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Biotech / Medical : PROTEOMICS -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (262)	4/24/2001 5:20:20 AM
From: nigel bates	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 539

...or not. From the m-phasys website - The determination of atomic-resolution structures of membrane proteins, namely GPCRs, is one of the major challenges in protein crystallography. Experimental structures of GPCRs would greatly enhance success rates in structure-based drug design and optimization. However, substantial progress in this field has been hampered so far by the frustrating experience that GPCRs are extremely difficult to purify and crystallize. In fact, the naturally abundant visual pigment rhodopsin is the only GPCR with known 3D structure. m-phasys has overcome a major obstacle by applying its proprietary M-FOLD refolding technology. The large amounts of purified, homogeneous receptors are ideally suited for crystallization experiments. Eukaryotic membrane proteins are usually modified post-translationally. Heterogeneity due to glycosylation, phosphorylation, or fatty acylation very often leads to crystal disorder and poor x-ray diffraction quality. Recombinant proteins expressed in E. coli lack these modifications but are normally fully functional. Membrane proteins produced by m-phasys' M-FOLD technology are highly homogenous when compared to proteins from eukaryotic sources We are currently running crystallization projects of several GPCRs in house, as well as a project aimed at obtaining structural information by NMR... Tübingen, Germany, 17 April 2001. m-phasys today announced the signature of a Research Agreement with GlaxoSmithKline. The collaboration will target the in vitro functionality of a single undisclosed G-protein Coupled Receptor, prepared using m-phasys proprietary M-FOLD refolding technology. Further details were not disclosed. Marc Lohrmann, Chief Business Officer and co-founder of m-phasys said: "Signing the first research collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline marks an important milestone in the development of our company. GSK represents pharmaceutical research at the highest level. We hope to be endorsed as a partner to the pharmaceutical and crop science industry." The vision of m-phasys is to become the leading company for membrane protein drug discovery. m-phasys' proprietary M-FOLD refolding technology is capable of producing large amounts of purified and fully functional membrane proteins. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels are the primary targets. They are produced with high reliability out of recombinant bacteria and folded into their native structure. Membrane proteins represent important pharmaceutical drug 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. The company was founded in August 1999 by Dr. Hans Kiefer, Dr. Wolfgang Arndt and Marc Lohrmann and is located in Tübingen, Germany....

To: nigel bates who wrote (262)	5/31/2001 7:19:06 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 539

HEIDELBERG, Germany, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Graffinity Pharmaceutical Design, today announced a drug discovery alliance with Aventis Pharma. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the agreement, Graffinity will use its proprietary chemical micro-array based discovery platform for identification of novel lead structures for Aventis targets. CEO of Graffinity Dr. Dirk Vetter commented: ``Graffinity's technologies are aimed at the rapid and cost effective discovery of new chemical entities, a step beyond high throughput screening. We start with a target gene and move through protein expression, screening on chemical microarrays and our proprietary RAISE technology (Rapid Array Informed Structure Evolution) to explore unprecedented chemical space and create potentially high value lead compounds. ``We are delighted to be working with a company of the calibre of Aventis Pharma and that the potential value of our unique approach to drug discovery has been recognised.'' Graffinity is a German biotech company based in Heidelberg that has taken an innovative approach to drug discovery which will significantly speed up the identification of lead structures. Graffinity's technology platform integrates chemical microarrays and a novel label-free methodology which allows the standardised analysis of proteins with numerous small organic molecules. During the RAISE process molecules are further developed to interact selectively and with high affinity with the target protein. Graffinity is looking for long-term partnerships with pharmaceutical, biotech and agrochemical companies exploiting the full potential of its lead generating platform. For further information on Graffinity go to www.graffinity.com