In fragment-based drug discovery and design (FBDD), our services provide two essential steps:
1. Fragment screening & hit identification
2. Hit to lead generation and optimization
The most straightforward strategy for de novo design (green quadrant) would be to run initial hit identification with FBDD methods. For this purpose, we primarily use our proprietary
weak affinity chromatography (WAC™) technology. The screening can be run using our proprietary fragment library or clients’ libraries.
Compound activity assays are performed using the capabilities of our in-house partner Red Glead Discovery. As mentioned above, we may also assess the binding of the identified compounds using biophysical methods, like NMR spectroscopy, thermal-shift assay, or X-ray crystallography.
If no experimental structure is available for the target protein, SARomics Biostructures offers
gene-to-structure services. In this case, the protein is cloned, expressed, purified, and crystallized, and its X-ray crystallographic structure is determined (see our learning center for details of the
crystallography process).