(STRUCTURE AND DRUG SCREENING) In the previous CCSG renewal, Structural Biology (SB) and High-Throughput Screening (HTS) were both approved and funded as new Shared Resources (SRs). During the project period, the independent SRs frequently coordinated services for University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC) members to increase the efficiency and impact of cancer-related projects. This collaboration demonstrated the benefit of working together from project initiation. The SRs and UMCCC leaders viewed the amalgamation of the SR as a natural progression and a way for members to receive maximum benefit from these vital resources. With support from UMCCC Senior Leadership, Janet Smith, PhD was joined by Co-Director Vince Groppi, PhD in 2015 when they formally merged the SRs into one unit. During this process, Medicinal Chemistry (MC) was added to the SR to meet existing needs of cancer researchers. In 2016, UMCCC approved the establishment of a comprehensive unified facility, the Structure and Drug Screening (SDS) SR. The SDS SR enables UMCCC members to use advanced structure-based drug design and/or nonbiased HTS strategies to identify chemical matter that can be advanced through a milestone-driven research plan resulting in efficient and effective discovery and development of precision oncology medicines; a strategic goal of UMCCC. This is accomplished by use of three service disciplines, each of which is guided by an experienced faculty leader: SB, under the direction of Dr. Smith; HTS, under the direction of Dr. Groppi, and MC under the direction of Andrew White, PhD. The SR's cohesive activities, services and processes yield four key benefits to UMCCC members: I) projects are advanced along the translational pipeline, from basic science discoveries into early cancer drug discovery; II) a project manager guides researchers in the effective and efficient use of appropriate services matched to their needs; III) an integrated team approach provides researchers a complete, `one-stop' set of expertise for the duration of their projects; and IV) researchers accrue cost savings from a streamlined administrative support structure.
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