Integrated Structural Biology Outsourcing Services
SARomics Biostructures is a structural biology services company that supports the entire lifecycle of drug discovery and fragment-based drug design projects. We utilize advanced technologies and provide FastLane drug target protein structures, as well as protein structure determination through protein crystallography and NMR spectroscopy.
SARomics Biostructures is a leading contract research organization (CRO) in structural biology. The company was established in 2006 by scientists with extensive experience across structural biology and structure-based drug design. The company rapidly gained recognition across North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. A video presentation by Björn Walse, the CEO of SARomics Biostructures, provides more details about the company’s services. See also our articles on the advantages of outsourcing early drug discovery services and why clients entrust our company with their drug discovery and structural biology projects.
Below you will find a more detailed description of our integrated services.
Our laboratories and offices are situated near the MAX IV synchrotron laboratory, a fourth-generation synchrotron in Lund. By combining a high-intensity beam with advanced automation, the protein X-ray crystallography beamlines at MAX IV support crystallographic fragment screening, serial crystallography, and room-temperature X-ray crystallography.
Explore OUR Structural Biology Services
Integrated structural biology is an interdisciplinary branch of modern biological sciences that uses various complementary biophysical techniques to study biological structures and functional processes at an atomic level and to assist in protein structure determination and structure-based drug discovery and design. The SARomics Biostructures team has almost 20 years of experience working with many drug target classes, providing structural biology CRO services using a variety of experimental techniques, including protein crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and other biophysical methods. Below is a brief overview of our services. For a more detailed description, please visit the respective services pages. Additional information about our experimental platform can be found in our technology platform overview and on our blog.
Custom Protein X-ray Crystallography & NMR Spectroscopy Services
SARomics Biostructures’ structural biology technology platform offers high-throughput custom CRO services in X-ray crystallography and protein NMR spectroscopy. Our crystallography services rely on regular data collection at the 4th generation MAX IV synchrotron in Lund. Our location near the synchrotron provides considerable flexibility in beamline access and ensures reliable sample delivery to the beamlines.
Our services include:
Our state-of-the-art laboratories are fully equipped for protein expression, purification, characterization, and crystallization. We employ biophysical methods such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) to characterize proteins. To enhance the efficiency of our crystallization experiments, we employ high-throughput liquid-handling robotics and plate hotels maintained at different temperatures and monitored by an automated imaging system.
Two experimental stations at MAX IV leverage our X-ray crystallography services: BioMax and the newly opened MicroMax. Furthermore, the MicroMax beamline is particularly well-suited for serial X-ray crystallography experiments. For details, please get in touch with us.
Fragment Screening and Structure-Based Drug Design
Our integrated structural biology services platform will assist your lead discovery and structure-based drug design efforts. Our offers include fragment screening & fragment-based drug discovery, and structure-based lead optimization services. You will also get exclusive access to our proprietary fragment libraries and weak-affinity chromatography (WAC™) screening technology, jointly owned by SARomics Biostructures and RG Discovery.
Additionally, our leading fragment screening capabilities encompass:
Biophysical fragment screening techniques such as NMR spectroscopy and crystallography help identify weak binders to proteins, characterize ligand binding sites and reveal the details of molecular interactions within the ligand-protein complexes. Our proprietary fragment library, optimized for weak-affinity chromatography and NMR screening, includes about 1,300 low-molecular-weight (<220) MedChem-friendly compounds. These compounds are designed to cover diverse chemical spaces and are general-purpose. More than 90% of the compounds are commercially available, enabling rapid SAR generation.
For crystallographic fragment screening, we have designed a specific kinase-focused fragment library in collaboration with the FragMax platform staff. The FragMax facility was explicitly designed to facilitate crystallographic fragment screening projects. Our blog post on this subject discusses the advantages of crystallographic fragment screening and details of the service.
Our clients are also welcome to send their own libraries for screening. Please get in touch with us to discuss the requirements.
We also invite you to explore our overview of strategies for structure-based drug design.
Recombinant Proteins For Drug Discovery
Highly purified crystallization-grade proteins are essential for any structural biology and drug discovery project. Our comprehensive catalog features high-purity drug-target recombinant proteins expressed and purified to the highest standards in our protein lab. These proteins have undergone rigorous characterization using biophysical methods and other methods.
Why Choose SARomics Biostructures?
Our workflows enable us to deliver hundreds of protein crystal and NMR structures annually for various early-stage drug discovery projects. Since our establishment in 2006, we have successfully solved thousands of protein structures and submitted more than 500 disclosable structures to the Protein Data Bank (PDB). We have also contributed to numerous publications in high-ranking journals, including seven papers in Nature between 2021 and 2024.
When you entrust your structural biology and drug discovery project to our company, you can expect:
See also our blog posts on why clients entrust us with their drug discovery and structural biology projects and about the advantages of outsourcing early drug discovery to a CRO.
SARomics Biostructures laboratories and offices are located in the new modern laboratory building at Medicon Village, Lund. Medicon Village is Scandinavia’s largest research and development cluster of biotech companies, built to support innovation and collaborations in advanced research and business.
Our blog explores Experimental structural biology & drug discovery techniques and Applications.
It also includes the latest company updates, highlights new publications, and features our team’s contributions.
Macrocyclic Peptide Drugs
We discuss the unique structure of macrocyclic peptide drugs, which fall between small-molecule drugs and biologics.
Crystallographic Fragment Screening
Overview of crystallographic fragment screening, the most effective method for screening fragment libraries.
Synchrotron radiation in drug discovery
We discuss a study conducted by the AstraZeneca team on the impact of synchrotron radiation on drug discovery.