Saffron Walden, UK, 15th December 2016 / Domainex Ltd announces today that it has purchased and fully commissioned a Monolith NT.Automated instrument from NanoTemper Technologies Ltd. As the first UK contract research organisation to invest in the instrument, Domainex is in a unique position to offer its partners and clients improved fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) services in their quest for new hit molecules.
The high-throughput device uses MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) technology, which is emerging as a leading technique for quantifying molecular interactions and structural dynamics, presenting binding affinity results in just a few minutes. Offering many additional advantages over alternative molecular interaction assay methods, MST is able to measure molecular interactions in solution at near native conditions, providing researchers with a free choice of assay buffer systems.
‘We are very pleased to be advancing our fragment based drug discovery service at Domainex with the addition of this automated MST platform. The combination of this technology with our proprietary Combinatorial Domain Hunting expertise will enable us to offer a unique protein production, characterisation, and fragment screening service at a speed and of a quality not matched by our competitors,’ commented Trevor Perrior, CSO for Domainex. ‘The sensitivity of MST means that we can screen compound and fragment libraries using very small amounts of protein. The technology can significantly reduce the number of false positives and false negatives, meaning that we can find hits that may otherwise be overlooked. This technique therefore allows us to enhance our FBDD processes and, when coupled with our expertise in medicinal chemistry, provide our partners with higher quality clinical candidate compounds.’
‘NanoTemper Technologies is extremely excited to announce Domainex as the first company in the UK to offer fragment screening services using our proprietary MST technology’, added Dr. Stefan Duhr, CEO, NanoTemper Technologies Ltd. ‘From our UK subsidiary in Cambridge we have an excellent relationship with Domainex and look forward to working with them in the future to deliver high-quality fragment screening results on novel targets.’
ENDS
Press enquiries
For Domainex Ltd, please contact:
Dr. Thomas Mander MBA
Chief Operating Officer
T: +44 (0)1223 743174
E: tom.mander@domainex.co.uk
For media enquiries, please contact:
Deborah Cockerill
Sciad Communications
T: 07930 317729
E: deborah@sciad.com
For NanoTemper Technologies Ltd, please contact:
Dr. James Wilkinson
T: 01223 370033
E: james.wilkinson@nanotemper.co.uk
Notes for Editors
About Domainex Ltd
Established in 2001 as a spin-out from University College London, Birkbeck College and the Institute of Cancer Research, Domainex Ltd. is a Cambridge-based, privately-owned small-molecule therapeutics company that provides integrated drug research services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic partners globally. Services cover a wide span of the drug research value chain, from disease target validation to pre-clinical candidate nomination. Domainex's services include recombinant protein expression and use of its proprietary technology platform, Combinatorial Domain Hunting to identify soluble protein fragments for structural biology and assay development. Hit finding activities encompass assay development and screening utilising its Bioassay Builder and LeadBuilder platforms. The core of the service offering is undertaking multi-parameter medicinal chemistry optimisation of hits and leads under the mantra ‘every compound counts’, which can save up to 30% on the average industry time from target to candidate.
Additionally, Domainex is investing in developing its own therapeutic compounds for out-licensing in two specific areas: 1) Inhibitors of the kinases TBK1 & IKK epsilon to treat inflammatory conditions such as COPD and Lupus; 2) the emerging epigenetic target class of lysine methyltransferases implicated in oncology and other diseases, where to date Domainex has built a portfolio of assets encompassing novel chemical matter, proprietary assays and X-ray crystal structures.
For more information please visit www.domainex.co.uk
About NanoTemper Technologies GmbH / NanoTemper Technologies Ltd.
NanoTemper Technologies develops highly innovative instrument and software solutions for biomolecular analysis. Our headquarters are in Munich, Germany, with subsidiaries in Cambridge, UK and across the globe. NanoTemper Technologies was originally formed as a spin-off of the LMU Munich after the founders invented MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST). Over the last 8 years, MST has received strong recognition as a compelling alternative to Surface Plasmon Resonance for detecting molecular interactions without the need to bind a substrate to surfaces. In 2015, NanoTemper Technologies extended the product portfolio with Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology for analyzing conformational changes of biomolecules, and our Prometheus range, employing nanoDSF (an advanced Differential Scanning Fluorimetry method) for label-free, ultra-high resolution measurements of protein folding and stability.
For more information, please visit https://nanotempertech.com/