Syrrx Awarded $100,000 SBIR Grant to Develop Next Generation High-Throughput Crystallization Robot
SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 15, 2001--Syrrx, Inc. has been awarded $100,000 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Dr. Enrique Abola as Principal Investigator, to conduct Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) studies related to the development of the next generation of high-throughput crystallization robotics.
Syrrx uses novel tools in its current technology platform that bypass historical bottlenecks in the classical protein structure determination process. Deployed in a streamlined, factory-like environment, Syrrx has automated systems that enable the determination of protein structures more reliably and economically than previously thought possible. This capability is used in combination with computational drug discovery and high-throughput screening to identify novel drug candidates. The SBIR grant will fund the development by Syrrx of the next generation of one piece of automation in its suite of proprietary robotic tools.
The project will develop the next generation of the High-throughput Crystallization Robot developed by Syrrx, called Agincourt. In its current design, Agincourt uses approximately 100 times less protein than conventional crystallization approaches and is capable of processing one 96-well plate per minute, or up to about 140,000 conditions per day. This massive throughput enables Syrrx to search crystallization space efficiently for any given protein to find that one condition suited to forming a crystal. The SBIR-funded work is planned to extend the capabilities of the current system and result in the deployment of a compact, integrated crystallization workstation.
``Our current crystallization robotics let us perform thousands of experiments with a small amount of protein and thus scan an unprecedented number of targets quickly. The next generation system built using these funds should make this technology cheaper, faster and more intimately coupled to the drug discovery process itself,'' said Duncan McRee, Director of Crystallography.
Syrrx, Inc. is a science and technology-driven company committed to redefining the way medicine is discovered. Based in San Diego, the company is the technology leader in the field of structural proteomics, the process of generating protein structures from genetic information. Syrrx uses its proprietary technologies for the discovery of new drugs. This process enables a unique ``gene to drug'' platform based on the ability to perform high-throughput rational drug discovery... |
