Assay development optimisation & technology

Increasing Drug Discovery Success With 3D Cell Culture Systems By Dr Richard M. Eglen, Dr Feng Li and Dr Tony Frutos Drug candidates often fail in the clinic for two reasons: they lack efficacy or possess an adverse toxicity profile. These failures can come at a high cost, especially when drug candidates have already progressed […]

How Advanced Automated Liquid Handling Systems are Reshaping Drug Discovery By Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Richard Massey Winter 2018/19 Once the domain of high-throughput screening (HTS) applications, automated liquid handling systems are now used ubiquitously in drug discovery and have been fundamental in increasing throughput, driving efficiencies and improving standards of accuracy and reproducibility in […]

3D Cell Culture – Engineering Composable, Disease-Tunable 3D Human Microtissues for Drug Discovery By Dr Patrick Guye, Dr Eva Thoma and Dr Olivier Frey In this article, we will share some of what we have learned over the past 10 years as pioneers in the 3D cell culture space and provide guidance for those who […]

Genetically-Engineered Models: The Value of Precious GEMs By Dr Megan M. MacBride Genetically-engineered animal models (GEMs) are critical tools for drug discovery and development, but intellectual property (IP) concerns can complicate access. As pharma and biotech increasingly outsource R&D activities to universities, careful scrutiny is required to ensure adherence to IP restrictions on research tools […]

How Phenotypic CRISPR Screening is Revolutionising Drug Discovery By Dr Steffen Lawo and Dr Carlos le Sage Research in drug discovery and biotechnology increasingly exploits gene editing at industrial scale in order to identify and validate new biological targets for precision medicines. The discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 systems has fuelled a rapid expansion of gene editing […]

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) – Unlocking their full potential for Drug Discovery By Abby Edwards and Dr Richard Massey Human stem cells were once viewed primarily as regenerative materials for tissue repair through cell therapies. However, advances in technologies and protocols mean that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are now playing an increasingly important […]

The Data Driven Transformation In Drug Discovery Dr Satnam Surae This article, presents a review of the current approaches to data management and application within the drug development and research setting, highlighting major critical challenges and emerging solutions for organisations that are determined to harness big data and machine learning. Data-driven companies that use integrated […]

The Mass Spectrometry Innovations Simplifying Drug Discovery Workflows Helen Stewart-Miller and Dr Richard Massey Mass spectrometry (MS) has long been a valuable tool for drug discovery, and steady advances in its capabilities and performance have generated powerful insights for the pharmaceutical industry. The latest mass spectrometry innovations are now helping biotherapeutics developers overcome challenges around […]

Microfluidics – Driving Innovation and Streamlining Single Cell Analysis By Dr Frank F. Craig Microfluidics platforms that harness picodroplet technology (picolitre volume aqueous droplets in stabilised oil emulsions) are unlocking the potential of single cell analysis to enable exciting new discoveries and advances with the potential to transform scientific research, drug development and precision medicine. […]

Analytical Biophysical Tools To Accelerate Discovery of Therapeutic Antibodies By Dr Yasmina Noubia Abdiche The innate ability of antibodies to bind their targets with high affinity and exquisite specificity is leveraged in the discovery of therapeutic antibodies to treat a broad range of diseases including cancer, autoimmune disease and heart disease. In addition, antibodies are […]

Disruptive Approaches To Accelerate Drug Discovery and Development (Part 2) By Dr Anton Fliri, et al. Part 2: Emergent intelligence, a new paradigm for drug discovery. (You can read part 1 of disruptive approaches to accelerate drug discovery and development linked here.) The staggering clinical trial failure rate of experimental drugs indicates that despite huge […]

Astrazeneca R&D – Improving Drug Development Productivity With Better Predictivity By Dr Menelas Pangalos & Steve Rees et al. Changing demands in global healthcare over the past 15 years have led to greater complexity and spiralling costs in drug development. The average price tag of taking a new drug from discovery to completion of Phase […]

Bringing Immuno-Oncology Together: How An Immunologist & Oncologist Collaborate By Dr Julia Schuler and Dr Louise Brackenbury For many years, immunology and oncology operated as separate disciplines within drug discovery. However, recent advances in immuno-oncology (IO) have demonstrated what can be achieved when the two disciplines join forces in developing novel treatments for patients. From […]

Biologics Drug Discovery – Driving Strategic Improvements With Scientific Informatics By Dr Andrew LeBeau Adoption of a scientific informatics system is essential to the success of every drug discovery organisation. This article discusses how we can drive strategic improvements in biologics drug discovery using scientific informatics. Good decisions can accelerate innovation and success, whereas poor […]

Disruptive Approaches To Accelerate Drug Discovery and Development (Part 1) By Ibis Sanchez- Serrano, Dr Tom Pfeifer and Dr Rathnam Chaguturu This article is part 1 of 2, and covers tools, technologies and the core model of disruptive approaches to accelerate drug discovery and development. Tesla intends to implement and practise an ‘open source’ philosophy […]

Kinases – Shedding Light on Kinase Drug Discovery By Dr Gary Allenby This article discusses the application of new assay technologies to shed light on kinase drug discovery. The human kinome comprises 518 known protein kinases and more than 20 lipid kinases. Nearly all aspects of control within a cell are modulated by reversible phosphorylation […]