AMRI gains new drug discovery tech through strategic alliance
The alliance with Bruker Daltonics and HighRes Biosolutions looks to develop new applications for using high throughput mass spectrometry (MS) for drug discovery. As part of this, AMRI has acquired the new MALDI PharmaPulse system from Bruker Daltonics and HighRes Biosolutions, which will be deployed at the company’s Drug Discovery Center in Buffalo, NY.
Additionally, Bruker Daltonics and HighRes Biosolutions will provide training and consulting to AMRI biologists.
The system, which combines Bruker’s MALDI mass spec with automation capabilities from HighRes Biosolutions, “opens up significant new avenues of drug discovery in diseases that need to be better understood such as complex neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases,” Grant Carr, Ph.D., senior director, lead discovery for AMRI, told Ousourcing-Pharma.
“Our scientists are especially excited to start working with the system,” he added.
Carr explained the MALDI technology has the potential to provide better experimental data for high throughput screening than older technologies, which he said rely on the addition of chemicals that can affect experiments.
“However, previously, MALDI mass spec did not have the throughput to make it useful for hit discovery,” said Carr. “With the PharmaPulse system, throughputs greater than 50,000 samples screened per day can be achieved. AMRI will bring in its expertise in chemistry and biology to create assays that extend the utility of the system to complex cell-based assays for the identification of potential new drugs to meet a variety of unmet needs.”
The next steps involve installing the system and commencing protocol development to help AMRI customers advance their drug discovery projects.
