exploring biology with small molecules
Unleash the power of small molecules within your research
CBCS brings together a unique combination of expertise, resources, cutting-edge facilities, and advanced equipment to develop novel chemical tools tailored to your specific research challenges. With deep roots in both academia and industry, our multidisciplinary team has contributed to over 400 research projects in the past five years alone—resulting in high-impact publications, groundbreaking innovations, patents, and successful spin-offs.
Through our local access nodes across Sweden, CBCS offers a broad range of specialized services that complement the biological and chemical support we’ve provided to the research community in chemical biology for more than a decade. Together, we generate high-quality data and actionable insights that drive biological discovery and fuel innovation.
Browse through our services below to find your field of interest.
A few of our services at a glance…
Assay development and small molecule screening
Our expert Assay Development team specializes in a wide range of bioassay formats and has deep expertise in translating novel assays from low-throughput to high-throughput, microtiter plate-based formats. Equipped with advanced liquid handling workstations and diverse readout systems, we support a broad spectrum of screening technologies and scales.
Our screening capabilities span from isolated biochemical targets to complex cellular models, including phenotypic and high-content screens, plant biology applications, and whole-organism assays in areas such as infectious diseases and cancer. Read more…
Assay development and screening in BLS-3
CBCS has extensive experience in conducting screening projects involving pathogens under biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) conditions. Building on this expertise, we are proud to now offer assay development and screening services in biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) environments.
At our nodes in Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Linköping, we provide BSL-3 assay development, compound screening, and hit-to-lead support. In Umeå, we continue to offer comprehensive services at the BSL-2 level. Our skilled team has long-standing experience in pathogen-related compound screening, ensuring high-quality data and project guidance.
Our affiliated BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories are equipped for medium- to high-throughput screening, featuring advanced liquid-handling platforms, diverse assay readouts, and automated time-lapse microscopy systems. We look forward to supporting your research involving risk group 2 and 3 pathogens.
Phenotypic profiling using Cell Painting
Phenotypic profiling of cells by high-throughput, high-content microscopy allows for identifying morphological changes in the cells that are indicative, for instance, of the mode of action (MoA) of a drug, novel compound, or biological.
Our CBCS Uppsala node has extensive experience in large-scale data handling and analysis. We have built a complete IT infrastructure capable of storing and analysing the large quantities of images and subsequent data generated from Cell Painting experiments. Read more…
Medicinal and synthetic chemistry support
Access to synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry is a central component of chemical biology and critical for further developing primary screening hits. Our chemistry teams consist of highly experienced senior synthetic chemists with a background in academia and the pharmaceutical industry, providing each project with unique insight into the molecular basis of the studied system. Read more…