Medicinal Chemistry Center

The mission of MCC, founded in 2007, is to deploy advanced medicinal chemistry approaches to discover new potent, selective small molecules to study disease-related biological targets in cells in preclinical models via collaboration with groups in many departments across St. Jude.

MCC supports the post screening SAR process of lead optimization by improving solubility, potency, pharmacokinetics (PK), and ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion). MCC staff, comprised of pharma-experienced medicinal chemists, help researchers find relevant, literature-disclosed probes and arrange for their purchase or synthesis. Fully integrated with ATC and CBC, MCC is equipped with instrumentation that enables high throughput synthesis, purification, and characterization of small molecules, as well as delivery of novel chemical probes.