Target search resolves a protein to its ChEMBL identifier by gene name, UniProt accession, or organism — it is typically the first step before a bioactivity search, since a confirmed target ID gives faster, more focused results than free-text resolution. The target type most affects precision: ask for single-protein targets to exclude protein complexes, families, cell lines, and whole-organism assays from the match.

ChEMBL Target Search

Search for protein targets in ChEMBL by gene name, UniProt accession, or organism. Target search is typically the first step before running a bioactivity search.

What you can ask for

Filter	Default	Limits
Query	Required	Gene name, UniProt accession, or free text (e.g., EGFR, P00533, kinase), 2-200 characters
Target type	Any	Single protein, protein complex, protein family, organism, or cell line
Organism	Any	A species name (e.g., Homo sapiens)
Number of results	10	Up to 50 per search

Target confidence, for context

ChEMBL itself assigns a confidence score (1-9) to each target-compound association in its underlying data, reflecting how directly the target was identified in the original assay — but the target search does not filter or return this score. To judge target-assignment reliability for a given compound, check that result's assay_description in a bioactivity search.

Score	Meaning
9	Direct single protein target
8	Homologous single protein target
7	Direct protein complex
6	Homologous protein complex
5	Direct selectivity measurement
4	Cell-based assay (mechanism-based)
1–3	Phenotypic or uncertain target

Chat Usage

Example Prompts

"Search ChEMBL for EGFR targets in human"
"Find the ChEMBL ID for CDK4"
"Search for single-protein human targets related to BRAF"

Workflow Chaining

Feeds into: Bioactivity search (provides ChEMBL target IDs), Target Passport
Accepts from: PubMed literature search (target names mentioned in retrieved abstracts), UniProt search

ChEMBL target search