BindingDB [1] [2] [3] [4] is a public, web-accessible database of measured binding affinities, focusing chiefly on the interactions of proteins considered to be candidate drug-targets with ligands that are small, drug-like molecules.
The data collection derives from a variety of measurement techniques, including enzyme inhibition and kinetics, isothermal titration calorimetry, NMR, and radioligand and competition assays.
A NIST-sponsored workshop in September 1997 validated the concept, and funding from the NSF and NIST enabled initial development of the database with a collection of data for systems of many types, including protein-ligand, protein-protein, and host–guest binding.
However, hopes that the database would be populated primarily through depositions by experimentalists were not borne out, and it became clear that the project would have to take responsibility for extracting data from the literature.
This is the current focus of BindingDB, which is led by Michael Gilson, based at UC San Diego's Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and supported by a grant from the NIH.