The Centre for Target Validation

The Centre for Target Validation (CTV) is a multidisciplinary and collaborative research centre that streamlines the connection between cancer science and drug discovery at the ICR.

Research objectives Collaborate with us Where to find us Meet the team

Our focus

Our Centre’s focus is to build robust target validation data packages against potential cancer targets identified from ICR researchers across Divisions. This is to increase confidence in the launch of drug discovery projects against those targets. Our scientists collaborate with ICR researchers to expand on the target biology validation and build a strong therapeutic hypothesis for a target. Tractability of targets is assessed and the most appropriate therapeutic mode of action for a target will be defined.

Drug discovery projects against robustly validated targets will be launched either within the ICR’s Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery (CCDD) or with external partners.

Images: Left: Target depicting the Centre's aims; Validated target, Define therapeutic mode of action, Assess target tractability, Refine therapeutic hypothesis, Expand target biology. Right: CTV workflow

Research at the Centre for Target Validation is focused on applying best practice in target validation and implementing innovative technology to robustly validate targets for drug discovery.

The Centre’s research objectives / themes are as follows:

Target tractability assessments – carry out experimental and in silico validation 

We perform an assessment of potential anti-cancer targets based on criteria under the categories of biology, technical feasibility and strategic position. Each target is unique, requiring bespoke assessment and downstream target validation.

Pursuing innovation in target validation – incorporate new techniques

With the recent development of CRISPR-based genome editing techniques and targeted protein degradation, we are exploring ways to use these more routinely in our target validation plans. For example, ‘prime editing’ with small degron tags will allow us to directly edit the genome, making it possible to degrade the endogenous target protein using a small molecule approach.

Target identification – opportunities from databases

Within the Centre, we also identify targets from multiomic datasets and published literature to find opportunities for early-stage target validation. For example, we use computational biology to uncover novel ‘synthetic lethalities’ where a target is linked to a particular patient population. Our data scientists also use multiomic patient data to expand patient hypotheses for known targets.

Who we work with

Scientists in the CTV will form collaborations with ICR researchers who have identified potential therapeutic targets to:

• Provide access to resources and core facilities to answer hypothesis-testing questions
• Generate the key decision-making data required for target to enter drug discovery

The Centre for Target Validation therefore links the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery within the Division of Cancer Therapeutics with partner Divisions that identify potential drug targets. The Centre is also in collaboration with the Division of Breast Cancer Research to validate targets relevant in breast cancer in the context of the Breast Cancer Now (BCN) Toby Robins Research Centre.

The CTV is supported and funded by the ICR as part of the ICR research strategy: Defeating Cancer to transform the lives of cancer patients.

The CTV is set-up to facilitate collaborations between researchers investigating target biology, with our researchers who have expertise in target validation and drug discovery. Our scientists collaborate with researchers who have identified potential anti-cancer targets, to put those targets on the pathway to drug discovery projects (within CCDD or external partners).

The Centre provides a clear and efficient process for translation of ICR discoveries into drug discovery projects, which is outlined in the Centre’s roadmap:

Joint project teams will be formed between the CTV and our collaborators with the following aims:

• Assess target tractability and define therapeutic mode of action
• Expand on the target biology and further refine the therapeutic hypothesis
• Generate broad, robust target validation data for decision making
• Identify model systems, biomarkers and assays for drug discovery

Data generated will benefit our collaborators target biology research efforts, and will provide a robust pipeline of validated targets to the CCDD for drug discovery:

Contact us

If you have data supporting a new therapeutic target, we want to hear from you! Contact us at [email protected] to get started. We can help put your target on the path to the clinic.

To contact us, please email:

[email protected]

Centre for Target Validation
Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery
The Institute of Cancer Research
15 Cotswold Road
SM2 5NG Sutton, London
United Kingdom

Key publications in the field

• ‘Improving target assessment in biomedical research: the GOT-IT recommendations’ – Christoph H. Emmerich, Lorena Martinez Gamboa, Martine C. J. Hofmann, Marc Bonin-Andresen, Olga Arbach, Pascal Schendel, Björn Gerlach, Katja Hempel, Anton Bespalov, Ulrich Dirnagl & Michael J. Parnham, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 20, 64–81 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-0087-3
• ‘Common pitfalls in preclinical cancer target validation’ – William G. Kaelin Jr., Nature Reviews Cancer, 17, 441-450 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.32