Selection process for new proposals

All new MCCB proposals are reviewed and evaluated confidentially by the MCCB Steering Committee.  Once the investigator(s) has contacted the MCCB group and discussed their idea, a brief development proposal is submitted to the Steering Committee and the investigator(s) is invited to present and discuss further details with the committee.

The MCCB Scientific Steering Committee comprises of a number of experts from the University’s scientific and clinical disciplines including chemists, biologists and clinicians with strong backgrounds and knowledge in biomedical research and aspects of drug development. Once the proposal is approved, the exact MCCB strategy for the project will depend on the particular target involved, the needs of the project and advice from the Steering Committee. Generally however, an important expectation (and a condition for project approval) will be a clear plan as to how the results from the MCCB input to the project will be used to subsequently obtain external funding.

Assessment

The MCCB group is well placed to collaborate on a number of different research and development activities including:

• Identification of small molecule hits/leads against a target
• Reducing the liabilities (activity, selectivity or property-ADMET) of existing hits/leads
• Development of SAR associated with a hit/lead series
• Synthesis of reference compounds
• Custom synthesis
• Evaluation of IP space and development of a patenting strategy
• Development of new technologies which are aimed at drug discovery
• Target validation studies where these are particularly designed to underpin a drug discovery project

• Development of platform technologies for translational research that could be of use in drug discovery

Funding

Duration: Projects receive support commensurate with the projected project requirements. This is typically of the order of 3 months, but could be up to 6 months based on a Grade 6/7/8 level scientist.  Requests for extensions will be considered but must be fully justified.

Value: Resource and consumables are provided on a pump-priming basis. Where exceptional consumable costs are required for a project, a pro rota contribution from the collaborating group may be required in order to progress the proposal.

Eligibility

All staff scientists and clinicians at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals are eligible for the resource. The resource can also be made available to academic and industrial collaborators from outside the university, subject to specific agreements.