Date: 2016-04-04
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium
Company: Astex Pharmaceuticals (UK) AstraZeneca (UK) GSK (UK) Heptares Therapeutics (UK), a subsidiary of Sosei Group (Japan) UCB (Belgium) the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB) (UK) the University of Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre (UK) FEI (USA - OR)
Therapeutic area: Technology - Services
Type agreement: collaboration
Action mechanism: cryo-transmission electron microscope. Cryo-EM has quickly become one of the most important techniques used by structural biologists today to obtain molecular-scale three-dimensional (3D) information about protein structures. When combined with traditional methods for structure determination, such as x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the resulting models can reveal the structure of complex, dynamic molecular assemblies down to the scale of individual atoms.
Disease:
Details: * On April 4, 2016, FEI and five pharmaceutical companies, Astex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, GSK, Heptares Therapeutics, and UCB have partnered with the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB); and the University of Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre, to form the “Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Consortium”. As part of the three-year agreement, FEI will provide sample preparation and data collection services on a Titan Krios™ cryo-transmission electron microscope (cryo-EM) to the consortium companies for early-stage drug discovery research. The five companies involved in the consortium will share access to the microscope with colleagues from the MRC-LMB and the University of Cambridge in return for expert guidance on the use of cryo-EM technology. FEI’s Titan Krios will be installed at the Nanoscience Centre in May. The consortium aims to evaluate the potential of an emerging analytical technique, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for determining three-dimensional information about protein structures at the molecular level. Along with traditional methods for structure determination, such as x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, cryo-EM can reveal the structure of complex molecular assemblies to near atomic level. Detailed information, such as this, is expected to improve understanding of the structure and function of proteins under investigation, and thereby advance the design of new drugs targeting specific proteins, such as G protein-coupled receptors. The consortium will use the Relion software package, developed by Sjors Scheres at MRC-LMB, to process the image data into a visual 3D model that helps researchers see and understand the structure and function of the protein.
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