Tübingen and Heidelberg, Germany, 11 July 2001.
m-phasys GmbH announced today the signature of a Collaboration Agreement with Bayer AG's Central Research. The collaboration initially aims at the discovery of novel active ingredients acting on membrane protein targets. During the two year collaboration, m-phasys will produce the membrane proteins in recombinant bacteria and refold them into the native, biologically active, state using its proprietary M-FOLD® technology. Based on the refolded protein, assay systems for HTS screening will be developed, allowing Bayer to significantly extend its present compound discovery tools. The novel assays are expected to be highly reproducible and applicable to various formerly inaccessible target proteins. Further details were not disclosed.
"As an industry leader in the compound discovery field and a highly innovative company, Bayer AG is an extremely valuable collaborator for us" notes Dr. Hans Kiefer, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of m-phasys. "We are proud that Bayer will rely on refolded and purified membrane proteins produced by m-phasys. This fosters our position as a leader in the production of refolded recombinant membrane proteins. m-phasys' Lead Discovery Tools offer a direct and highly efficient way to approach a very important target class.''
The vision of m-phasys is to become the leading company for the discovery of compounds targeting membrane proteins. Membrane proteins represent important targets in human therapy and in crop science. m-phasys' proprietary M-FOLD refolding technology is capable of producing large amounts of purified and fully functional membrane proteins from recombinant bacteria. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels are the primary targets. m-phasys offers projects to develop membrane protein drug discovery tools, including membrane protein structure elucidation, to industrial partners. In addition, m-phasys builds a "Compound Generation Network" of biotech companies with complementary technologies to generate lead compounds targeting membrane proteins... |
