Integrated Structural Biology & Drug Discovery Outsourcing Services
SARomics Biostructures’ integrated structural biology services support the entire drug discovery project lifecycle, utilizing advanced technologies along with our extensive expertise in protein X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and fragment-based drug design.
SARomics Biostructures is a leading structural biology and fragment-based drug design (FBDD) services company. It was established in 2006 as a research-focused contract research organization (CRO) 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.
Our laboratories and offices are situated near the MAX IV synchrotron laboratory in Lund, which features two beamlines dedicated to protein crystallography: BioMax and MicroMax. A key advantage of synchrotron crystallography is the high intensity of the X-ray beam, which allows data collection from smaller crystals and yields higher-quality, higher-resolution data. Additional benefits include a high level of automation and technical support at the experimental station, tunable X-ray wavelengths, and the capability to perform serial and room-temperature 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 the atomic level and to assist in structure-based drug discovery and design. The SARomics Biostructures team has accumulated nearly 20 years of experience since the company’s establishment, applying a wide range of experimental structural biology techniques. Below is a brief overview of our services. For a more detailed description, please visit the respective services pages. Additional information about the experimental techniques can be found in our technology platform overview and on our blog.
Protein Structure Determination Services
SARomics Biostructures’ structural biology technology platform supports all experimental steps necessary for successful integrated drug discovery and structure-based drug design projects. We offer high-throughput custom X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy support for protein and protein-ligand complex structure determination within our drug discovery services packages. Our crystallography services rely on regular X-ray data collection at the MAX IV synchrotron in Lund. This location near the synchrotron provides considerable flexibility in beamline access and ensures reliable sample delivery to the beamlines.
Our offers also includes:
Our state-of-the-art laboratories are fully equipped for protein expression, purification, and characterization, employing biophysical methods such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). To enhance the efficiency of our crystallization experiments, we employ high-throughput liquid-handling robotics and plate hotels that are maintained at different temperatures and monitered using an automated imaging system.
Two experimental stations at MAX IV leverage our structural biology services: BioMax and the newly opened MicroMax. Furthermore, the MicroMax beamline is particularly well-suited for serial crystallography experiments. For details, please get in touch with us.
Lead Discovery and Structure-Based Design
Our integrated structural biology services pipeline 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 and reveal details of molecular interactions within the fragment-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 specifc kinase fragment library in collaboration with the FragMax platform staff. The FragMax facility was designed specifically to facilitate crystallographic fragment screening projects. The service details are provided in our blog post on this subject.
Our clients are also welcom to send their own libraries for screening. Please contact 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.
Planning to Outsource Your Structural Biology Project? 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.