European Lead Factory (ELF) is a collaborative drug discovery platform, funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). Any European researcher from an academic institution or small and medium-sized enterprise with either a potential drug target and associated screening assay, or an unknown target but well-developed phenotypic screening assay, can apply for a screening slot at ELF.
At ELF, we offer ultra-High Throughput Screening (uHTS) and High Content Screening (HCS) against a unique high-quality compound collection with no upfront costs. uHTS is performed on the full library of about 535,000 compounds, while HCS is performed on a 50,000 compound subset of the library.
Screening, tailored hit characterisation and re-synthesis activities are performed by our highly skilled partners at state-of-the-art facilities. We make sure to keep you informed and engaged during each step of the screening process. Once screening is completed, you will be provided with a report of all the performed tests, as well as a list of relevant compounds and compound structures (max 50). In addition, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with one of the pharmaceutical partners to further develop the hit compound into a potential drug. All the work is performed under a well-defined legal framework, that takes into account the confidentiality, rights and obligations of the parties involved.
Before screens are taken on, we ask researchers to submit a screening proposal. These proposals are assessed in a rolling review and selection process. If your proposal is selected, you will be contacted by the ELF Programme Office, and further informed of the project process.
More information can be found on the ELF website. Several relevant webpages are mentioned below.
1) Applying for a screen and submission of a proposal consists of several steps. This webpage guides you through all of the steps:
https://www.europeanleadfactory.eu/how-submit/drug-target-assays/how-it-works
2) Selection criteria
They can be found here: https://www.europeanleadfactory.eu/node/36 .
3) Rights and obligations
We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the rights and obligations that come with screening under ELF, and involve your legal team/ technology transfer office as soon as possible in the process. You can find the rights and obligations here:
https://www.europeanleadfactory.eu/rights-and-obligations-contributing-third-parties
4) Application documents
Once you are ready to submit your proposal, you can find the application documents and supporting information here (the next submission deadline can be found at the bottom of the page:
If you would like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to reach out to programme@europeanleadfactory.eu.
