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Open access and available facilities

The Tres Cantos site in Spain is home to GSK Global Health R&D research facility, which is focused on discovering and developing new medicines for . endemic infectious diseases.

More than 150 scientific staff work at the campus in a range of areas including medicinal chemistry, parasitology, mycobacteriology, pharmacology and toxicology.

This site is also home to the Open Lab, which is integrated within the facility’s research Units focused on Malaria, TB, Kinetoplastids, Gut Health and Enteric Infections.

The Open Lab gives Open Lab fellows access to GSK drug discovery, pre-clinical expertise, capabilities and the benefits of working as part of a project team.

This bold and flexible approach has positioned the Open Lab as a dynamic research hub for endemic infectious diseases, helping to stimulate innovative research that could ultimately result in the discovery and development of new medicines.

The Open Lab provides access to:

  • The Research Units equipped with all the human and technical resources needed to effectively address the challenges of each disease. These units are composed of laboratories specialized in:
    • Medicinal Chemistry, prepared with state-of-the art technologies, scale up preparation and specific Super Fluid Chromatography (SFC) purification lab.
    • NMR spectroscopy and LC/MS spectrometry and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
    • In vitro and in vivo ADMET platforms , including LC/MSMS analytical capabilities, PBPK and PKPD models.
    • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology : cutting edge research for nucleic acid manipulation, protein expression, purification, biochemical assay development and miniaturization, data analysis and genetic modification of BSL3 microorganisms.
    • Cell Biology: Specific laboratories combined with human resources needed to study the interaction of different pathogen with host cells.
  • The Compound Library, composed of diverse and focused sets, which currently stands at more than three million compounds,
  • The Animal Facility, designed and equipped to work with category 3 microorganisms, and therefore complies with all the required specifications and characteristics for Animal Biosafety Level 3 containment (ABSL3). In this area, in vitro work is also carried out with level 3* microorganisms. A small part of the facilities was designed as insectary to breed and work with Anopheles mosquitoes.
  • Imaging techniques: The imaging platform offers a wide range of in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo imaging capabilities to the different Research Units. Our facilities are equipped with a wide variety of instruments and software including:
    • Opera Phenix and Opera QEHS - Fully automated High Content Screening Systems including Columbus Image Data Storage and Analysis System.
    • Deltavision Elite TLM - High-Resolution live cell microscopy imaging system used for long term imaging experiments within the TB Research Unit.
    • µ-CT - for live monitoring of the disease and treatment efficacy on M. tuberculosis infected mice.
    • MALDI – for label free bioimaging distributions assays directly from tissue sections, that allows us to determine the spatial distribution of hundreds of molecules.

    The combination of these facilities and expertise enables GSK R&D GH to take care of all scientific phases of drug discovery and development from screening campaigns to clinical Proof of Concept studies. (Phase IIb).