The MRC PPU is excited to announce a new “DUB Profiling Service” that will allow academic and pharmaceutical scientists from around the world to screen for and assess the selectivity and potency of deubiquitylase (DUB) inhibitors.

This service makes use of a state of the art assay that was developed within the MRC-PPU. It assesses DUB activity using a robotic assay that quantifies the amount of monoubiquitin generated through the DUB-catalysed cleavage of specific diubiquitin topoisomers by using matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI TOF) mass spectrometry.

A major advantage of the MALDI-TOFF DUB assay is that the substrates deployed correspond to the optimal topoisomer of non-modified di-ubiquitin. This circumvents the need for using less physiological chemically modified forms of ubiquitin that are deployed in other DUB assay formats.

Our robotic assay is very robust. We have the capability of undertaking screens for large compound libraries provided by the customer. Inhibitors can also be characterised for their target-specificity, by testing them against a panel that currently consists of 32 DUBs. We plan to expand this panel significantly and will also work to incorporate additional DUBs that are requested for by users of our service. Our assay also enables potency of inhibitors to be readily determined through calculation of their IC50.

Please visit our new website to find out more.