Collaboration to advance high-throughput screening services

23-Oct-2018 - Last updated on 08-Aug-2019 at 20:53 GMT

(Image: Getty/omgimages)

Assay.Works and 2bind are partnering to expand the range of discovery services provided for companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, and academic organizations.

High-throughput screening (HTS), a methodology for identifying drug discovery compounds and chemical biology, is the center of this partnership.

Through this collaboration Assay.Works GmbH will gain access to 2bind GmbH's molecular interaction studies experience for hit identification, validation, and characterization.

Ralf Schwander, founder and CEO of Assay.Works, told us, that Assay.Works is a service provider for early drug discovery and therefore does a lot of HTS and lead identification where the company uses assays to find small molecule compounds which are then characterized in downstream assays.

“The technology from 2bind is really useful and therefore, the collaboration means that we can basically characterize these compounds and lead candidates for our clients in greater depth,” Schwander explained.

2bind will bolster the services it can offer to its clients with access to Assay.Works' cell-based and biochemical assay capabilities, and experience in HTS and assay automation.

Thomas Schubert, CEO of 2bind told us that for them, the partnership is beneficial as it is attractive for companies and customers to work with experts in the field, and to have this broad portfolio from early HTS that Assay.Works can provide.

“So, this partnership means, for both of us, the broadening of the portfolio making us more attractive to potential customers that’ll work with us in a single manner,” said Schubert.

In the collaboration 2bind will also gain access to Assay.Works’ 384-well format screening and nanoliter dispensing instrumentation, as well as its libraries with 150,000 small molecules and 97,000 siRNAs, the company’s assay cell line portfolio.

The biophysical assay technologies that will be available per this partnership include MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST), nano-scale Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (nanoDSF), Biolayer Interferometry (BLI), and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC).

The companies will share a laboratory and administrative space at BioPark Regensburg. By working at the same site the companies aim to have ‘seamless’ interaction and exchange of knowledge.

“At the same we are really close together and we basically share ideas on how to tackle certain problems in the compound characterization,” said Schwander

Schubert added, “besides that, in terms of the logistics since we share lab and since our workflows are very well adapted for each other there aren’t logistics necessary since we are sitting beside each other and that’s a big advantage for our customers since we are just a lab bench away.”

“All these things come down to lower the cost and this is also something that as a CRO are always under pressure in the market to provide optimal cost structure for our customers, and this is a little milestone for us to be able to do that,” he said.