Target Fishing

Bioactivity

Discover what your identified compounds do, across KEGG, PubChem, ChEMBL and Reactome

From identity to biology

Analysts cross-reference, so you don’t have to

Once a compound is identified, Target Fishing does the cross-referencing work across KEGG, PubChem, ChEMBL and Reactome that would otherwise take an analyst hours per hit.

See how identification works
Laboratory technicians running samples across automated analyzers
About Target Fishing

From structure to significance

Identification is step one. Understanding biological context is step two. Target Fishing matches your identified compounds against curated bioactivity databases to reveal known targets, pathways, and mechanisms — all without leaving the VeroMass interface.

Real-time cross-referencing

Submit a list of identified compounds and receive aggregated target annotations within seconds. No manual database hopping.

Unified results view

Annotations from KEGG, PubChem, ChEMBL, and Reactome are merged into a single, sortable table — filter by database, target class, or pathway.

Export-ready reports

Download comprehensive summary reports with citations, confidence scores, and direct links to each source database entry.

Integrated Databases

Four curated sources, one query

Each database is queried through its public API or a locally curated snapshot, so you always have current data — without the integration burden.

KEGG

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Map compounds to metabolic pathways, enzymatic reactions, and disease associations using KEGG compound and pathway identifiers.

PubChem

The world's largest repository of chemical information. Retrieve bioassay data, pharmacological properties, literature links, and substance annotations for each compound.

ChEMBL

Curated bioactive molecules with drug-like properties. Access binding affinities, functional assays, ADMET data, and target relationships extracted from medicinal chemistry literature.

Reactome

Open-source pathway database. Trace your compounds through reaction networks, signaling cascades, and metabolic pathways to understand their biological role in context.

Workflow

How it works

Three steps from identification to biological insight.

1 Identify

Run compound identification

Upload your MS/MS data and let VeroMass identify compounds at MSI Level 1a confidence using the three-gate verification protocol against 40,000+ authenticated standards.

2 Match

Cross-reference against bioactivity databases

Select the databases you want to query — KEGG, PubChem, ChEMBL, Reactome — and run target fishing. Results return in seconds with direct source links.

3 Explore

Analyse targets and pathways

Browse unified results, filter by target class or pathway, and export comprehensive reports. Use the findings to guide hypothesis generation and experimental design.

Use Cases

Target fishing in action

Bioactivity mining accelerates discovery across disciplines — from drug development to natural product chemistry.

Drug Discovery

Identify mechanism of action for hit compounds. Cross-reference against ChEMBL binding assays and KEGG disease pathways to prioritise candidates with favourable target profiles and known safety data.

Natural Products

Screen complex natural product extracts for known bioactivity. Link unidentified features to literature-reported bioassays in PubChem and ChEMBL, accelerating the discovery of novel leads from biodiversity.

Metabolomics

Map identified metabolites onto Reactome and KEGG pathways to reveal impacted biological networks. Discover pathway-level enrichment and connect metabolomic changes to their physiological consequences.

Discover what your compounds do

Turn identifications into biological insight. Target Fishing brings four major bioactivity databases to your fingertips.