Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)

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At a Glance
  • Status: Active Consortium
  • Year Launched: 2004
  • Initiating Organization: Structural Genomics Consortium
  • Initiator Type: Industry
  • No disease focus
  • Location: International
Structural Genomics Consortium

Abstract

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership with the directive to carry out basic science of relevance to drug discovery. SGC’s core mandate is to determine three-dimensional (3D) structures on a large scale and cost-effectively — targeting human proteins of biomedical importance and proteins from human parasites that represent potential drug targets. In these two areas respectively, SGC is now responsible for more than 25% of all structures deposited into the Protein Data Bank each year. As of September 2011 SGC had released the structures of more than 1,200 proteins with implications for the development of new therapies for cancer, diabetes, obesity, and psychiatric disorders.

Mission

SGC catalyzes research in new areas of human biology and drug discovery by focusing explicitly on less well-studied areas of the human genome.

SGC accelerates research in these new areas by making all of its research output available to the scientific community with no strings attached, and by creating an open collaborative network of scientists in hundreds of universities around the world and in nine global pharmaceutical companies.

Together, this network of academic and industry scientists is driving a new scientific and drug discovery ecosystem whose primary aim is to advance science and is less influenced by personal, institutional, or commercial gain.

Consortium History

2007: Consortium started

Structure & Governance

SGC is governed by a Board of Directors, composed of representatives of its funders and Scientific Committees, which deliberate and provide directions to its research activities.

SGC is overseen by its CEO Aled Edwards, and each of the SGC labs is directed by a chief scientist —  Cheryl Arrowsmith at the University of Toronto and Chas Bountra at the University of Oxford.

Financing

SGC is a registered charity (number 1097737) that receives funds from AbbVie, Bayer Pharma AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Eshelman Institute for Innovation, Genome Canada, Innovative Medicines Initiative (ULTRA-DD grant no. 115766), Janssen, Merck & Co., Novartis Pharma AG, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, Pfizer, São Paulo Research Foundation-FAPESP, Takeda, and Wellcome Trust.

Impact/Accomplishment

Potent, selective, and cell-permeable inhibitors of protein function (“chemical probes”) are valued reagents in both fundamental and applied biological research, yet rarely available. Chemical probes are essential for the early stages of drug discovery by allowing preclinical target validation in both academic and industrial laboratories: well-characterized inhibitors with defined mechanisms of action are important drivers of industrial drug discovery programs. Since 2008 SGC has led an initiative to develop chemical probes that can selectively stimulate or block the activity of proteins involved in epigenetic control, complementing genetic knockouts and RNAi approaches to understand the cellular role of these proteins.

Regarding target characterization, SGC has accomplished the following:

Points of Contact

General inquiries:
SGC Toronto
Structural Genomics Consortium
101 College St. MaRS South Tower
Suite 700
Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7
Canada
email: rebecca.clare@utoronto.ca

SGC Oxford
Structural Genomics Consortium
University of Oxford
Old Road Campus Research Building
Roosevelt Drive
Headington, Oxford, OX3 7DQ
UK
email: contact@sgc.ox.ac.uk

Scientific inquiries and collaboration with the SGC:
 Wen Hwa Lee, Ph.D.
SGC Oxford
Programme Director
Disease Foundations Network
Strategic Alliances Manager
phone: +44 1865 617586
email: wenhwa.lee@sgc.ox.ac.uk

Arij Al-Chawaf, Ph.D.
SGC Toronto
Strategic Alliances Manager
phone: 416-854-2745
email: arij.alchawaf@thesgc.org

Office of Aled Edwards, CEO
email: aled.edwards@utoronto.ca

Sponsors & Partners

Abbvie

Bayer HealthCare

Boehringer Ingelheim

Canada Foundation for Innovation

Genome Canada

Janssen

Merck

Novartis

Pfizer

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI)

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

Wellcome Trust

Last Updated: 04/22/2016
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