CHICAGO, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- MediChem Life Sciences (Nasdaq: MCLS - news), a Chicago-based drug discovery technology and services company, announced today that Emerald BioStructures, its structural proteomics division, was awarded a Phase II SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant is entitled ``Crystallization Tools for Structural Genomics,'' and facilitates MediChem's development of tools that dramatically accelerate the protein crystallization process.
The initial Phase I grant funded the development of Emerald's existing protein crystallization technology platform, called EmeraldEngine(TM). The Phase II grant will enable Emerald to continue the development of high- throughput crystallization robotics, software and screening tools.
Using EmeraldEngine(TM), scientists streamline the protein crystallization process in structural proteomics and drug discovery. The EmeraldEngine(TM) technologies include robotic automation, proprietary software and databases, protein expression technologies, membrane crystallization technologies and synchrotron data collection.
``Protein crystallization is currently the rate-limiting step in structural proteomics,'' said Michael T. Flavin, Ph.D., MediChem's president and CEO. ``Our proprietary technologies enable us to crystallize proteins faster than ever before. This Phase II grant will fund the development of technologies that speed up the process even more.''
After completing protein crystallization, Emerald scientists determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source (APS). MediChem Life Sciences has a proprietary user agreement with the APS that provides access to the Nation's most powerful X-ray source. This enables MediChem to collect X-ray diffraction data and obtain a high resolution rendering of proteins' three-dimensional structures.
Seeing a protein's structure helps researchers understand its function. Knowing the details of a protein's structure is valuable in drug design because compounds can be developed that bind specifically to it. These drugs may be more effective and cause fewer side effects.
MediChem Life Sciences acquired Emerald BioStructures in June 2000. In addition to high-throughput protein crystallization, Emerald BioStructures provides x-ray crystallographic products and services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries... |
