The assay aims to identify small molecule, non-covalent chemical inhibitors of the Werner syndrome (WS) helicase (WRN) to develop improved anticancer treatment strategies. The assay will use a fluorescence intensity modulation scheme with a duplex deoxyoligonucleotide that contains a single forked structure to screen a ~350,000-member Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository (MLSMR) collection. After hit selection, confirmatory, secondary, and ternary assays will be performed to identify high-confidence WRN inhibitors. The study will investigate the structure-activity relationships for the top candidate inhibitor series through medchem expansion. Is the molecule effective to this assay?