The SULSA Assay Development Fund: accelerating translation of new biology from academia to pharma

•Translating academic science with drug discovery requires high quality assays.•We established a fund and utilised existing infrastructure to address this need.•Engagement with academic networks provided a diverse target portfolio.•The scheme provided an excellent training platform for early career researchers.•Successful outputs from the fund leveraged significant follow-on funding.

With industry increasingly sourcing preclinical drug discovery projects from academia it is important that new academic discoveries are enabled through translation with HTS-ready assays. However, many scientifically interesting, novel molecular targets lack associated high-quality, robust assays suitable for hit finding and development. To bridge this gap, the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) established a fund to develop assays to meet quality criteria such as those of the European Lead Factory. A diverse project portfolio was quickly assembled, and a review of the learnings and successful outcomes showed this fund as a new highly cost-effective model for leveraging significant follow-on resources, training early-career scientists and establishing a culture of translational drug discovery in the academic community.