Assay development and screening for discovery of chemical probes, drugs or immunomodulators (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is soliciting applications for the identification of small molecules that can function as chemical probes or as agonists or antagonists of disease targets for therapy or immunotherapy. The opportunity aims to support discovery research for the identification of validated hits relevant to health-related outcomes. The stages of discovery research covered by this opportunity include assay development, screen implementation, hit validation, and hit-to-lead optimization. • The opportunity is intended to support the discovery of chemical probes, drugs, or immunomodulators. • The research should focus on specific biological targets and disease mechanisms relevant to the mission of participating NIH Institutes. • The opportunity includes the implementation of high-throughput target-focused approaches or moderate-throughput phenotypic- and fragment-based approaches to identify initial screening hits. • The validation of hits will involve the implementation of secondary assays, advanced cheminformatics analysis, and initial medicinal chemistry inspection. • The opportunity also includes the optimization of validated hits to optimize target engagement, selectivity, and minimize chemical liabilities.