Manchester Home Chemical genomics







  Introduction

Chemical genomics is an emerging discipline that typically brings together diversity-oriented chemical libraries and high-information-content cellular assays, along with the informatics and mining tools necessary for storing and analysing the data so generated. It is a complement to classical genetics but has at least two advantages: it can be used in genetically non-tractable organisms, and individual chemicals can influence single activities of gene products with multiple roles in a way that gene knockouts and knockins cannot. It is considered especially useful in providing novel tools for the manipulation of cellular activities.  Current work is directed to the development and exploitation of these and related methods for the purposes of functional genomics and in mode-of-action studies, concentrating in particular at the level of metabolism.

As with many things, progress is seen as an iterative cycle between molecular targets and cellular assays, where here we distinguish forward and reverse chemical genetics:

In Forward Chemical Genomics the direction is screen a library to obtain an activity so as to  discover a target (this is somewhat like classical drug discovery). In Reverse Chemical Genomics we start with a purified target and assess binding activity whence we can test such compounds in vivo (this is somewhat more akin to modern HTS activities).

 


  Links

Here are some chemical genomics-related links:

CHEMICAL AND DRUG STRUCTURES AND CHEMICAL GENOMICS

 


  Publications

Here are some of our recent chemical genomics publications:  

Last update: 17 April 2006
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