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The aim of the Core Facility Compound Mangement is the production of screening plates for the primary screening at the Screening Unit, the preparation of hitpicking plates in order to conduct concentration-dependent validations of primary hits, the QC-controls of these hits and the support of users to prioritize their hit lists.
The goal of the core facility is the preparation of screening plates and hitpicking plates for the Screening Unit to conduct primary screening campaigns and concentration-dependent validations of hits. It performs the QC-controls and helps the user to prioritize the hit lists. It manages a library of over 80.000 compounds, including a commercial library of 40.000 compounds, an academic library of 10.000 compounds and 30.000 natural product derived compounds.
The Compound Management was initiated in 2010 to facilitate the access for the academic community to a state-of-the-art compound management facility and was upgraded over the last decade. Initially, it started as an integral part of the Screening Unit and the Medicinal Chemistry group before it became an independent Core Faciltiy in 01/2020. At first, a REMP storage system hosted a compound library of 37.000 compound. Due to the higher demand of the constantly growing commercial and academic libraries an upgrade to the automated KIWI storage system was required with a larger capacity of 110.000 compounds. Today, it manages a highly diverse library of 80.000 compounds including a fragment and bioactive library of different commercial vendors. Over the years an academic library of about 10.000 compounds was collected from a huge variety of academic chemistry groups together with 30.000 natural product derived compounds from Analyticon Discovery GmbH.
In 2019, it moved next to the laboratories of the EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC where both infrastructures will benefit from each other using theirs synergies while maintaining their different strategic and scientific operations. The ultimate goals of the Core Facility is the preparation of screening plates for the primary screening at the Screening Unit, the preparation of hitpicking plates in order to conduct concentration-dependent validations of primary hits, the QC-controls of these hits and the support of users to prioritize their hit lists.
The KIWI Store (LiCONiC AG) offers a fully automated storage and retrieval of compounds with a total number of 220.000 tubes organized in 96-tube racks. The tubes contain 200 µl DMSO solutions for each compound at concentrations of 10 mM in DMSO. Individual tubes are identified by a 2D-barcode at the bottom and the racks by 1D-barcodes. The provided technology enables individual sample access and manipulation by simply pushing the tube through the source rack to an empty destination rack. The automated selection of individual tubes in the -20°C freezer also offers the benefits of minimizing freeze/thaw cycles, library cleaning and compression, and avoiding oxidation and water uptake. Especially, it is important for the unique compounds submitted by academic chemists and protects the long term storage. Furthermore this technology enables for generation of target specific sublibraries. The software tracks the samples at all stages and allows them to be chosen for retrieval from imported sample lists or queries. After samples are picked in the -20 °C environment they are delivered in delivery racks for further processing. The delivery racks are returned to the KIWI Store and the software automatically updates the location of the racks inside the store. Dr. Martin Neuenschwander has programmed a visual basic script allowing the communication between the relational database of the KIWI Store and the file-based system of the Freedom EVO liquid handling workstation, creating a fully automated liquid handling and sample management platform. The task of hit picking from 96 tube racks to reformat to the 384 screening plates runs on a routine basis. Furthermore work lists for desolvation of solid compounds in glass vials automatically drive the liquid handling module to transfer the calculated DMSO volumes in order to create a 10 mM concentration. Later, the solution is transferred to 96 tube racks and delivered in an automated fashion to the KIWI Store.
Freedom evo pipetting system
© Katy Franke
© Katy Franke
© Katy Franke
© Katy Franke
Freedom evo pipetting system
© Katy Franke
© Katy Franke
Photos taken by Katy Franke
The Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) is part of the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB), which legally represents seven non-university research institutes - members of the Leibniz Association - in Berlin.
Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FMP)
Campus Berlin-Buch
Robert-Roessle-Str. 10,
13125 Berlin, Germany
