Crysalin Ltd - a breakthrough technology for the multi-billion dollar drug discovery industry
Background
Structure based drug discovery (SBDD) – in essence, computer aided design for pharmaceutical drugs - is routinely used in large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with billions of dollars being deployed to accelerate the identification and optimisation of new drug candidates. Crysalin, spun-out from the University of Oxford in 2007, has developed a technology to address the major bottleneck in SBDD; specifically the provision of rapid and cost effective solutions for determining 3-D molecular structures for all proteins.
A New Technology for Protein Structure Elucidation
Crysalin has developed and patented lattice-based nanomaterials that demonstrate significant advantages in enabling protein structure elucidation. Current methods, specifically crystallisation, face numerous hurdles because the production of suitable crystal structures remains complex, time consuming and uncertain. In addition, whole classes of therapeutically relevant proteins, for example ion channel and G-protein coupled receptors which have been implicated in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are not amenable to crystallisation techniques.
Crysalin's technology enables structural elucidation of proteins by imposing order on target proteins, rendering them amenable to X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy techniques for resolving 3-D molecular structure. The approach relies on the design and production of protein-based building blocks that self assemble into 1-, 2-, or 3 dimensional arrays. The crystals produced according to this design are stabilised by intermolecular forces that are substantially stronger than those that stabilise conventional protein crystals.
The methodology is equally applicable to all protein classes and therefore will provide the biggest impact where current technologies have failed. To date, Crysalin has received seed investment for IP Group plc, Ora (Guernsey) Ltd. and the Oxford University Challenge Seed Fund (UCSF) to exemplify the technology.
NanoBiorCorp
Background
Structure based drug discovery (SBDD) – in essence, computer aided design for pharmaceutical drugs - is routinely used in large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with billions of dollars being deployed to accelerate the identification and optimisation of new drug candidates. Crysalin, spun-out from the University of Oxford in 2007, has developed a technology to address the major bottleneck in SBDD; specifically the provision of rapid and cost effective solutions for determining 3-D molecular structures for all proteins.
A New Technology for Protein Structure Elucidation
Crysalin has developed and patented lattice-based nanomaterials that demonstrate significant advantages in enabling protein structure elucidation. Current methods, specifically crystallisation, face numerous hurdles because the production of suitable crystal structures remains complex, time consuming and uncertain. In addition, whole classes of therapeutically relevant proteins, for example ion channel and G-protein coupled receptors which have been implicated in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are not amenable to crystallisation techniques.
Crysalin's technology enables structural elucidation of proteins by imposing order on target proteins, rendering them amenable to X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy techniques for resolving 3-D molecular structure. The approach relies on the design and production of protein-based building blocks that self assemble into 1-, 2-, or 3 dimensional arrays. The crystals produced according to this design are stabilised by intermolecular forces that are substantially stronger than those that stabilise conventional protein crystals.
The methodology is equally applicable to all protein classes and therefore will provide the biggest impact where current technologies have failed. To date, Crysalin has received seed investment for IP Group plc, Ora (Guernsey) Ltd. and the Oxford University Challenge Seed Fund (UCSF) to exemplify the technology.
NanoBiorCorp
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