Compound Profiling - Charnwood Molecular Launches New Unique Profiling Service - Chemistry

Oct. 30, 2014 - PRLog -- CHARNWOOD MOLECULAR, a leading provider of chemistry services to the biotechnology, fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries, has partnered with French company, Hybrigenics, to launch a new service which identifies interactions between small molecules and protein targets.

Charnwood Molecular’s involvement in the partnership sees the company using its expertise to link molecules for further analysis by Paris-based Hybrigenics, using their yeast molecular biology machinery.  The venture is the result of a two year long commercial trialling phase, which was supported by European funding.

The project is the result of a joint development venture amounting to a total investment of nearly one million Euros, which has been supported up to 40% of the costs by a European Union subsidy under the Eurostars® programme.

Using a chemical linkage adaptation of its optimized “yeast two-hybrid” technology, renamed “yeast chemical-hybrid” (YChemH), Hybrigenics Services screens the molecule provided by Charnwood Molecular as a “bait” against its cDNA or genomic libraries expressing millions of “prey” protein fragments to identify target proteins with which this tested molecule interacts.

These exhaustive screenings can be of interest from both safety and efficiency angles. It is hoped that the technology may uncover a full range of related targets, accounting for the whole spectrum of therapeutic activities of a drug (so-called “on-targets”) and/or explain unexpected side effects exerted through unsuspected targets (so-called “off-targets”).  Some drugs are active in whole cellular or animal models, but their active mechanisms remain unknown:  the YChemH technology may find a relevant target for these “orphan” drugs, in a process called “drug de-orphanisation”.  It may also be relevant for widely used chemicals in every day products to ascertain that they do not interact with any protein.

“This new service offering covers a whole new area of involvement for Charnwood in protein interaction screening: with small molecules, making it unique. The venture has been conceived and developed to answer the unmet needs of the pharmaceutical industry and highlights our expertise in chemistry.  This, alongside the biological expertise held at Hybrigenics, means that we are involved in developments at the cutting edge of the biotech/chemical sector” said Sylvain Blanc, Business Development Manager of Charnwood Molecular.

The venture comes at a key time for Charnwood Molecular as the company expands, having recently acquired a new laboratory site within BioCity, Nottingham, UK.

More information on the service can be found here:

http://www.charnwood-molecular.com/ultimate-compound-profiling/

EDITORS’ NOTES

· Founded in 1998 as Charnwood Catalysis Ltd., a "spin-out" from Loughborough University, by Prof. Steve Allin and Prof. Phil Page to exploit expertise in asymmetric synthesis and catalysis.

· Rebranded as Charnwood Molecular in 2002, the company builds on its enviable reputation for research and synthesis and expands to become a leading chemistry-based CRO serving the global chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

· In 2003 Charnwood Molecular relocates from Loughborough University into newly-refurbished premises containing three state-of-the-art research laboratories.

· In 2012, to serve the growing demand for its medicinal chemistry services, Charnwood Molecular expands into an additional research facility within BioCity, Nottingham.

· Charnwood Molecular's portfolio of services is wide and includes:

· Medicinal Chemistry (library design for drug discovery, modelling, synthesis and optimization)

· Custom Synthesis preparation of key chemical intermediates on up to 20-litre scale

· Contract Research, including route design, development and optimization

· Analytical Chemistry Support

· In 2013 Charnwood Molecular, in partnership with French company Hybrigenics Services, introduces a new service to its clients to identify interactions between bioactive small molecules and their protein targets based. This internal research and development was supported by European Union "Eurostars" funding.

· Charnwood Molecular can provide additional high-value expertise and input into clients’ projects through its carefully selected partnership agreements.

· For any further information, contact Paul Hughes on mobile: 07931 903 628.