The Low Hanging Fruit (LHF) page provides a portal to data generated from our drug/ compound screens against parasitic organisms. High, medium, and low thoughput screens (HTP, MTP, LTP) are performed at the Sandler Center.  Both hits and complete screens are available through the respective links (see apples on tree).
Emphasis is placed on screening of compound collections containing molecules already approved for human use (e.g., the Microsource collections; and a collection donated by ICONIX) in an approach to rapidly and cost-effectively “reposition”or “re-profile” drugs to treat tropical parasitic diseases, hence the term “Low Hanging Fruit”.  In addition, data from screening of small molecule collections targeting specific enzyme classes of importance to parasite survival are presented.  For this purpose, the collections screened include the commercially available Chemdiv kinase inhibitor library and a cysteine protease inhibitor library donated by Celera (data in the CDD database). 

In addition to screen data, we have posted protocols, data analyses and links to pertinent websites. Current assay development focuses on an MTP-compatible screen for Schistosoma mansoni and HTP-compatible screens for Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania donovani amastigotes in host cells, and Giardia lamblia.

Links:
ChemDiv Inc.
Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. (CDD)
Iconix Biosciences
Microsource Discovery Systems Inc.

We include The Sandler Center for Basic Research in Parasitic Diseases, the DeRisi Lab, the McKerrow Lab, the Rosenthal Lab, and the SMDC (Small Molecules Discovery Center) at UCSF as well as St.Jude (Kip Guy).

References of Interest:
Leishmania donovani St George S, Bishop JV, Titus RG, Selitrennikoff CP. Novel compounds active against Leishmania major. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Feb;50(2):474-9. PMID: 16436699	Chemistry Mazitschek R, Patel V, Wirth DF, Clardy J. Development of a fluorescence polarization based assay for histone deacetylase ligand discovery. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2008 May 1;18(9):2809-12.
Malaria Weisman JL, Liou AP, Shelat AA, Cohen FE, Guy RK, DeRisi JL. Searching for new antimalarial therapeutics amongst known drugs. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2006 Jun;67(6):409-16. PMID: 16882315	Chong CR, Chen X, Shi L, Liu JO, Sullivan DJ Jr. A clinical drug library screen identifies astemizole as an antimalarial agent. Nat Chem Biol. 2006 Aug;2(8):415-6. Epub 2006 Jul 2. PMID: 16816845
Trypanosoma brucei Mackey ZB, Baca AM, Mallari JP, Apsel B, Shelat A, Hansell EJ, Chiang PK, Wolff B, Guy KR, Williams J, McKerrow JH. Discovery of trypanocidal compounds by whole cell HTS of Trypanosoma brucei. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2006 May;67(5):355-63. PMID: 16784460