Seeking Phenotypic Cellular Assays Relating to Oncology

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. has developed a curated kinase inhibitor library, selected from profiling against more than 300 protein kinases. To foster partnerships based on complementary strengths between academia and industry, they are seeking researchers with access to cell-based phenotypic assays related to oncology. Successful applicants will receive up to $15,000 USD for project costs (however, this can be increased where necessary with the exact funding amount at Takeda’s discretion) to test the library in their own laboratory. Additionally, all academics given access to the library will be able to utilise their results (i.e the kinase inhibitory profile and the chemical structures of up to 3 hit molecules), to investigate novel pathways to regulate the phenotype, publish them (after permission from Takeda), and potentially be offered further collaboration opportunities by Takeda.

Selective Kinase Inhibitor Tools (SKIT) library:

An ultra-high-throughput assessment of Takeda’s proprietary compounds as well as literature-known compounds led to the selection of over 200 compounds targeting over 130 protein kinases with the following profiles:

1. High potency and selectivity for their primary target (IC50<50 nM)
2. Applicability to cellular based assays (good solubility, cell-permeable and low cytotoxicity)
3. Uniqueness (novel target and includes Takeda’s original chemical structures)

Academic Groups of Interest:

Those with access to phenotypic cellular assays which satisfy the following criteria: 

• Plausibly represents cancer treatment using the anti‑tumour immune response (details are in the link below)
• A strong preference for human-derived cells or equivalent (e.g. patient-derived iPSC)
• Preferably applicable for drug discovery

Global Eligibility:

Only submissions from Europe, N. America and Oceania will be eligible for this campaign.

How to Apply:

Please download this research proposal template for submissions. To submit your proposal, please visit our website, discover.in-part.com, register, and submit as a Research Project under the appropriate Discover campaign.