DISCOVERY BIOLOGY
The Drug Discovery Biology theme's research in pharmacology and drug discovery has a sustained impact on the understanding and treatment of major global health burdens. It is known as the heart of future therapeutics.
It helps to understand drug targets /phenotypes and helps to develop appropriate tools for the investigation of biological modulators. With wide-ranging capabilities in biology, we offer high quality, seamless and cost effective services in several areas including recombinant DNA engineering, cell line development, hybridoma technology, Next-Generation Sequencing, protein sciences (purification & crystallography), screening & assay biology, DMPK, in vivo pharmacology, toxicology and biologicals.
- Cell model/target definition and identity check (GWAS, -omics)
- Phenotypic, on-target, and off-target knowledge (genome editing and pharmacogenomics)
- Target-based readout (strategies for targeted modes of action, specificity and selectivity)
- Target engagement in cells and pharmacodynamic assays (reported-based and orthogonal assays)
- Identification of key molecular interaction and network
- Establishment of criteria for target engagement to obtain a functional effect
Our interest and capabilities
Our major research capability strengths are pharmacology, structural biology, target identification and translational biology. Our principal therapeutic focus areas are neurological disease, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disease. We have interests in pain, inflammatory disease and cancer. With partner driven drug discovery we have specific interests in:
- The structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)
- The role of allostery and bias in receptor signalling, particularly in neuroscience
- The genes, proteins and pathways that are important in metabolic disease, and
- The development of new treatments for heart failure resulting from interruptions in coronary blood supply (such as in heart attack) or as a result of diabetes.