Target Discovery

Biological target identification (“Target ID”) is a critical challenge in drug discovery since it involves recognizing which, of potentially many, protein(s) should be targeted to block a pathological process and which macromolecule(s) are in fact bound by a drug or lead compound among the myriad of potential targets in cell or tissue, and which of these binding events is responsible for a desired (or undesired) biological response. Innovative mass spectrometry-based chemical proteomics techniques have been devised to enable investigators to determine which proteins or pathways are impacted by bioactive small molecules. Target ID is essential for understanding a compound’s mechanism-of-action as it provides key mechanistic insights needed to generate informative chemical probes. Target ID can also facilitate the design of more effective therapeutic strategies.