Johns Hopkins University Chemcore facility is an integrated robotics and chemical repository unit. ChemCORE is located in Broadway Research Building offering tailored services. ChemCORE provides high-throughput screening services to facilitate the identification of agents that affect biologic processes of interest for JHU investigators. Available to all Johns Hopkins researchers, the resource will operate on a fee-for-service basis, providing expertise and assistance in scaling laboratory assays for high-throughput and robotic screening and conducting those screens. ChemCORE strives to possess tremendous flexibility, be applicable to diverse systems, incorporate a variety of investigator-developed assays, and offer access to an expanding library and information database of small molecules and peptides.
While service is the primary role of ChemCORE, the resource also will develop and implement new technology as needed to fulfill the needs of its clients. Education and training will also be part of the resource, as students and fellows become familiar with the value high-throughput screening can bring to their investigations. ChemCORE was initiated with seed money from the Institute for Cell Engineering, and has also obtained donations from companies.
In addition to the highly integrated state-of-the-art robotics, ChemCORE has more than 290,000 diverse synthetic or natural compounds on-site which have been obtained from compound library suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, and university labs. The compound collections consist both diverse structures and target-based focused libraries. In addition, ChemCORE has reached compound and target development agreements with several companies for combinatorial synthesis and target identification.
ChemCORE is directed by Dr. Jun Liu, Professor of Pharmacology, Co-Dirctor of Cancer Chemical and Structural Biology, Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and has a team of scientists with expertise in assay development, surface chemistry, laboratory automation and project management. ChemCORE provides services in compound screening, high throughput experimentation, customized assay development and counter screens.