HIGH-THROUGHPUT INSTITUTE FOR DISCOVERY (HIT-ID)
The new High-throughput Institute for Discovery (HIT-ID) established in the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) will be led by Dr. Sara Cherry, the Eckman Professor of Medical Sciences in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
The Institute, a joint effort of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in partnership with PSOM will create an interdisciplinary program to integrate existing High-throughput screening with areas including computational and structural screening, pharmacology, and precision medicine.
HIT-ID will nucleate research groups interested in using diverse approaches toward initial stages of basic and therapeutic discovery across UPENN. We will support research in computer-aided discovery of ligand binding using computational approaches from molecular docking to deep learning including AI. We will support the development of biochemical and cell-based screening efforts to validate candidates from computational approaches and to perform new discovery screening efforts. We will facilitate the initial stages of tool development, target de-risking and feeding the hit-to-lead pipeline. This includes support of diverse modalities for discovery from predictive to empirical, from basic to translational. This will ultimately promote science through target validation, pathway profiling and tool discovery.
HIT-ID seeks to strengthen the scientific community at Penn through investing in faculty recruitments, pilot grant programs to support screening and/or lead development, fostering collaborations and developing technologies and infrastructure to enhance screening capabilities on campus. We hope to expand our collective ability to identify new tools, confirm new targets, new chemotypes, and facilitate the development of pre-clinical agents. Furthermore, we hope to expand areas that bridge clinical and basic science including in precision oncology and more sophisticated organoid culture systems. We look forward to building in these areas of discovery research.
Announcements
The UPenn High-throughput Screening Core and High-throughput Institute for Discovery (HIT-ID) presents the
Early-Stage Drug Discovery and High-throughput Screening using New Technologies Symposium
The High-Throughput Screening Core and the High-Throughput Institute for Discovery (HIT-ID) are pleased to host the Early-Stage Drug Discovery and High-Throughput Screening Using New Technologies Symposium on Thursday, September 17, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM in the KRB (formerly BRB) Gaulton Auditorium. The symposium will bring together investigators who are leveraging high-throughput screening, innovative technologies, and translational research approaches to advance early-stage drug discovery. Attendees will hear from researchers sharing their scientific discoveries, technological innovations, and experiences utilizing high-throughput resources to accelerate biomedical research. In addition to faculty and investigator presentations, the afternoon program will feature talks from industry partners and technology vendors highlighting emerging platforms, tools, and advances in high-throughput screening and drug discovery technologies. The event will provide valuable opportunities for networking, collaboration, and discussion among faculty, trainees, core facility users, and industry representatives interested in the future of drug discovery and screening innovation.
Become a Member
If you’re interested in becoming part of the HIT-ID and screening community and would like to stay informed of our latest news, please complete the membership form. We will share news, events and announcements to members of our scientific community.
UPenn High-Throughput Screening Core (HTSC)
View the UPenn High-Throughput Screening Core (HTSC) website.
We look forward to working with additional Cores as we launch HIT-ID.