Pelago Bioscience and CBCS at SciLifeLab enters collaboration agreement
Pelago Bioscience AB and Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS), the chemical biology unit at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab (Science for Life Laboratory) today announced that they will collaborate to develop high throughput automated CETSA®-based Target Engagement Assays for multiple targets. The collaboration is based on expanding Pelago’s CETSA technology capabilities and will enable screening of large chemical libraries for identification of novel chemical leads with high drug potential.
While target engagement assays have long been recognised as pivotal to targeted drug efficacy, Pelago’s CETSA method adds a new dimension to this valuable assay as it allows measurements to be made within cellular systems. Researchers have for the first time been able to measure directly how a compound interacts with its target within the cell and even within patient tissue.
Previous collaborations between CBCS and the inventors of CETSA resulted in the reformatting of the original CETSA method to a format amenable for High-Throughput Screening (HTS) as well as the successful performance of the very first small molecule screening campaign based on CETSA. This new collaboration with Pelago will develop assays for a variety of key signalling proteins important in cell proliferation and metabolism and will enhance the automation of CETSA HT method.
Together these developments will allow pharmaceutical R&D companies to either incorporate these CETSA HT assays directly into their own HTS programs or to utilize Pelago’s own HTS services. Allowing them to rapidly fill important gaps in the drug discovery value chain.
“This is very good news for drug discovery since the scientists at CBCS have such great knowledge of assay automation in general and CETSA in particular” said Dr. Michael Dabrowski, CEO of Pelago Bioscience. “We could not have wished for a better collaborator to develop valuable CETSA HT assays, which have the capacity to transform targeted drug discovery”
“Collaborations with SME’s, such as Pelago, are very important to the chemical biology unit at SciLifeLab and will strengthen our capabilities as national infrastructure for chemical biology research. Importantly, CETSA is one of our cutting-edge competences, and CBCS aims to be in the forefront in the development of new applications of this powerful technology. Ultimately, this will be of great benefit for academic users of the infrastructure” said Dr. Anna-Lena Gustavsson, Director at CBCS at Karolinska Institutet/SciLifeLab.
“We are very happy with this collaboration which is well in line with SciLifeLab’s increased focus to deliver excellent science, not just to the academic and health care community, but also to industry. We encourage more opportunities that harness the combined strength of Sweden’s Life Science sector, contributing to Sweden’s global competitiveness“ added Dr. Lars Hammarström, Strategic Relations Officer at SciLifeLab.
About Pelago Bioscience AB
Spun out from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sweden, PelagoBioscience AB (http://pelagobio.com) was founded to provide and develop the patented Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA®) for use in determination and quantification of drug–target interactions. The company delivers in situ target engagement studies to accelerate preclinical and clinical drug discovery and diagnostics development. Using CETSA data and applications, drug discovery R&D companies are able to make better and more informed decisions at earlier stages in their projects. This reduces time and money spent on sub optimal compounds and allows faster development of more efficacious new drugs. See CETSA and Pelago Bioscience explained in 8 minutes or Email Pelago to learn how we can help with all stages of Drug Discovery.
About CBCS
Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden (CBCS) was established in 2010 as a nation-wide infrastructure for chemical biology research, and in 2012 CBCS became an integrated platform at SciLifeLab. The two CBCS units at Karolinska Intitutet and Umeå University comprise compound handling labs (hosting the SciLifeLab compound collection of ca 200,000 molecules), screening labs (microtiter format liquid handling robotics and a wide range of plate readers), and chemistry labs (equipment and instrumentation for organic chemistry synthesis and analysis). The mission of CBCS is to provide a state-of-the-art platform and expertise for the generation of high-quality bioactive chemical tools (small organic molecules) for applications within life science research.
For more information please contact:
Pelago Bioscience AB: Michael Dabrowski, CEO, +46 (0)730 715 334, michael@pelagobio.com
Chemical Biology Consortium Sweden, Karolinska Institutet, SciLifeLab: Anna-Lena Gustavsson, Director, +46 70 396 5178
SciLifeLab: Lars Hammarström, Strategic Relations Officer, +46 (0)733 745034, lars.hammarstrom@localhost
