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CQMED as INCT

 

About INCT – National Institutes of Science and Technology

The Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology Program of National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCT) was created to articulate the research groups in fundamental science and innovation. The INCTs are managed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – CAPES.

CQMED as INCT

CQMED as an INCT is funded 50:50 by CNPq/CAPES and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). Our INCT aims to unlock targets relevant to medicine by developing tools that enable the elucidation of its biological function. The tools include expression clones, protein purification protocols, antibodies, crystal structure, enzymatic assays and chemical probes. The CQMED INCT established a network of academic collaborators from various universities with the objective of studying and characterizing a diverse array of proteins associated with cancer and infectious diseases.

Our Goal as INCT

To accelerate the research on the protein function through a strong network of multidisciplinary researchers, we proposed to generate Target Enabling Package (TEPs) for disease relevant proteins along the project.

Those packages include:
• Expression clones
• Methods for protein purification
• Crystal Structure
• Validate commercial or develop specific antibodies
• Protein activity assays
• Chemical probes for use as modulators of human cell function; to generate further information on the proteomics, the impact of mutations, and the physiology of the target proteins.

All data and reagents generated from our INCT will be freely shared with the scientific community and companies. All TEPs will be published here in the website (link para publications) and scientific journal.

All knowledge generated here will be used by research groups applied in biology and products, and thus we can target society in a fast and efficient way. How do we choose the target protein to be studied?

How can you nominate a TEP?

Any academic or industry groups can nominate target protein, based on their research. We have offered the possibility of target nomination to Principal Investigators from other INCTs and also to other academic groups. We aim to attract scientific groups who are leaders in their area of expertise, to accelerate the knowledge and availability of tools in various disease-related fields.

A target-protein must meet the following requirements:
• The protein has to be understudied and related with a human disease
• Protein production methods not fully described before
• Crystal Structure not yet available in the PDB
• Eventually, commercial antibodies could be available but have not been extensively tested
• In vitro activity assays for the protein has to be developed
• An initial chemical matter may be available but needs improvement in activity or selectivity against the protein

The suggestions will be evaluated by our Managing Commitee. The Research Groups which nominate the target protein can user our expertise and infrastructure to produce the protein and generate the initial protein structure. All research groups that nominate a target-protein must agree to release the data and reagent, as a principle of Open Science.

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