Chapter 4: Modern Biophysical Methods for Screening and Drug Discovery

In the search for new chemical starting points for drug discovery, there has been tremendous growth in the variety and sophistication of methods used to identify bioactive compounds. In line with this growth, biophysical methods are critical for the identification of compounds via fragment based drug discovery and are also valuable for the ‘on-target’ validation and optimization of compounds identified by other methods early in the discovery process. This chapter emphasizes the value, strengths, and challenges of these methods with an eye towards tailoring of the strategy where value can be added to a molecular discovery program.