BioAscent enhanced its service offering with a £1m/$1.3m investment in new instrumentation and equipment.
The additional instrumentation includes a FLIPR Penta screening system and a Biacore 8k Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) system, as well as a new workstation for plate set-up during compound management, and updated IT infrastructure.
The new FLIPR Penta screening system gives BioAscent additional capabilities in developing and running high-throughput cellular screening assays for measuring rapid kinetic events, such as intracellular ion flux in response to GPCR or ion channel activation. GPCRs are one of the most successful target classes for drug development, and BioAscent has proven expertise and a growing reputation in GPCR research. The company has recently conducted a number of successful GPCR hit-finding projects for biotech customers, and since the new system was installed, the team has already commenced a high throughput screen of the BioAscent 125k diversity library against a GPCR target.
The new Biacore 8k SPR system gives BioAscent orthogonal technology to validate clients’ hit compounds, as well as profile the kinetics of compounds in hit to lead and lead optimization programs. The technology also provides BioAscent with an additional technique for screening its own internal fragment library for clients and complements the exceptional biophysical assay development and screening capabilities and expertise already offered via its existing Thermal Shift and Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) capabilities.
“Customer feedback has been really positive,” said BioAscent’s Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Sylviane Boucharens. “We have always given customers the peace of mind that their compounds are stored securely, their inventory is up-to-date and trackable, and compounds can be accessed and delivered quickly and easily in screen-ready format – something that is especially critical for innovative biotechs working with a network of CROs. With the new equipment we can now offer even more sophisticated plating at a very cost-effective price, and the increased capacity will mean reduced lead times for clients, and also increased contingency planning.”
“We have the experience and expertise in the team to support a wide range of drug discovery projects, and we are committed to delivering the highest quality research, cost-effectively for our clients. Our investment in new systems and ensuring that the team has the best instrumentation at their disposal is a reflection of this commitment,” Paul Smith, BioAscent’s CEO, said.