreat

The Molecular Targets Faculty held it's first retreat at the Xerox Conference Center in Leesburg, VA, on November 15-16, 2001. For meeting minutes and other information please contact: Pat Steeg

Related Links:

Molecular Targets Drug Discovery Program (MTDDP)