The Chemical Probes Portal: An Open Resource Empowering High Quality Chemical Biology (360G-Wellcome-212969_Z_18_Z)

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), in partnership with the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), proposes to assume responsibility for the Chemical Probes Portal (http://www.chemicalprobes.org/) (Portal) and move its operations to the UK. We request funds to complement existing in-kind and financial support in order to: maintain, enhance and expand the Portal; ensure its continuation as an invaluable public resource; and implement a sustainability plan for future independence. The Portal is a public online resource created to provide biomedical researchers with expert advice to identify the most appropriate chemical probes for their experiments. Experts rank probes using a star rating and provide advice on their properties and use. It is an innovative, open science solution with a clear aim – to reduce the use of poor quality probes in the literature, and thus increase the quality and reproducibility of scientific research. The Portal is currently supported by small donations from companies and in-kind contributions from a founding set of 146 advisors from academia and industry. We are seeking complementary funding from The Wellcome Trust to enhance, extend and maintain the core infrastructure, to expand the number of probes, and to better communicate the Portal’s offering to funders, scientists and publishers.