Science Spyglass
Solute carrier transporters and drug discovery: unlocking the "gatekeepers" as therapeutic targets
Solute carrier (SLC) transporters comprise a family of more than 450 membrane-bound proteins that facilitate the transport of a wide array of substrates across biological membranes. They play a fundamental role in controlling the transport of molecules, such as ions and metabolites, across the cell membranes, and their dysfunction has been associated with a variety of diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Despite emerging as important targets for therapeutic intervention, SLCs are still under-investigated as therapeutic targets, one of the reasons being the lack of assays and tools suitable for running High Throughput Screening (HTS) of large compound collections, aiming to identify novel therapeutics.
As member of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Consortiums RESOLUTE and REsolution, Axxam focused on the development of functional cell-based assays, suitable for running HTS campaigns, for SLCs (wild types and variants) belonging to different classes, by using different types of detection systems, including fluorescent dyes, genetically encoded biosensors, fluorescent substrates, imaging analysis.
Watch the videos below to know more about Axxam contribution into the RESOLUTE and REsolution:
Assays based on membrane potential dyes to study SLC function
Characterization of SLC genetic variants involved in human disease
If you are intersted in knowing more about our work, download the following posters on case studies:
RESOLUTE has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 777372. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. This article reflects only the authors’ views and neither IMI nor the European Union and EFPIA are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
